Interviews
Prejudice in Japanese school (Spanish)
(Spanish) When I entered the school for Japanese, I remember during recess time on the first day everything started then. I did what all the other children did: I ran to the playing field but nobody wanted to play with me. I realized how strange, because nobody wanted to play with me. Afterwards I found out that those kids didn’t want to play with me because my mother was Peruvian, which in nihongo (Japanese) is ‘ainoko (half).’ Needless to say, they didn’t want to be near me. I was discriminated against by both sides: by the townsfolk, the children of the town (particularly the older ones, the zambazos, whom I admired because they played soccer so well, they hit us, others ran away), and at school they also treated me…they did not hit me, except that I did not enter, I did not fit in.
Date: September 6, 2007
Location: Lima, Peru
Interviewer: Harumi Nako
Contributed by: Asociación Peruano Japonesa (APJ)
Explore More Videos
Invited to teach at Harvard by his boss
(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Discrimination faced in San Francisco (Japanese)
(b. 1937) A war bride from Yokohama
Accepted by Japanese society as I learned more Japanese (Japanese)
(b. 1979) Sansei Nikkei Brazilian who lives in Oizumi-machi in Gunma prefecture. He runs his own design studio.
Unique Identity from Having Multiple Backgrounds
(b. 1938) Philipines-born hikiagesha who later migrated to the United States.
Growing up Japanese in Hawaii
(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii
General reasons why people left Japan for Peru
Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.
Parents identification as Peruvian Okinawan
Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.
Okinawan cultural appreciation
Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.
Prejudice against Okinawans from mainland folks
Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.
American values she aligns with
Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.
Working together in Okinawa using three languages
Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.