Discover Nikkei

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Grandfather migrating to Colombia

They came to Corinto, Cauca, or I guess El Jagual, which was the community that they built when they got assigned some terrains that they had bought, or negotiated previously. And they were given, like raw land that was jungle-ish, overgrown, so they had to clear it out and everything before they could farm.

They originally tried rice, but that didn't work out for them. So they were doing I think beans, and some azuki, and some other variety of beans, and other things.


agriculture Colombia farming migration

Date: September 22, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Monica Teisher was born in Cali, Colombia in 1974 to an Issei father and Nisei mother. She and her large extended family were active in the Cali Japanese community, the largest in Colombia. She moved to the United States after marrying a U.S. citizen of Eastern European Jewish descent. They and their daughters spend vacation time in Colombia, participating in community events. (May 2020)

Kazuo Funai
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Funai,Kazuo

First work in America (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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Kazuo Funai
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Funai,Kazuo

Company in Tokyo burned down (Japanese)

(1900-2005) Issei businessman

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James Hirabayashi
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Hirabayashi,James

Family interrelations between mother and father

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline

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Steve Kaji
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Kaji,Steve

FOB's

Hawaii born Nikkei living in Japan. English Teacher at YMCA.

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Haruo Kasahara
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Kasahara,Haruo

Sings traditional plantation labor song (ho-le ho-le bushi) in Japanese and Hawaiian

(b.1900) Issei plantation worker in Hawai'i.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Kawakami,Barbara

Going back to Hawaii

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Barbara Kawakami
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Kawakami,Barbara

Picture brides and karifufu

An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.

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Robert (Bob) Kiyoshi Okasaki
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Okasaki,Robert (Bob) Kiyoshi

Grandmother's influence on decision to go to Japan

(b.1942) Japanese American ceramist, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years.

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Yukio Takeshita
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Takeshita,Yukio

Impression of Japan upon arrival

(b.1935) American born Japanese. Retired businessman.

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Wally Kaname Yonamine
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Yonamine,Wally Kaname

Training for football by carrying 100-lb bags of grass over mountains

(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.

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Wally Kaname Yonamine
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Yonamine,Wally Kaname

Working in cane fields as teenager to supplement family income

(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.

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Roy H. Matsumoto
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Matsumoto,Roy H.

Kibei schoolchildren in Hiroshima, Japan

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

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Etsuo Hongo
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Hongo,Etsuo

The reason he came to the United States (Japanese)

(1949 - 2019) Taiko player. Founded five taiko groups in Southern California

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Roger Shimomura
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Shimomura,Roger

Grandfather's arrival in the U.S., experiencing discrimination

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

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Marion Tsutakawa Kanemoto
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Kanemoto,Marion Tsutakawa

Mother's immigration to U.S. as a treaty merchant

(b. 1927) Japanese American Nisei. Family voluntarily returned to Japan during WWII.

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