The Ryukyuans in Argentina¹

The Argentine Republic has been one of the major immigration countries of the Western Hemisphere since the mid-nineteenth century.² Argentine immigration was and continues to be largely European in character, the Italians being foremost, with lesser numbers of Spaniards, French, Poles, Russians, Turks, Germans, Austro-Hungarians, and others.³ In general this immigration has been an organized, regulated process designed to satisfy Argentina’s need for agricultural labor. Asiatic immigration, by contrast, has been indirect and sporadic, depending upon the interest of the individual immigrant who, until the World War I period, commonly re-emigrated from another South American country. Chinese immigration has been negligible, whereas the Japanese in Argentina constitute a small but increasingly significant minority, the third largest colony in Latin America following Brazil and Peru. The dominant group among the Japanese in Argentina has been the immigrants from the Ryukyu Islands, south of the home archipelago in the western Pacific.⁴

From the beginning of the present century the Japanese emigrated in largest numbers to Brazil, Peru, and initially to Mexico, where they were supported by subsidies and plantation agriculture. Japanese immigration to Argentina was less significant for a number of reasons. In the first place, the absence of contract immigration and the presence of restrictive immigration policies discouraged prospective settlers.⁵ Secondly, Argentina was especially attractive to European emigrants, and Japan’s comparatively recent emergence into the community of modern nations made it difficult for her to compete with western Europe in international migration. Also the unfamiliarity of the Japanese with Argentine rural conditions, the lack of sufficient investment capital to farm successfully in many climatic regions, the Argentine land-tenure system, and the difficulty of obtaining clear title to land created further obstacles.⁶ Although Japanese immigration remained at a low level, it should be noted that prior to World War II Argentine commerce with Japan was much larger than that of other Latin American countries, reaching a peak in the years 1935-1936.⁷

Kinzo Makino, who reached Buenos Aires in 1886, is regarded as the first permanent Japanese (Naichi-jin) resident of Argentina and one of the first Japanese immigrants to settle anywhere in Latin America. From 1886 until 1906 only seven others came to Argentina, two male students, and four Japanese businessmen, and G. Yoshio Shinya, who was destined to become the leading figure among the Japanese in Argentina.⁸ In 1899, at thirteen years of age, Shinya was employed as a cabinboy on the Argentine frigate, Presidente Sarmiento, while the vessel was in port at Yokohama. He arrived in Buenos Aires the following year and later married an Englishwoman and became an Argentine citizen. Shinya established his reputation as a journalist after becoming a contributor to La Prensa, La Nación, and El Mundo.⁹

Between 1906 and 1910 the nucleus of the colony was formed by the entry of re-emigrants from Brazil and Peru. Among them was Seizo Hoshi, who later became a well-known fruit grower in Mendoza; his wife was the first Japanese woman to establish residence in Argentina. Six persons who had represented their country in the Anglo-Japanese Exposition of 1910 in London visited Buenos Aires and remained there.¹⁰

Ryukyuan immigration into Argentina began in 1909 with the arrival of Seijitsu Chinen in Buenos Aires via Brazil. Next year on Chinen’s recommendation sixty-eight more Ryukyuans migrated, all of whom had worked on coffee fazendas in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Later that year seven Ryukyuans came from Lima, Peru. At the end of 1910 the Japanese population of Argentina had attained a total of some three hundred persons, seventy-five of whom were Ryukyuans.¹¹ It was not until 1914 that direct “calling” from the homeland began; the first known “caller” was Magojiro Taira from the Ryukyus.¹²

Japanese immigration increased during World War I because of the stimulus of the “calling” procedure and the reduction of European immigration. The Japanese population jumped from 455 in 1914 to 1,958 in 1920, the latter figure including about three hundred Ryukyuans.¹³ Thereafter the percentage of Ryukyu islanders increased rapidly, and in 1924 they numbered 1,242, which almost equaled the Naichi-jin population at that time.¹⁴

The Ryukyuan population stood at 1,654 in 1931;¹⁵ by 1938, however, they totaled 2,276, and the Naichi-jin 1,684, a combined total of 3,960.¹⁶ In the absence of immigration statistics for the period 1939-1941, Ryukyuan leaders in Argentina estimated that not more than four hundred of their people entered the country in that period. These same individuals fixed the Ryukyuan population of Argentina at approximately 2,676 when 1941 ended. The number of Japanese immigrants from other prefectures during this period, 1939-1941, seems to have been negligible. With the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific in December 1941, Japanese emigration to Argentina quickly halted.¹⁷

Japanese emigration to Argentina resumed in 1948, again based upon the “calling” procedure. As before, persons who might be “called” from Japan and the Ryukyus were limited to relatives of the third degree or closer and to certain categories of technicians. From 1948 through 1952, 1,377 Ryukyuans and 450 Naichi-jin were “called” to Argentina by relatives living there.¹⁸

In 1952, the Ryukyuans and their descendants in Argentina totaled 6,316. This figure comprised 1,072 families; 4,036 Issei; 2,253 Nisei; twenty-seven Sansei; among all generations there were 103 Caucasian wives. For Naichi-jin and their descendants the total was 3,442: 1,872 Issei and 1,570 Nisei; the numbers of Sansei and Caucasian wives were unknown. In summary, the total Japanese and Japanese-Argentine population was 9,758.¹⁹ While most Japanese immigrants settled in the city of Buenos Aires and its environs, smaller colonies were formed in other parts of the country, chiefly in the north. The most important of these were in Rosario, Córdoba, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Salta, Jujuy, Resistencia, Santa Fe, and Corrientes.²⁰

In reference to organizations, it should be noted that the Shindo Remmei phenomenon had not appeared among the Japanese in Argentina as was true in Brazil, Peru, and Mexico. Its absence may be attributed to the pro-Axis orientation of Argentina during World War II, and the fact that Japanese-language communication media, chiefly newspapers, were not suppressed until the closing months of the war.²¹

The first effort toward establishing a general association among the Japanese was made in 1916 when the Nihon-jin Kai (Japanese Association) was founded in Buenos Aires. This developed slowly against the competition of several prefectural societies: the Kagoshima Ken-jin Kai (Kagoshima Association, 1914), the Kumamoto Ken-jin Kai (1917), and the Okinawa Ken-jin Kai (1918). All these societies, including the Ryukyuan, were consolidated into the Nihon-jin Kai, in 1922. Kazuo Nishi, then branch manager of the Yokohama Specie Bank of Buenos Aires, became the first president. Initially, aside from welfare objectives, this association sought to foster Argentine-Japanese friendship in collaboration with Japanese diplomatic officials. Its relationship with Japanese associations in other parts of the country, excepting those in Rosario and Cordoba, was generally informal. Prior to 1941 the membership totaled 1,400, all being men over eighteen years of age. A women’s affiliate known as Fujimbu (Women’s Circle), had two hundred members.²²

Major activities of the Association were fund-raising campaigns, social events, athletics, and Japanese stage plays. The fund-raising programs financed the purchase of real estate and recreational equipment and supported projects in the homeland.²³ In 1923, following the earthquake in Japan, the Argentine membership sent 65,915 pesos to aid relief operations. Funds were sent frequently with the extension of the war in China: in 1936 a general fund to “help Japan fight China”; next year money to buy a fighter aircraft; and gifts for Japanese servicemen fighting in China. Lecturers from Japan reminded the members of the Association of their “responsibility to Japan as people of Yamato.”²⁴

The Association was closed by order of the Argentine government in April 1945, but it was allowed to reopen almost two years later. The 1952 membership was 1,500, which then included both men and women. Properties owned by the Association were in no way affected by the war and remained in possession of the Japanese. Of the fourteen elected officials heading the Japanese Association of Buenos Aires in 1952, four were Ryukyuans.²⁵

As mentioned above, the Okinawa Kenjin Kai was founded in Buenos Aires during 1918. Its main objectives were to foster friendship and unity among the people from Okinawa prefecture and to create a source of funds with which to promote assistance to newcomers and other activities of the colony. In 1922 the membership exceeded three hundred persons. At this point the Ryukyuans living in Buenos Aires joined the Japanese Association, continuing this status until 1931, at which time they again formed an independent society; however, most of them retained their membership in the former as well. The new association, known as the Okinawa Kyukyu Kyokai (Okinawa Friends Association), was founded as a branch of the Kaigai Kyokai (Overseas Emigration Association) in Okinawa. It functioned until 1940, when it closed voluntarily because of the world crisis. During its existence the association assisted in the immigration procedure by recommending “callers” to the Japanese consul and by supplying informational literature to the Overseas Association in Naha, Okinawa. The membership, totaling about six hundred, comprised both men and women over eighteen.²⁶

On May 25, 1951, the Okinawa Kenjin Rengo Kai (Federated Association of People from Okinawa Prefecture), was founded in Buenos Aires under the direction of several prominent Ryukyuans. Its program stressed cooperation with the government of the Ryukyu Islands in furthering emigration to Argentina and strengthening the bonds of friendship within the local colony. Membership in 1952 again totaled about six hundred persons of both sexes eighteen years of age and above; only those living in Buenos Aires and its suburbs belonged. With part of the membership fees the Association sponsored two baseball teams and one track team and held several social events during the year. Money was also available for widows and others in need of assistance.²⁷

Apart from the foregoing organizations the Comité Ayuda la Víctima de Guerra en el Japón was founded by the Naichi-jin in Buenos Aires in 1946 and functioned until 1951. A Ryukyuan section was quickly established by Kisei Arakaki, who became chairman and treasurer. In the period 1946-1951, 160,000 pesos (US $8,000) were sent to the Ryukyus by this section through the licensed agencies for relief in Asia. Individuals contributed an indeterminate amount in food, clothing, and remittances. Further, 1,377 persons from the Ryukyus had been “called” to Argentina at the “caller’s” expense through 1952. This represented an expenditure of 15,040,000 pesos (US $752,000), based on the cost of passage by ship.²⁸ The total amount was probably somewhat greater than this, for a considerable number traveled by air.

It should be pointed out that while both the Ryukyuans and Naichi-jin supported their respective temporary relief agencies, they had not formed a permanent nationwide organization as had the Japanese in Brazil. Instead one encountered an independent, local Japanese association in every city possessing a sizable colony. Often Ryukyuans were in positions of leadership.

Because Japanese and their descendants in Argentina, including Ryukyuans, numbered only about ten thousand in a total population exceeding 18,000,000 and formed no concentrations, they constituted an inconspicuous minority group. From conversations with Argentine people in many areas of the country it was the author’s impression that the Japanese enjoyed an excellent reputation. They were respected for honesty and dependability in the conduct of business, and their tintorerías in particular were known for efficient service. It was apparent that the average Argentine citizen made no distinction among them as to their prefectural origins.

The processes of assimilation and acculturation were remarkably advanced among the Japanese in Argentina; only in Bolivia and Mexico was the transition more complete. A number of factors have contributed to these processes. (1) Circumstances have not required or fostered homogeneous population clusters—that is, frontier conditions calling for collective effort to overcome environmental, economic, or social problems; (2) There have been many mixed marriages. Since government-subsidized contract immigration was not carried on in Argentina, wives or “picture brides” were “called” at the “caller’s” expense for the most part, and the number was consequently limited; (3) Widespread conditions have favored urbanization throughout the country as opposed to resettlement in rural areas; (4) The Japanese (both Ryukyuan and Naichi-jin) immigrants into Argentina have been largely made up of re-emigrants from other countries who, in spite of the uncertainties of life in Argentina, moved in order to improve their economic situation. They are, consequently, an above-average, progressive type; (5) Argentina itself is a cosmopolitan nation with relatively advanced urbanization and industrialization.

Ryukyuans used the Ryukyuan dialect only among themselves, and this applied solely to the Issei. They spoke standard Japanese in mixed Ryukyuan-Naichi-jin gatherings. Few Nisei were competent in the native language of their parents. In homes of mixed marriages Spanish was spoken exclusively. Opportunities for speaking Japanese were limited since the majority of urban shopkeepers used Spanish in their daily business affairs. The lack of enthusiasm displayed toward the Japanese elementary schools in the postwar years reflected a waning interest in preserving the use of the native language.²⁹

Prior to World War II a total of five Japanese elementary schools were operating in Buenos Aires and the outlying districts of Burzaco, Morón, Escobar, and San Miguel; each was under the direction of the National Council of Education. In accordance with the law only the Japanese language was taught, and this was generally restricted to conversation. Students, beginning at six years of age, attended classes six hours per week for six years. Perhaps six to seven hundred were in attendance in the Buenos Aires schools before World War II, with a much smaller number attending three additional schools in other Argentine cities. Financial support for all schools came from parents who contributed fifty pesos annually per student. In all cases school facilities were rented, those in Buenos Aires being leased from the Japanese Association.³⁹ It was significant that the Japanese schools in Argentina were not subject to control by either the Japanese Association or the Japanese government, as was the circumstance in Brazil and Peru. This may also be regarded as a positive factor in assimilation and acculturation.

Japanese elementary schools, closed in November 1945 by a directive of the Argentine government, reopened in March 1947. In 1952 five schools were again in operation, one in Buenos Aires, one each in the districts of Burzaeo and Escobar, another in Córdoba, and the last in Vicente Casares. Together they had an enrollment of 250 students, and this figure was said to have been maintained with difficulty. Because of inflation the tuition had risen to 200 pesos annually per student, but the courses and schedules continued as formerly. All classes were in private homes.³¹

Few Japanese who emigrated to Argentina, Naichi-jin and Ryukyuans alike, had obtained more than an elementary school education, and their wives, whether Japanese or European, usually had the same amount of schooling. For this reason and because their occupations were regarded as menial, they were considered a part of the working class by the middle and upper sectors of the Argentine population. The social acceptance of Japanese and their descendants had been greatly enhanced, however, by their widespread adoption of the Roman Catholic faith. The Japanese had strengthened their social position also by admitting Argentine people into their recreational organizations. This was most apparent in the cities north of Buenos Aires where the Japanese, including Ryukyuans, had formed sports clubs.

While requirements for citizenship in Argentina had been liberal, less than one percent of the Naichi-jin and Ryukyuans had become naturalized citizens by 1952. Those who had done so obtained the rights of suffrage and office holding, but neither had held much attraction, for prior to World War II most anticipated returning to their homeland. Such sentiment was cast aside as a result of Japan’s defeat, and the number of applications for citizenship increased. Under the provisions of a law enacted in 1950 citizenship could be obtained free of charge after two years residence in the same district upon the filing of a birth certificate.³²

The Japanese throughout Argentina believed that as aliens they should not take an active role in politics. Nisei were less disposed to join in polities on any level than their counterparts in Brazil. Although none was found to hold an elective public office, ten Nisei made the army a career.

Nisei born of mixed marriages generally married Europeans, whereas those whose parents were both Japanese, in deference to the paternal will, married Nisei of unmixed Japanese stock. In most instances Nisei tended to follow their father’s occupation. Where occupational deviations occurred, it was usually toward the professions, medicine and engineering in particular. In Buenos Aires during 1952 twenty Nisei, including nine of Ryukyuan descent, were taking advanced academic training preparatory to entering these fields.³³

Because of the pro-Axis sympathies of the Argentine government, the Japanese residents suffered little more than inconvenience during most of World War II. Argentina’s declaration of war against Japan and Germany occurred on March 27, 1945, while the government was headed by General Edelmiro Farrell.³⁴ On April 2, 1945, Farrell decreed that Japanese and Germans were to be known officially as “foreigners under vigilance” and that those residing in the federal capital were required to register within ten days and elsewhere within twenty days. Thereafter they were obliged to report to the police once each month, and special authorization was necessary for them to leave their homes for more than forty-eight hours. Special permission was required to travel by train, ship, airplane, and bus, or to leave Argentine territory. Another decree suspended publication of seventeen foreign-language newspapers, three of which were Japanese.³⁵ Schools and organizations were closed later in the year. All restrictions were raised in 1947. Ryukyuans declared that they were not molested in any way before or after the declaration of war. No evidence could be obtained indicating that any Japanese was arrested or relocated or suffered any loss of property.

The background of the economic development of the Ryukyuan-Naichi-jin immigrants in Argentina is a study in individual resourcefulness and energy, coupled with group solidarity. Ryukyuans who re-emigrated to Argentina from Brazil and Peru during the early years of immigration (1909-1914) were confronted with much more formidable obstacles than those they had faced in the original country of entry. In Brazil and Peru they had been met at the docks by agents of the emigration companies or other countrymen, who provided shelter, food, and transportation. On the sugar plantations of Peru and the coffee fazendas of Brazil there were overseers who could speak their language and direct them in their work. Usually also they possessed a few yen furnished by their relatives or their government. Upon arriving in Argentina, however, they found themselves entirely on their own resources, since there were few Japanese to offer assistance. They had little or no knowledge of Spanish, and generally they had exhausted their funds in making the journey from Brazil or Peru.

By collective effort and mutual assistance these early immigrants secured a living, saved money, and later “called” others from the Ryukyus. They were the nucleus of the present Ryukyuan population in Argentina. Had they failed, the number of Ryukyuans there today would doubtless be inconsequential. The early immigrants took up a variety of occupations, mainly in the city of Buenos Aires. Many worked in sugar refineries, iron foundries, and cafes; a lesser number found employment as domestics, taxi drivers, stevedores, and carpenters’ assistants. The Brazilian-owned Café Paulista and the Vasena Iron Foundry in Buenos Aires employed a number of them prior to 1912.³⁶

In 1914 Seijitsu Chinen, who had worked in the Café Paulista since his arrival five years previously, opened his own cafe. He thus became the first Ryukyuan business proprietor in Argentina. As early as 1912 two Ryukyuans, Nakasuke Nakaganeku and Seiko Nakandakare, established truck gardens in the Florencio Varela district of Buenos Aires. However, as their venture was not successful, few Ryukyuans were attracted to agriculture in the Buenos Aires area until seven years later. The first enterprise of this type to mark a successful precedent was operated by Tamatsu Higayama and Koro Nakandakare in the Zeballos district, in 1919.³⁷

By 1918 many Ryukyuans had become independent proprietors of laundries, and this foreshadowed an important trend in their occupational pattern. The most significant development in this regard occurred in 1921, when Seitoku Oshiro added a dry cleaning section to his laundry in Buenos Aires. It thereby became a tintorería, or dry cleaning shop. Oshiro’s tintorería was subsequently a training school for other Ryukyuans and a symbol of success in the business. The tintorería eventually became the favored business establishment among the Ryukyuans in Argentina. The laundries were largely discontinued in time, as the cleaning of woolens proved to be much more profitable.

The popularity of the laundry and later the dry cleaning shop as opposed to agriculture may be attributed to the fact that these shops required a minimal amount of capital and experience and gave a wide margin of profit. Business enabled the individual to attain, in a short time, the status of independent proprietor, a qualification needed to “call” others from the homeland.³⁸

A survey of the Japanese in Argentina in 1931, though limited to 2,486 persons, revealed the pattern of occupations at that time. Data produced by the survey, which involved both Naichi-jin and Ryukyuans, disclosed the following general categories of employment: commerce and industry, 39 percent; services, 35 percent; agriculture, 25 percent; professions and others, 1 percent.³⁹

The Ryukyuans who had at first entered the laundry and dry cleaning business sometimes turned to other occupations, and their number grew steadily after World War II. However, in view of the rural background of most of the islanders, it was almost inevitable that some would turn to agriculture as their circumstances improved and as opportunities appeared. Therefore, a considerable number, chiefly those who had worked as employees for several years and had accumulated capital, entered agriculture in the early 1930s. Truck gardening was explored at first, followed by floriculture. Mainsho Ishikawa, a Ryukyuan, began raising flowers on a commercial scale in the Mariano Acosta district of Buenos Aires in 1930; he is regarded as the successful pioneer in this activity. At that point the majority of the agriculturists had settled within a radius of seven to twenty miles from the center of Buenos Aires. With the passage of time the distance had increased in many cases because of the expansion of the city.⁴⁰ The Ryukyuans in Buenos Aires were well established in their present occupations by 1936, for at that time they operated 225 tintorerías, 105 truck gardens (1,474 hectares), twelve flower gardens (131 hectares), and seven coffee shops.⁴¹

A joint survey by the author and the Okinawa Association in 1952 indicated that the Ryukyuan population of Buenos Aires province totaled 3,945. By generation there were 2,178 Issei, 1,755 Nisei, and twelve Sansei. Ryukyuans were proprietors of 419 tintorerías, eight coffee shops and restaurants, 126 truck gardens (1,845 hectares), and 107 flower gardens (160.5 hectares). Other occupations, accounting for a small percentage of the total, included food processing plants, dry goods stores, carpentry shops, and transport facilities. The value of real estate and equipment in Ryukyuan ownership was 83,916,000 pesos (US $4,195,800); their gross income in 1952 was 111,112,000 pesos (US $5,555,600). Only eight percent in all categories owned real estate. Naichi-jin and their descendants then totaled 2,888.⁴²

The city of Buenos Aires had about eight hundred tintorerías in 1952. Ryukyuans operated 419, and the Naichi-jin claimed about one hundred of the total figure. Almost invariably the Ryukyuan family lived in an apartment in the rear of the shop. It was a family enterprise in which each member shared. In addition these establishments commonly employed three Argentine nationals, predominantly women. A standard tintorería had an annual gross income of 100,000 pesos (US $5,000) and a net income of US $3,000.⁴³

The majority of Ryukyuans engaged in this business were members of the Unión Propietaria de Tintorerías, a government-sponsored organization. Membership was not obligatory, but it was to the interest of the proprietor to join, for the union sought to maintain uniform price levels in the industry and to regulate wages of employees. The minimum cost of equipment needed to open a dry cleaning shop in 1952 was estimated to be 56,000 pesos (US $2,800).⁴⁴

Approximately 1,500 floriculturists in Buenos Aires and its suburbs were members of the Sociedad Cooperativa de Floricultores de Buenos Aires, Ltda., which maintained a public market in the Plaza San Martín. The membership comprised 550 Japanese, 107 of whom were Ryukyuans. Prospective members were required to buy twenty shares in the cooperative at 50 pesos per share, or about US$ 50.00. Monthly dues thereafter amounted to 35 pesos, but this was scaled upward in accordance with the volume of production. Growers selling at the market paid eight percent of their gross sales to the cooperative for the use of its facilities. In 1951 the gross sales at the market totaled 80,000,000 pesos (US $4,000,000).

Prior to 1940, when this cooperative was founded, Japanese belonged to one of two other cooperatives, the Concentración Floricultorea de Buenos Aires, Ltda., or the Concentración Floricultorea de Oeste de Buenos Aires, Ltda. As these agencies tended to overcharge and gave poor service, the growers united and formed the organization described above. Under the then prevailing conditions they were assured uniform prices and a reasonable cost of marketing. The Japanese concentrated on producing carnations, chrysanthemums, gladiolus, and roses. Veteran growers declared that at least 60,000 pesos (US $3,000), and one year’s experience on the job were required for a beginning in floriculture.⁴⁵

The largest segment of Ryukyuan floriculturists, fifty-one, was south of Buenos Aires in the districts of Burzaco, Juan María Gutiérrez, Longchamps, and Florencio Varela. The distance from the central section of Buenos Aires varied from twenty-two to forty-five kilometers. About 165 Naichi-jin also cultivated flower gardens in these areas.

When in the 1930s Ryukyuans in appreciable numbers entered agriculture in the Buenos Aires area, it was usually on a partnership basis and on rented land. Regarding themselves merely as sojourners, few bought land at that time. Following World War II, the growing of vegetables for the markets of Buenos Aires became increasingly profitable, and more Japanese turned to agriculture in the rapidly expanding suburbs. Considerable capital was required initially because of the cost of irrigation and because the truck garden operator had to supply his own farm-to-market transportation. The latter problem was accentuated by a decree of President Juan D. Perón in 1952, which prohibited immigrants from establishing residence within one hundred kilometers of the city of Buenos Aires. Ryukyuans of long experience estimated that 150,000 pesos (US $7,500) was the minimum amount needed to begin.⁴⁶

Most of the Ryukyuan truck gardeners were found in the districts of Marcos Paz, Derquí, Luján, Morón, José C. Paz, Zeballos, Vicente Casares, and Aeropuerto Ezeiza. The distance to Buenos Aires ranged from twenty-two to sixty-four kilometers. Only twelve Naichi-jin households, representing the total number engaged in farming in the Buenos Aires area, were also situated in these districts. The vegetables produced in greatest quantities were lettuce, carrots, peas, cabbage, onions, cucumbers, beets, and egg plant. All produce was conveyed by privately owned vehicles to markets in either Buenos Aires or Avellaneda.⁴⁷

Permanent Japanese settlement in Argentina has been largely confined to the south-central area encompassed by Buenos Aires and Mendoza, and Jujuy and Misiones in the north.⁴⁸ The most significant colonies outside of Buenos Aires have been the following (dates indicate arrival of first recorded Japanese resident): Córdoba (1902); Rosario (1908); Mendoza (1910); Santa Fe (1912); Corrientes (1912); Salta (1913); Resistencia (1913); Tucumán (1914). Ryukyuans came to outnumber the main-island Japanese by a wide margin. The largest proportion of the early arrivals were single men, who had moved from Buenos Aires; a few re-emigrated directly from Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil. “Picture brides” were “called” from the homeland beginning in the early 1920s, but never in large numbers owing to restrictive immigration laws and the absence of contract immigration.

The attraction of the metropolis of Buenos Aires proved to be irresistible, as it did for most immigrants of all nationalities, and relatively few Japanese have settled beyond its outskirts. In 1952 the city of Buenos Aires contained 76 percent of the Ryukyuan households, 82 percent of the first generation, and 77 percent of the second generation. In that year also, approximately 83 percent of the Naichi-jin and their descendants lived in Buenos Aires.

Organizational activities among the Japanese developed more slowly in the secondary colonies than in Buenos Aires because of the small and frequently transient population. Associations were founded in Rosario (1918), Corrientes (1925), Córdoba (1931), Santa Fe (1935), and Resistencia (1939). Only those in Rosario and Córdoba had a formal connection with the Japanese Association of Buenos Aires. All of the associations closed voluntarily during the years 1943 to 1945, and, with the exception of those in Resistencia and Corrientes, had been reopened by 1952. Associations were established for the first time in Tucumán and Salta in 1950 and 1951 respectively. The Ryukyuans had not formed separate prefectural societies in these areas; several Ryukyuans, in fact, were instrumental in founding the local Japanese associations. In 1952 the membership of the five existing Japanese associations (Rosario, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Tucumán, and Salta) totaled 478 (331 men, 147 women).

The pre-World War II associations were concerned with perpetuating Japanese culture, promoting unity and mutual assistance, and frequently providing support for elementary schools. Main features of the prewar program were Japanese motion pictures, lectures, and stage plays. Following World War II the associations became almost exclusively social and recreational in character. Soccer, track, and judo teams were sponsored by the associations, and dances, Western style, had become popular. Another postwar development among the Japanese was the appearance of sports clubs—athletic, flying, and shooting—which supplemented the activities of the associations.

In view of their minority status, and the frequency of intermarriage with Caucasians, the small Ryukyuan and Naichi-jin population in the outlying colonies reflected few culture traits of their motherland. A major compromise with tradition was the admission of women, Japanese and non-Japanese, as well as non-Japanese men, to membership in the several associations. Further evidence of the loosening of cultural ties was the general lack of interest in providing instruction in the Japanese language. Prior to World War II Japanese elementary schools were found in Rosario, Santa Fe, and Resistencia; however, in the postwar years through 1952 only one of these schools (Santa Fe) had been reopened. Most Japanese, whether Issei or Nisei, were proficient in Spanish, and this was the language commonly used in the home. There was little indication of dependence on Japanese-language publications.

From the beginning of their residence in northern Argentina, most of the Japanese had followed urban occupations. The more common reasons given for not entering agriculture were lack of capital and experience and more remunerative employment in the cities and towns. After a period of several years some of them accumulated enough cash savings to rent buildings and purchase equipment.

Among the few Japanese who took up farming outside of Buenos Aires were a small number who migrated to Resistencia in the Chaco. Between 1922 and 1930 sixteen Ryukyuans, all from Buenos Aires, went there to cultivate cotton on the outskirts of the town; in 1952, six farmers and two farm laborers remained. They rented sixty-four hectares of land which was almost equally divided among them. Interviews with each of the six heads of households indicated that their annual gross income over the preceding three years (1949-1951) had averaged 18,000 pesos (US $900). Each household managed to save from this amount about 5,000 pesos (US $250) annually.

The crops produced in largest quantity were lettuce, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, onions, manioc, corn, sweet potatoes, and cotton. The Japanese in this area used neither irrigation nor fertilizers. Although land rental was inexpensive, farming was somewhat precarious. Doubtless the greatest obstacle came from the annual invasion of locusts which destroyed up to 30 percent of all crops planted.

Naichi-jin had made three attempts, all unsuccessful, to develop farming communities in the hinterland of the Argentine Chaco. In 1921 Taisaburo Kamijo and Kiyosaku Kobayashi, both from Buenos Aires, bought forty hectares of land near the frontier town of Sáenz Peña, about 120 miles northwest of Resistencia. The cultivation of cotton at this site proved unrewarding, and in 1923 they moved to nearby Tres Isletas where the Argentine government offered tracts of one hundred hectares of the public domain to interested farm people. At the same time, eight more Japanese families and a much larger number of Argentine nationals and European immigrants moved into the area. By 1931 the Tres Isletas region was largely depopulated, and in 1952 only two Naichi-jin remained there. The project failed owing to a marked decline in the price of cotton, coupled with drought, poor transportation facilities, and widespread destruction of crops by locusts.

The early endeavors around Sáenz Peña led directly to the first and through 1952 the only attempt by the Japanese to colonize the Chaco on an organized basis. This project was implemented by the Nichia Takushoku Kaisha (Japan-Argentine Colonization Company), headed by Chukichi Ishiy, formerly a commercial attaché of the Japanese government in Buenos Aires.

In 1930 the company purchased two thousand hectares of land, costing 500,000 pesos, at Alta Loma, near the confluence of the Río Bermejo and Río Paraguay. This site was selected because of its fertile soils and the availability of fluvial transportation. By this time cotton, which was to be the main crop, had dropped to one hundred pesos a ton. Ten Japanese(Naichi-jin)eolonists, none with previous experience in farming, reached Alta Loma in 1931. They planted cotton for one season, and after the first harvest the colony was abandoned.

The secondary Ryukyuan colonies north of Buenos Aires contained 18 percent of the Issei and 23 percent of the Nisei in 1952. The main centers of population, and the number recorded, were as follows: Rosario (51 families; 230 persons); Santa Fe (26 families; 119 persons); Córdoba (92 families; 314 persons); Tucumán (10 families; 47 persons); Salta and Jujuy (19 families; 77 persons); Resistencia (24 families; 95 persons); Corrientes (17 families; 76 persons). Ryukyuan residents in Santiago del Estero, Oberá, Mendoza, and Paraná totaled nine families of thirty-six individuals. The foregoing population, representing 994 persons, according to generation was: Issei, 47 percent; Nisei, 52 percent; Sansei, 1 percent. Within the places cited the Naichi-jin population stood at 125 families, comprising 554 persons.⁴⁹

The occupational pattern of Ryukyuans in northern Argentina corresponded to that found in Buenos Aires; however, the general level of prosperity was lower, and a larger proportion remained in the employee category. Most of the independent proprietors managed tintorerías, cafes, and bars. The annual net income of tintorerías was about one-half the amount of those in the metropolitan area, while cafes and bars earned approximately one-third less. Japanese employed in these and other small-business enterprises seldom earned more than US$ 400 per year. Surveys in these areas show that Ryukyuan-owned real estate and movable equipment attained a total of 15,540,000 pesos (US $777,000), and that the gross income in 1952 for all of their colonies was 15,954,000 pesos (US $787,700).

The interest of the Argentine government in promoting immigration following World War II was reflected in the Five Year Plan of 1947 which included a project for the admission of 250,000 immigrants for work in agriculture and industry. This quota was exceeded in practice, for more than 600,000 immigrants entered Argentina in the period 1947-1951.⁵⁰ Although the preponderance was of European origin, Argentina’s urgent need for farmers and farm laborers and the cordial attitude toward Japanese in high government circles had seemingly created favorable conditions for the resumption of Ryukyuan and general Japanese immigration.⁵¹

Argentina’s interest in immigrants was matched by a growing concern about population pressure and the emigration problem in Japan and the Ryukyu archipelago. After Japan regained sovereign status in 1952, its government gave high priority to the organization and implementation of an overseas emigration program. Since 1955 emigration and colonization have been under the direction of the Nippon Kaigai Iju Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Overseas Emigration Promotion Company), a government-controlled agency. Funds are supplied by the government, Japanese private sources, and banks in the United States. The Company lends money to emigrants for passage and the development of property and purchases land for colonization.⁵²

In view of the fact that emigration from the Ryukyu Islands to Latin America is a major problem of the Ryukyuan government and the United States Civil Administration, a survey was made in 1951-1952 to locate possible immigration areas. And as a means of providing financial support for emigration, the government of the Ryukyu Islands established an Emigration Bank in 1953. By the end of that year $93,000 had been allocated to this institution by the Ryukyuan government. Emigrants to Latin America had ten years in which to repay their loans.⁵³

The Emigration Bank was supplanted in 1960 by the Ryukyu Kaigai Iju Kosha (Ryukyu Overseas Emigration Corporation), which remains under government control. The original organization furnished loans only for transportation, while the latter is committed to underwriting loans for farming, business, and industry in foreign countries, as well as supporting emigration.⁵⁴

Ryukyuan immigration in Argentina totaled 2,736 in the period 1948-1960. Of this figure 2,667 used personal funds, including loans from “callers,” sixty-four traveled on funds from the Emigration Bank, and five were subsidized by the Japanese government.⁵⁵

The prewar Okinawa Kaigai Kyokai was re-established to help administer the emigration program, and a Youth Corps training project was instituted to develop a core of trained and resourceful leaders for the overseas communities, as well as for domestic service. The organization established for the administration of the Youth Corps training program is the Okinawa Industrial Cultivation Youth Association. Carefully selected single men between twenty and twenty-five years of age receive intensive training in farming and industrial arts for six months.⁵⁶

In general since World War II the Ryukyuan government has given most financial support to emigration to Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina. Although Argentina was considered eminently desirable, its government presented greater obstacles to entry, as previously described, and offered more difficult problems in the acquisition of land than Bolivia or Brazil. In recent times one of the chief obstacles to the successful resettlement of poor agricultural immigrants in Argentina has been the relatively high cost of suitable farm land in areas where adequate markets and transportation facilities are available. The Ryukyuans concluded in 1952 that opportunities existed for such poor immigrants, but mainly on a tenantry basis.

A proposal for colonization, however, was considered. In 1951, Ryukyuans in Buenos Aires prepared a detailed plan for a colonization project in Corrientes. This plan, which reportedly received Perón’s approval, was subsequently abandoned, presumably for lack of funds. As envisioned by its proponents, the colony would have been devoted to the production and milling of rice. Beginning with one hundred Ryukyuan immigrants, the number was to be increased as circumstances indicated. The cost of the project was estimated at 14,456,655 pesos (US $722,832) which included the transportation of the colonists from the Ryukyus to Argentina and their maintenance for one year.⁵⁷

The most promising opportunities for Ryukyuan immigration in 1952 lay in the system of “calling” which had been resumed four years earlier. The “calling” procedure, with its attendant restrictions, has subsequently remained in force as a policy for controlling Japanese immigration into Argentina, save for certain concessions made for the colonization project in Misiones province. The postwar immigrants have usually been employed by their “callers,” with only a few of the newcomers gaining financial independence. The majority have been young single men who have settled in Buenos Aires province. Tintorerías have been the main source of their employment, followed by market gardening. In addition Ryukyuan Youth Corps members are being “called” to work in agriculture near Buenos Aires.⁵⁸

An official report by a Ryukyuan delegation which visited Argentina in 1957 disclosed that 90 percent of the Argentine Japanese lived in Buenos Aires and vicinity; the total Japanese population, including descendants, was estimated to have been 15,000, of which 75 percent were of Ryukyuan origin. Among 750 Japanese families in Buenos Aires operating tintorerías, 80 percent were Ryukyuans. The membership of Ginga Hotori Engei Kyodo Kumiai (The Milky Way Gardener’s Cooperative Association) totaled 767 in 1957; 630 members were Ryukyuans and Naichi-jin. It was estimated that the Ryukyuan and Naichi-jin truck gardeners were furnishing the city of Buenos Aires six percent of its vegetables.⁵⁹

A precedent for Japanese immigration in Argentina was made in 1957, when plans were approved for a colonization project in the Guarape district of Misiones province, about ninety miles from the town of Posadas. The property, comprising 3,110 chobu (7,620 acres), was purchased by the Japan Overseas Emigration Promotion Company from the Guarape Land Company.⁶⁰ The first immigrants arrived in May 1959, and by the end of the year, twenty-six families, totaling 130 persons, had been brought there. Although the colony was promoted by Naichi-jin and has the support of the Japanese government, Ryukyuans have been invited to participate on the same basis as the inhabitants of Japan proper.⁶¹

The main agricultural commodities produced in the colony were paullinia extract (guaraná), maté, black tea, rice, corn, grapes, peas, manioc, tobacco, and citrus fruits; stands of eucalyptus trees were planted for fuel. According to the agreement made with the Argentine government, the land is distributed to each family in units of thirty chobu.⁶²

It is apparent that the Argentine government, while not closing the door to Japanese (Ryukyuans and Naichi-jin) immigrants, has followed policies designed to keep the number of Japanese at a minimal level. Although the conditions stipulated for the Guarape colonization settlement reflect modifications of former immigration policies—that the “calling”-family relationship has been waived, and that some of the colonists may locate in provinces other than Misiones—the Argentine government exercises a strict control over the immigrants; the final screening is done by the Argentine Embassy in Japan, and the Argentine Central Immigration Department manages the immigrants’ arrival in Argentina. The latter agency also has the authority to cancel the entry permits of any immigrants who do not follow the prescribed planting and farming patterns.⁶³ It is also significant that the initiative for establishing the colony was taken by the Japanese residents of Argentina, in cooperation with an Argentine land company. In contrast the Japanese government has promoted and given financial support to emigration and to colonization ventures in Latin America before and after World War II. The prewar Japanese colonization project in Argentina, it should be mentioned, has been paralleled by a similar enterprise of much greater scope in neighboring Paraguay.⁶⁴

Ryukyuan emigration has been vigorously pushed by the G.R.I., and has received appreciable financial support from the United States government. The main effort in colonization has taken place in the Santa Cruz region of Bolivia;⁶⁵ another project, on a much smaller scale, was undertaken at the Kapen colony in the northern section of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.⁶⁶ In Argentina, the Ryukyuans adhere to the long-established “calling” procedure as the main vehicle for immigration.

The Argentine government continues to seek immigrants from Europe to populate the underdeveloped sections of its national territory. These efforts have not been well rewarded in recent years because of Argentina’s domestic problems and the economic recovery of Europe. Since a significant inflow of permanent, agricultural immigrants from Europe is unlikely in the foreseeable future, Argentina has adopted a policy of selective settlement. The resettlement of French-Algerians in the provinces of Entre Ríos and Formosa early in 1964 is illustrative of this approach.⁶⁷

Argentine concessions for colonization to immigrants from Japan and the Ryukyu Islands reflect a departure from traditional immigration policies. Unless these concessions are expanded markedly, however, they will not result in a major shift in the ethnic or locational patterns of Argentine immigration and colonization.

Author notes