José Yoshida Sherikawa
José Yoshida Sherikawa was born in 1935 in Cañete, Perú. He has twice served as vice president of La Unión Stadium Association (Asociación Estadio La Unión, or AELU) and was a member of the group that organized the first Peruvian Nisei Symposium in 1979. A founding member of the Panamerican Nikkei Association (Asociación Panamericana Nikkei), he spoke at that symposium and at the First Panamerican Nisei Convention in Mexico. He has also participated in the Nikkei Leaders Program of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Updated September 2021
Stories from This Author
An Unfortunate Break
Sept. 30, 2021 • José Yoshida Sherikawa
They arrived in Peru on the same ship, the SS Hong Kong Maru. Four passengers among a small group of immigrants from Saga-Kiushu Prefecture, who, because their hometowns were close to each other, began a close friendship, one that could even be described as a “close brotherhood.” For five years they worked together at the Santa Barbara and Casa Blanca de Cañete plantations that belonged to British Sugar, 140 kilometers south of Lima. Once their work contracts had ended, two of …
childhood memories
Sept. 23, 2021 • José Yoshida Sherikawa
I am a Peruvian son of Japanese, a Nisei, born before the Second World War. I am part of a generation in the process of disappearing. We experienced the change from being “Japanese born in Peru,” to, over the years, becoming “Peruvian children of Japanese.” We had the privilege of living the gradual process of integration into the greater society, leaving behind our situation as “discriminated and discriminating” subjects, to become the “Peruvian nisei proud to be what we are.” …
