Over the next few months, JAMsj will be posting “Nikkei in San Jose”, a blog series by volunteer and writer, Judith Ichisaka. Through research and interviews, Judith explores the diversity of the Japanese diaspora here within San Jose, both through a historical and personal lens.

nikkei in san jose: Japanese Peruvian

Peru’s first group of Japanese immigrated mainly from Niigata and Yamaguchi prefectures to work on the sugarcane plantations in the 1890s, similar to the reasons for the migration to Hawaii. The first 790 Japanese who immigrated to this South American country suffered diseases such as malaria and typhoid, and lived in grim conditions. They also faced hostility and resentment from the local communities, as their wages were higher than those paid to native Peruvians as well as a language barrier.

The Morioka Company brought in more than a thousand immigrants from Fukuoka, Kumamoto and five other prefectures to work on the cane fields, and more waves of Japanese immigrants flocked to Peru to work in the rubber forests or cotton fields. Shintaro Tominaga arrived in 1903 and built a furniture factory within six years, and eventually, rubber tire manufacturing and construction. Ikumatsu Okada also arrived in 1903 and was able to acquire small bits of land, boosting cotton cultivation as the demand increased with World War I. The Japanese Issei community flourished in the Chancay Valley by the end of the 1930s, producing cotton in more than 40% of the land. However, labor conditions did not improve much, and many Japanese decided to run their own barbershops and restaurants, which contributed to increase in the country's domestic economy.

However, the initial harsh treatment of the new immigrants at the turn of the century did not end even when the Japanese Peruvians achieved a certain level of economic success. The Great Depression of 1929 further accelerated anti-Japanese sentiment as the nation’s overall middle class were struggling. As the 1930s went on, so did incredulous fabricated accusations and rumors of the Japanese Peruvians, mainly by leading newspapers and magazines, blaming the Japanese community for illegal business practices and holding clandestine ties to Imperial Japanese military. Unfound fears such as a plan to invade the Panama Canal or establishing military bases on Galapagos Islands eventually led to the Immigration Act of June 1936, which excluded future Japanese from immigrating to Peru, and prohibited foreigners from holding more than 20 percent of any occupation. Existing immigrants could not transfer businesses to their descendants, and spending time in Japan for education or other reasons were considered an act of forfeiting Peruvian citizenship.

Anti-Japanese violence grew exponentially during and after the May 1940 riots in Lima, which resulted in widespread rioting and looting of Japanese business and homes. Almost all Japanese business suffered serious financial losses and for fear of being physically attacked, the families were forced to further isolate themselves from Peruvian society.

By early 1942, similar to a movement in Canada, Japanese families in Peru were relocated to the interior. They could not congregate with more than five individuals, and all Japanese language media was banned. According to Masterson, wartime conditions in Peru were far more difficult than anywhere else in Latin America.

Consequently, the successful community leaders such as Tominaga and Okada were considered a threat to Peru’s national security without any evidence, and this view unfortunately influenced the United States’ measure on handling the Japanese Peruvians. The United States intended to send them to Japan in exchange for returning U.S. citizens who were in Japanese occupied territories in Asia.

On April 5, 1942, the first boat Etolin deported 141 men to the San Francisco. Japanese Peruvian women who were considered “voluntary deportees” were sent after mid-1943.

All individuals were processed as “enemy aliens” by the INS and denied valid passports and visas, then dispersed to different confinement locations in the United States - most notably in Crystal City, Texas, which housed more than 3,000 detainees. Germans and Italians who were also interned were in separate areas. The camp provided balanced meals and basic education through high school, but these did not make up for the humiliation and anxiety felt throughout the interned community. A rift based on loyalty to Japan divided male internees, and those with families left in Peru were uncertain about their futures.

In Peru, the Japanese who remained throughout World War II faced intense discrimination but were determined to rebuild their lives in 1945. Peru did not allow the deported Japanese from the United States to return until the early 1950s. In the United States, the detainees patriotic to Japan voluntarily left for Japan, as Crystal City and other internment camps closed in late 1945, but the rest of the former internees were stuck in limbo.

*The Shibayama family, including Bekki (front right), in front of their Chicago apartment building.*

Bekki’s Story

*Japanese Peruvians in front of the Japanese school at Crystal City Internment Camp. Isamu “Art” Shibayama is pictured in the bottom row, fourth from the left.*

Isamu “Art” Carlos Shibayama, who was born in Lima, Peru, was one such internee at Crystal City. His grandfather was the cofounder of a Japanese school in Callao, Peru, and his father was a businessman in Lima. Art spent his early childhood in a tightly knit Japanese and European immigrant community, bonded by supporting businesses, and fishing, singing and dancing during their time off. But these prosperous times ended abruptly when Art was 13, when he and his family were swiftly deported and interned at Crystal City from March 1944 until September 1946.

In 1946, with the support of ACLU Attorney Wayne Collins, 364 Japanese Peruvians, including Shibayama’s family, obtained parole to work on rotating shifts at a truck farming and food freezing plant at Seabrook Farms in New Jersey. Art was just 15 and put family first before his education - he needed to support his six younger siblings at the time.

Even though life was difficult as “illegal aliens” in a new country and living conditions were poor, they were able to successfully stay in the United States, performing labor work to support themselves. Art’s family eventually moved to Chicago, where a cluster of Japanese Peruvians also settled.

*Art and Betty at their wedding in Chicago, 1955.*

Life began to look bright again, especially after Art had met and married Betty Morita. They eventually lived in the same apartment building where Betty’s parents lived. Their eldest daughter Bekki was born, and soon after, a younger son Brian. Along with the rest of the family, the two children were active in the Japanese Christian church and attended Sunday school.

Similar to how her father had fond memories of his native Lima, Bekki shared her fond memories of growing up in her native Chicago. She had many relatives and neighborhood friends to play with. Her family visited other Japanese Peruvian families’ homes and went on vacation with them.

“The older generation (Issei) planned Peru-kai events, like Christmas parties and fun picnics. They sang Japanese and Peruvian songs. It was a very heartful experience, like a big family, because they had been through so much together.”

Bekki and her brother did not attend Japanese language school but they learned to appreciate Japanese and Peruvian culture through these community gatherings.

“I was 11 when we moved to San Jose,” Bekki continues. “We already had relatives in San Jose and my father’s best friend was there, too. We weren’t active in Japantown at first, because my parents were busy starting his a business and we spent a lot of time with family.”

She loved the weather and diversity in San Jose. Her maternal grandparents stayed with them during the winter to escape Chicago’s chilly weather.

But in junior high, Bekki became aware of the dark history of the injustice during World War II and her Japanese Peruvian family’s journey to the United States.

“The internment camp was one paragraph in my history book,” Bekki recalled. “The class was supposed to write an essay about World War II, and the teacher approached me to do an oral report about the internment camps.”

By sharing her personal family history, Bekki started asking more questions about it to her family and learned about her father’s experience. She discovered that her father was never able to see his grandparents again, after they were used in a hostage exchange and sent to war-devastated Japan. She admitted that it was then that she started to worry that the internment would happen again. “I didn’t know how to verbalize the hurt and vulnerability I felt, but I asked a lot of questions at the time.”

*Art and Bekki Shibayama before testifying at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) hearing in Washington, DC, 2017.*

In 1988, Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians received an official apology from their respective governments and a reparation payment after a long battle for redress. However, Japanese Latin Americans like Art Shibayama were excluded, as they were not considered United States citizens nor permanent residents during incarceration. Bekki had graduated from Santa Clara University by this time, and because of this unfair outcome, she started volunteering with the Campaign for Justice – a coalition of Japanese Latin Americans - to increase awareness of the inequality her community was facing. She joined forces with her father and many others to fight for a full apology and fair restitution on behalf of all Japanese Latin Americans. In 1999, the federal government only awarded $5,000 as a result of Mochizuki vs. the United States. Art Shibayama declined payment and took his case further to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Bekki, Betty and Brian Shibayama at a solidarity rally for immigrant justice in San Antonio, 2019. They hold a poster with a picture of Art and the words "Stop Repeating History!" — *Bekki, Betty and Brian Shibayama at a solidarity rally for immigrant justice in San Antonio, 2019.*

But unfortunately, the ruling in his favor came too late. Art Shibayama passed away in July 2018, and the IACHR’s final ruling was in August 2020.

“There aren’t that many Japanese Peruvian internment camp survivors left now,” Bekki laments. “Maybe 30 or less of the ones who were forcibly brought from Peru to the United States. Some Japanese Peruvians also were imprisoned in other Department of Justice camps.”

To this day, Bekki Shibayama has made it her mission to continue educating new generations about the Japanese Peruvian internment experience through the Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee works in solidarity with various other local communities at Crystal City. She is also continuing her father’s pursuit for justice with the Campaign for Justice: Redress NOW for Japanese Latin Americans (CFJ) and the Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project (JPOHP), as well as serving on the boards of the Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee and the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee.

Written for JAMsj by Judith Ichisaka

“Nikkei in San Jose” posts will be published on the 15th and 30th of each month. Sign up for the JAMsj eNews or follow us on social media for notifications when new posts are published!