Interviews

1. Decided to leave Japan to Argentina (Spanish)

2. Tango makes him to stay in Argentina (Spanish)

3. Leaving to Argentina (Spanish)

4. His first jobs in Argentina (Spanish)

5. Learning Spanish (Spanish)

6. Journalism as Vocation (Spanish)

7. Marriage to a non-Japanese (Spanish)

8. No more close family in Japan (Spanish)

9. Conflicting relations between Argentina and Japan (Spanish)

10. To feel uncomfortable in Japan (Spanish)

11. Argentina is my home (Spanish)

12. Generational Gap (Spanish)

13. Need generational change in Japanese community (Spanish)

14. No discrimination in Argentina (Spanish)

15. Nikkei identity (Spanish)

Kazuomi Takagi

(1925-2014) La Plata Hochi, Journalist

Tango makes him to stay in Argentina (Spanish)

(Spanish) When I was thirteen years old and enrolled in school I had the opportunity to listen for the first time to the Argentine tango. I was mesmerized by it. I thought to myself: “what country is this that produces such particular and personal music.” After thirteen years I was able to come to Argentina. At that moment I never thought (it was possible). And at the age of twenty-seven. So when Perón opened the doors, I thought it would be interesting to get acquainted with Argentina, at least to listen to the tango. I didn’t think to myself, “I am going to America”…rather, I came for the sake of curiosity. I loved it and I stayed. Because I didn’t know Spanish well. I know nothing of the language, and I suffered somewhat.

Argentina immigration migration music tango (music)

Date: February 23, 2007

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Interviewer: Takeshi Nishimura, Ricardo Hokama

Contributed by: Centro Nikkei Argentino

Interviewee Bio

Takagi Kazuomi was born in Japan on March 27, 1925, in the Mie province. He arrived in Argentina as a tourist and never returned to Japan. By chance he started out in journalism, a profession that provided employment for more than fifty years on radio and in the graphic arts. Today, at eighty-one years old, he continues to fervently work as a journalist for the newspaper of the Japanese collectivity, La Plata Hochi (Japanese Section), including acting stints in various forms of publicity. He passed away on November 10, 2014 at age 89. (January 2021)