For 10 days this past August, 18 Asian Americans from Los Angeles went someplace few Americans have seen first hand: Cuba. The recently returned delegation sponsored by Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR) will share their impressions of Cuba and details of their exchanges with the Cuban Japanese community on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2001, at 2 p.m., at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. In addition to bringing medical supplies and Japanese foods, one of the goals of the delegation was to reintroduce Obon odori (obon dances).
The delegation, spanning in age from 18 to 75, will share stories, photos, slides and video from their visit. The short video edited down from over 16 hours shot by delegation member Janice Yen will give a glimpse into Cuba and the Japanese Cuban Obon festival held on the Isle of Youth. Some of the delegation's other visits included: an alternative medicine clinic, a Japanese Cuban organic farm, grassroots community organizations. Singer Nobuko Miyamoto will perform new and original songs about Cuba at the event.
In addition to participating in the Obon, delegation members also had the opportunity to visit Japanese Cuban families in their homes and share family histories. "I was really impressed by the Cubans and those that are hapa (half Cuban; half Japanese)," shared Nisei delegation member Haru Kuromiya. "They were really aware of their heritage."
Most Japanese immigrated to Cuba between 1910 and 1930 to find work, in much the same way Japanese American Issei did. Today, there are approximately 1,300 Cubans of Japanese ancestry throughout the island. Approximately 25 percent live in and around Havana; 16 percent live on the Isle of Youth, where Japanese men were imprisoned during World War II. The remaining are scattered throughout other provinces of Cienfuegos, Camaguey, Pinar del Rio and Holguin.
Important highlights of the Delegation’s stay on the Island of Youth were meeting the spry 95-year-old, Mr. Miichiro Shimazu and 87-year-old Mrs. Kaoru Miyazawa, the two surviving Isseis on the Island and touring the Presidio Modelo (Model Prison) where over 300 Issei men from throughout Cuba were imprisoned during WWII.
Delegation members will also discuss their observations of Cuba's revolutionary society and its social and economic programs that include free health care and education (through college) to all Cubans. They will also share the effects of the last decade of economic downturn due to the pull out of aid from the former Soviet Union, and the difficulties resulting from ongoing U.S. Blockade against the tiny island nation.
The delegation resulted from the efforts of Judy Ota who had learned about the 100 year history of Cuban Japanese from Francisco Miyasaka, President of the Japanese Cuban Society, while she visited Cuba with her daughter a couple of years ago. Upon her return to the US, Ota and her sister, Kathy Masaoka organized a speaking tour for Miyasaka last summer to Southern and Northern California with the sponsorship of NCRR, California State University, Long Beach and the Japanese American National Museum, the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California, the Japanese American Citizens League Civil Rights Caucus and UCLA Asian American Studies Center.
Miyasaka spoke to capacity crowds and at the culmination of the tour, he suggested that a Japanese American delegation visit the Isle of Youth for the annual Obon. "Mr. Miyasaka saw his visit to California as the first official exchange between our communities and that the delegation would be an important step to building an ongoing relationship between Japanese Americans and Cuban Japanese," explained Masaoka, who helped organize the group's trip to Cuba.
"I won't forget the experiences here," stated 21-year-old Khi-Min Jung. "It's not something you can learn in a classroom. One of my favorite parts was the CDR (Committee to Defend the Revolution) block party. The pride and the patriotism I saw there is what I'm envious of."
