Discover Nikkei Logo

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/author/higa-enrique/

Profile image of Enrique Higa Sakuda

Enrique Higa Sakuda

@kikerenzo

 Enrique Higa is a Sansei (third-generation or grandchild of Japanese immigrants) from Peru. He is a journalist and Lima correspondent for International Press, a Spanish-language weekly paper published in Japan. He is also a co-editor and writer for Kaikan magazine, published by the Japanese-Peruvian Association.

Updated July 2024


Stories from This Author

Thumbnail for Nikkei Families in Cuzco
en
ja
es
pt
Nikkei Families in Cuzco

June 6, 2022 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

The first Japanese immigrants arrived in Peru as contract workers for the coastal plantations. It was a limited and temporary move, sponsored by the governments of both countries. But as so often happens, reality takes over and changes one’s plans. The Japanese immigrants left the plantations, either as their contracts expired or fleeing the abuses they suffered there. Most settled in Lima and established their own businesses. Others traveled out to the provinces of Peru, with the most adventurous making …

Thumbnail for Nikkei Plus: the showcase of Nikkei entrepreneurs in Peru
en
ja
es
pt
Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Nikkei Plus: the showcase of Nikkei entrepreneurs in Peru

April 1, 2022 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

Football always gives you second chances. You lose one Sunday, but the next you can win. Time is not an asset to squander on regrets, but to prepare yourself with the goal of overcoming the next challenge. This is, roughly speaking, how journalist Roger Gonzales Araki deals with things. Like for millions of people around the world, the coronavirus pandemic was a knockout for him: he had to close the family karaoke business. However, Roger knew how to get up …

Thumbnail for “Things should not be the same as before the pandemic because it would mean that I have not learned anything”
en
ja
es
pt
Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
“Things should not be the same as before the pandemic because it would mean that I have not learned anything”

Dec. 22, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

We are already going through the two years of the pandemic and those first weeks of confinement, when people applauded the health workers from their homes for their extraordinary work and naively said that from this disastrous experience we would emerge better people, more united and supportive, They seem like times from a previous life. Today, with rich countries hoarding vaccines while a new variant emerges in Africa, millions of people dead and crowds rejecting masks or getting vaccinated even …

Thumbnail for Live learning
en
ja
es
pt
Live learning

Nov. 10, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

He was just a child, but he remembers it as if he were a witness again. From a window on the second floor of his house in Lima, Víctor Makino watched criminals break into businesses and homes of Japanese families to steal their belongings. It was in May 1940, more than 80 years ago, but he still preserves precise memories, such as the surnames of some victims, his neighbors: the Onagas, owners of a bazaar, and the Tsuboyamas, owners of …

Thumbnail for Nikkei memories
en
ja
es
pt
Nikkei memories

Oct. 5, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

Sueko Noda, a 93-year-old Nisei, remembers that during the looting of Japanese homes and businesses in May 1940, her family was saved from the hordes instigated by the anti-Japanese sentiment of the time thanks to some Peruvian neighbors “such good people who defended us.” ”. Carlos Saito, 80, relates that his father, an Issei who arrived in Peru on the last ship that docked on Peruvian coasts transporting immigrants under contract in 1923, had a watch shop for which he …

Thumbnail for Bicentennial of Peru, 122 years of Nikkei presence
en
ja
es
pt
Bicentennial of Peru, 122 years of Nikkei presence

Aug. 2, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

On July 28, 2021, Peru celebrated 200 years of existence as an independent country. In 1976, the United States celebrated its bicentennial with festivities enhanced by the visit of Queen Elizabeth II, with fireworks and parades. The commemoration in Peru, with around 200 thousand people dead from Covid-19 and a society divided by the recent presidential elections, was very different. The country was not for parties. However, life goes on. Broadening the perspective to go beyond the gloomy situation and …

Thumbnail for Onigiri: from manga and anime to the history of Japanese immigration
en
ja
es
pt
Onigiri: from manga and anime to the history of Japanese immigration

July 2, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

The word onigiri , even to those familiar with Japanese food, is catchy. It has magnet, hook. It was the name that the communicator Gerardo Higa Arakaki chose to baptize an online university venture that spread manga and anime in Peru in the 2000s. That playful bet of youth, Onigiri TV, was transformed over the years into a company, Onigiri Producciones, directed by Gerardo and his school friend, Gustavo Barreda Fudimoto, which makes documentaries on the history of Japanese immigration …

Thumbnail for Pandemic times: teleworking and digital code
en
ja
es
pt
Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Pandemic times: teleworking and digital code

June 18, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

In addition to the pain of losing a loved one, there is also confusion if the death was unexpected and you are not prepared to deal with the situation. What procedures must be followed, who to notify first? The disorientation is accentuated in this situation marked by the coronavirus, plagued by restrictions, new protocols and comings and goings of the authorities, who first establish that the cremation of bodies is mandatory and then go back, or who prohibit wakes, authorize …

Thumbnail for Doris Moromisato and her pandemic year: an intense present
en
ja
es
pt
Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Doris Moromisato and her pandemic year: an intense present

April 26, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

The coronavirus pandemic is a watershed in the history of humanity. When we get older, hopefully, we will remember 2020-21 as the years when our lives changed forever. Although we are not yet free from the pandemic and, therefore, we lack the perspective to fully measure the impact of the virus, it is possible to make assessments or judgments about what has been experienced (and suffered). The renowned Nikkei writer Doris Moromisato shares her experience during this anomalous year: “Like …

Thumbnail for “We should not be left with this feeling of horror because Peru is a great country”
en
ja
es
pt
Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
“We should not be left with this feeling of horror because Peru is a great country”

March 19, 2021 • Enrique Higa Sakuda

A year ago, one of the most rigorous quarantines in the world was imposed in Peru to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. It has been a painful and terrible year for a country decimated by the pandemic and morally devastated by a scandal that involved a former president and two former ministers who abused their positions of power to get vaccinated clandestinely while thousands of people died. Throughout the year, one of the specialists most consulted by the …

We’re looking for stories like yours! Submit your article, essay, fiction, or poetry to be included in our archive of global Nikkei stories. Learn More
Discover Nikkei brandmark

New Site Design

See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon! Learn More

Discover Nikkei Updates

NIKKEI NAMES 2
Vote for Nima-kai Favorite!
Read the stories and give a star to the ones you like the most! Help select our Community Favorite.
PROJECT UPDATES
New Site Design
See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon!
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT
We’re on Instagram!
Follow us @discovernikkei for new site content, program announcements, and more!