NIKKEI PARAGUAYAN IDENTITY CENTER

And that's how we, the members of the Japanese Association of Encarnacion, began: DREAMING AND BELIEVING.

It all started when we found a boiler in a small room at the back of what is now the Japanese school sector. This place was the sector of the rooms that were used to house the immigrants arriving from Japan. And, that boiler was used to heat the hot water (type of Japanese bathtub).

With that finding, we realized that that is the only thing we managed to recover from that time and it was there. Of course, that is because the building that today belongs to the Japanese Association of Encarnacion, belonged at that time to the institutions in charge of receiving and managing the immigrant colonies. In principle, to the Public Corporation of the Emigration Service of Japan and, later, to the Japan International Cooperation Agency - JICA.

Certainly Encarnacion was not the destination of Japanese immigration, but it was the entry and starting point for the colonization of the Departments of Itapua and Alto Parana.

This boiler mobilized us. We set out to place it in a special place where it could be exhibited and, that was how the idea of ​​creating a Nikkei Paraguayan Identity Center was born, with the purpose of RECOGNIZING, STRENGTHENING and VALUING the legacy of our Nikkei ancestors, through knowledge of history of the Japanese immigrants, who entered Paraguay through Encarnacion, told by themselves.

Today, the Japan Association of Encarnacion is proud to present the Nikkei Paraguayan Identity Center, a space filled with invaluable life testimonies, filled with the memories and emotions of the true protagonists, Issei and Nikkei.

But the purpose is even greater, that is why, under the motto "looking to the future", our young people will have a preponderant role in this Center, with the creation of their own space of expression and Paraguayan Nikkei identity. Because they have the mission of perpetuating the legacy and cultural value of our roots.

Thus, society in general will be able to know the history of Japanese immigrants and, even more, our children and grandchildren will be able to observe, study, understand and proudly spread our history and our identity.

December 2020
Directive Commission
Japanese Association of Encarnacion