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AI: Well now, in Lima, was there a larger community of Japanese Peruvians that lived there in another area of the city?

AS: Well, we, there were, in 1940, I think, when they took (census), there were twenty-six thousand Japanese and Japanese Peruvians in Peru and ninety percent were in Lima and Callao. But sparse housing and things, we were scattered all over the place, so there was no, no Japantown.

AI: So, even though there wasn't any Japantown, I'm wondering, did you ever get together with other Japanese families for something like New Year's or maybe in the summer, Bon Odori kind of thing, any kind of picnic or gathering?

AS: Well, they had picnics like Fukuoka-kens and Kumamoto-ken, Okinawa-ken. They had their own, and we all had our own picnics. And like, like once a year in the school, they had the undokai, which was a big thing.

AI: And for people who don't know --

AS: It was...

AI: -- what undokai is, could you tell a little about that?

AS: It's a competition. They'd divide the kids into red and white groups and you do different things like running and jumping all day. Then you have a contest between red and white.

AI: So a lot of these gatherings were either organized around the school or the kenjinkai?

AS: Right.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.