NCRR Delegation to Celebrate Obon with Cuban Japanese on the Island of Youth Event

By Kathy Masaoka
posted 7/25/01

The first Japanese American delegation from Southern California will visit Cuba this July. The delegation is sponsored by the Nikkei for Civil Rigths and Redress (NCRR).

A century of Japanese-Cuban history
The delegation was invited to come to Cuba by Mr. Francisco Miyasaka, Vice Representative of the Society of Japanese in Cuba, to observe Obon on the Island of Youth. Last August, several organizations sponsored a speaking tour for Miyasaka, a Cuban Nisei, who spoke about the 100-year history of Japanese in Cuba. Audiences in Los Angeles and the Bay Area were able to learn that Japanese came to Cuba from Mexico and Peru in 1898 and worked on the sugar plantations.

Most came from mainly four areas of Japan, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Niigata. During World War II, all adult Japanese males were interned at the Presidio Modelo prison on the Island of Youth (formerly the Island of Pines). Mothers and their children were left to fend for themselves and were permitted to visit their husbands once a month for only two hours.

Adding to the hardship many of the Issei wives had to travel from the other parts of Cuba to the Island of Youth and during their visits could only speak Spanish. Similar to Japanese Americans, the community became dispersed after the war as people searched for work in various part of Cuba. Today there are about 1300 Japanese in Cuba. Cut off from Japan and with no established organizations such as language schools and churches, many do not identify with the Japanese culture.Mr. Miyasaka hopes that the community and especially the young people will regain their heritage.

NCRR in Cuba 2 - Community to Community