Arashiro Sebastian (新城セバスチャン)　アルゼンチン　3世

１．両親や祖父母、親戚が移民した理由

My family moved to Argentine due to work possibilities, when my great grandfather was only 17.

２．沖縄の人々に紹介したいこと、国の文化や社会など
“I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina; which is where more than 30.000 nikkeis reside since many decades.　It is a third world country, very rich in raw materials (farms, crops, etc…) but very poor in political matters.　This country has a large latitude, which offers many types of climate, for example, it snows in the south, and we　have very dry dessertic zones in the north.　The argentine money is devaluated four times in comparission to the Yen or dollar; and actually I don’t think　this country is going to get better with the time. Our government is corrupt, some areas of the city are　dangerous due to daily robbery, mugs, etc… Streets are always very dirty and full of garbage, people here　is not as consious about the enviroment as in Japan.
Popular music includes Tango, which is a music genre born in sex brothels, and was danced by prostitutes, but　with the time, more men started dancing it too.
Popular sports include soccer and tennis. Many poor people of Argentine are now recognized soccer players.　Maradona used to be a great soccer player, but after some years he turned into a disrespectful football coach, due to　his drug addiction, and because he was born poor and didn’t receive education.　Poor people from Argentine can’t receive education because they have to work.　In Argentina, there is an 90% porcent of white people, mostly Spanish descendant, and another 10% which　is comprended by aborigin, black (from Portugal and Brasil) and asian people”.

３．あなたの国の日系社会について

“We have many centers for nikkei people, like a center for Okinawan descendants, another for Nagano Descendants, and others.　Even people who is not nikkei appreciates japanese　culture, mainly for it’s food, music, anime, books, etc… We organize many　Japanese festivals, Bon Odoris or conventions that attracts many white people.”

４．沖縄の子どもたちと若者へのメッセージ

“Children of Okinawa and Japan in general: you are lucky to live where you are.  Hopefully I live there someday. You can visit Argentina, although I highly don’t recommend you to move to any country of South America. It is not as good as it’s seen on TV”.