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Overview
Adios to Tears is the very personal story of Seiichi Higashide (1909-97), whose life in three countries was shaped by a bizarre and little-known episode in the history of World War II. Born in Hokkaido, Higashide emigrated to Peru in 1931. By the late 1930s he was a shopkeeper and community leader in the provincial town of Ica, but following the outbreak of World War II, he—along with other Latin American Japanese—was seized by police and forcibly deported to the United States. He was interned behind barbed wire at the Immigration and Naturalization Service facility in Crystal City, Texas, for more than two years.After his release, Higashide elected to stay in the U.S. and eventually became a citizen. For years, he was a leader in the effort to obtain redress from the American government for the violation of the human rights of the Peruvian Japanese internees. Higashide's moving memoir was translated from Japanese into English and Spanish through the efforts of his eight children, and was first published in 1993.
This second edition includes a new Foreword by C. Harvey Gardiner, professor emeritus of history at Southern Illinois University and author of Pawns in a Triangle of Hate: The Peruvian Japanese and the United States; a new Epilogue by Julie Small, cochair of Campaign for Justice: Redress Now for Japanese Latin Americans; and a new Preface by Elsa H. Kudo, eldest daughter of Seiichi Higashide.
"English translation and first privately published edition of a valuable book on Japanese immigration and internment during WWII. Initially published in Japanese to a limited readership. This informative study, candidly and insightfully written, details the formative period of Japanese migration to Peru and, just as importantly, the trying experience of the author, his family, and 1,800 other Japanese-Peruvians who were interned in the US during WWII. Excellent memoir portrays Asian immigrant experience of cultural adaption in Latin America. Insightful forward by the late C. Harvey Gardiner, who wrote extensively on the Japanese in Latin America and Peru, in particular"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.
Synopsis
Higashide recounts his numerous difficulties and conflicts with the United States government. He describes his arrest in Peru and deportation to the U.S., where he was held for more than two years in an Immigration and Nationalization Service internment camp. He also discusses his decision to remain in the U.S. after the war, the process of attaining citizenship, and his efforts to obtain redress from the American government for its violation of the human rights of the Peruvian Japanese internees. This second edition contains a new foreword by Gardiner (history, Southern Illinois University, emeritus), a new epilogue by Small (co-chair, Campaign for JusticeRedress Now for Japanese Latin Americans), and a new preface by Higashide's eldest daughter. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR