1. (1) A newspaper reported me

2. (2) Japanese hotels in Paraguay

(1) A newspaper reported me

It happened before I entered Paraguay. The e-mails from unknown people began to reach me from Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil from May 5 when I was in Argentina. All of the messages said that the addresser got to know of me by “La Nacion”. I remembered I had seen the word “La Nacion” and the precise address of the article in the e-mail sent from Roberto, a journalist and an Esperantist in Buenos Aires. I accessed the top page of the site, imagining that “La Nacion” should be the Web site that Roberto is involved. The page was written in Spanish and I, against my expectation, didn’t understand what the Web site was about. So I directly opened the page by the address that Roberto wrote. Then the article appeared. It was the article that Andres Asato wrote about the interview with me in Buenos Aires. The photograph that I had sent to him was also shown.

I asked the attendant of the Internet cafe, “Do you know about ‘La Nacion’? What is it?” He answered me, “’La Nacion’ is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Argentina. The paper is widely read not only in South America, but also in the USA.” I asked him, “Are all the pages of the ‘La Nacion’ shown in this Web page?” He answered that it had exactly the same contents as the newspaper”. This never happens in Japan. The article about me was written on May 5. I downloaded the article at the cybercafe and read it in my hotel room, consulting a dictionary. It was quite a long article. The article had contents benevolently written about me and Esperantists. However, there were some misunderstandings or descriptions that I didn’t say. First, the misunderstandings, which my poor Spanish must have caused, are as follows; (1) Andres wrote that I had been traveling for slightly less than a year. But in fact, slightly less than three years have already passed. I, although a poor speaker of Spanish, could have said the simple phrase like this at that time. Didn’t he remember? But he was taking notes then. Maybe, he thought three years would be too long and not good for his article. (2) It is sure that I said I am a hot-spring fanatic. However, I don’t remember I talked about the hot springs in Honduras. A part of my travel stories are also written in Spanish in my Web site. Probably he read all of the Spanish stories to write the article. I came to know a journalist spends lots of time to write even one sentence.

(3) According to Andres’ article, it sounds as if I worked for Osaka Prefectural Government till my retirement. He wrote so, because I only told him that I had worked for the government in Osaka. In reality, I worked for Osaka Municipal Government. But anyway, he wrote that I worked as an environmental engineer. I talked about the extraordinarily serious air pollution in Chihuahua, Mexico that I saw about 30 years before. Andres also wrote about this. However, he wrote about “rio Bravo” as well. I remember that he talked about the river at the interview. I nodded without knowing it. He wrote as if I talked about the river. In fact, I don’t know about the pollution of “rio Bravo”. A dictionary says that “rio Bravo” is Rio Grande. There are a plenty of rivers with the same name of Rio Grande in Central and South America. According to a map, the biggest Rio Grande flows from Colorado, through the central part of Mexico, to the Gulf of Mexico. As I even didn’t know about this simple fact, it is obvious that I didn’t tell him about it. However, he probably knew about the pollution of the river. He saved me from revealing my ignorance.

(4）Andres wrote that I read an book on Esperanto when marking time at an airport, and that I was speaking Esperanto three hours later. I didn’t say it was at an airport, and actually I wanted to say that I understood the basic grammar of Esperanto in three hours. I am sure that my explanation was not enough. Even if Esperanto is an artificial language, it is impossible to acquire the ability to speak it in three hours.

Above things happened simply due to our mutual misunderstandings. I myself sometimes change the expressions largely when I translate my Japanese travel stories into Esperanto, English or Spanish. Some misunderstandings can be yielded when an interviewee is a poor speaker of Spanish like I. But, the following things are not mere misunderstandings. They are good-willed “lies”.

(1) It is true that lots of books of the world are translated into Esperanto. However, I have read few of them. For the interview by Andres, I was accompanied with two Esperantists, Roberto and Silvia. They also talked about Esperanto. In their conversation, I suppose they named Martin Fierro and Jorge Luis Borges. I guess they are maybe writers, but I don’t know even their names. Andres wrote that I came to know them through Esperanto books. This is a good-willed “lie” about me.

(2) Andres wrote about the accident that I was assaulted by robbers in Buenos Aires. They took my leather portable ashtray, but he wrote that it was a purse that had only a lighter. As I showed the ashtray of a kind to him, he might have understood it beyond the language barrier. No one wouldn’t understand it was an ashtray because an portable ashtray like this isn’t sold in Latin America. Probably for this reason, he changed the expression. Indeed, he is a journalist, a professional writer.

Newspapers do not always give correct information. In my case there were some good-willed “lies” in the article. So it is OK. But it can be serious if a lie is based on malevolence. Mass media can assert its power to control people’s mind by lies, if necessary. The people who work for mass media are not always good people like Andres. There is a possibility that mass media can be a very dangerous weapon. I am afraid that the Japanese mass communication has ceased from accomplishing its mission to fight against the authority and is gradually changing itself to be a press bureau of the authority. Nevertheless, most Japanese believe any information is absolutely true once it is printed. I think this is very dangerous.

You can read the article of the interview reported by the “La Nacion” in the following Web site. Needless to say it is, however, written in Spanish…

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/04/05/05/ds_598257.asp?origen=amigoenvio

This interview was given to me thanks to the offer made by Roberto. Later, I received an e-mail from an Esperantist in Uruguay Sandra Burgues who also read this article. She suggested me that I should give an interview to a radio program and write some article for a newspaper in Uruguay. However, I had already left Uruguay and was back in Argentina when I received her message on May 6. I was sorry that I had missed those good chances. But later, I received another e-mail from an Esperantist Josias Barboza who lives in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. This time he offered me that I should give an interview to a TV program in Brazil. I was given a great opportunity simply because I am an Esperantist. This rarely happens to a usual traveler.

I am now staying in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay and will go to Brazil next. Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. I don’t understand the language. However, I have received more invitation e-mails from the Esperantists in Brazil. Even in Brazil, I won’t have a language problem when I see them. I can meet Esperantists in foreign countries and have various experiences. Now I feel like gathering the fruits of Esperanto in this journey.

(2) Japanese hotels in Paraguay

Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, is on the east of Paraguay River. The west side of the river is Argentina. The border offices of the two countries were in the same building in Paraguayan side like those in Uruguay. But there was a strange feeling about this border. While the borders between Argentina and Uruguay were quiet with a few people, around the border building in Paraguay there were lots of people who had no business to cross the border. They were street money changers and the people who make a business out of helping the paperwork of leaving and entering travelers. One of the latter soon walked to me. I saw many of these people in Central America, from Guatemala to Nicaragua where border crossing is difficult, but later I hadn't seen for a long time. I felt an impending disaster. Leaving Argentina was easy. But, Paraguayan customs officer insisted that it would take three days to get the bike into Paraguay. There were nothing, neither hotels nor shops, near the border. I expected that I would be in Asuncion immediately after crossing the river. But I was told that Asuncion was 30 km away. I was unable to puzzle out the location. But anyway, I knew I wouldn't be able to leave the bike in a place like that. I protested that there was no other country that requires such a thing while I had traveled through lots of countries from North America to South America. Maybe this evoked the officer's pride in his own country as a Paraguayan. He somehow allowed me to enter Paraguay on the spot. When I went back to the parked bike, I saw a boy cleaning my BMW without asking me. He was happy with 20 cents that I gave him. The man who helped me with my border crossing, which I didn't ask him either, also asked me money. I showed him 40 cents, a double sum of money, but he seemed to be unsatisfied. I thought I would leave the place on the bike if he didn't want, but I felt sorry for him because he was unaggressive and reserved unlike those in Central America. I gave him one dollar and he contented himself with it. I thought the economic situation of Paraguay might be as bad as Central America. I was ordered to stop the bike by the police after riding several kilometers from the border. A police check close to the border is a usual thing in these countries. However, I remembered that I was given a fine of US32 on the charge of nonpossession of traffic insurance at the police check in Argentina when I rode 100 km from Uruguay five days before. I had an uneasy feeling. Before that time in Argentina, the police also tried to impose a fine for the same reason near Buenos Aires. I settled the problem by offering a bribe of $7 in the end. The Argentine police also impose a fine to the motorcycle tourist who does not have an extinguisher. Paraguay gave me a worse impression than Argentina at the border. The police can invent whatever charge. My presentiment of misfortune came true. The policeman, who was gazing at my passport, temporary importation certificate of the bike that I was given just now by the Paraguayan customs and the certificate of California for a long time, finally ordered me to show my traffic insurance. I explained that I had visited several insurance companies in Buenos Aires to buy an international insurance valid for Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil, but that none of them sold it to a tourist on a motorcycle. But he wouldn't listen to me, insisting on imposing a fine of $35. I told him that the government should sell the insurance at the border if it is required, and that I would otherwise buy it soon in Asuncion if it is sold, but in vain. Then I protested again, saying why a Paraguayan policeman would not take me to an insurance company while the Colombia police did so. At that time the policeman ordered me to show him the Colombian insurance. I showed him not only the expired Colombian insurance, but also those of the USA and of a certain country in Central America. As this maybe stimulated the Paraguayan's pride again, I was released and at last was able to head for Asuncion.

The river that I had crossed a little before was not Paraguay River in fact. The bridge over Paraguay River was in the outskirts of Asuncion quite far from its center. The reason why they constructed the bridge in the far place like this, which I heard about this later, was to prevent the capital from the direct invasion by Argentina. In peacetime the relationship between the two countries seems be good as the governments place their border offices in the same building, however, a country sharing a border with some other country across a river has to take even a thing like this into consideration to cope with a possible war, unlike Japan surrounded by the sea. A city with high-rise buildings, although it is not as large as Buenos Aires, was seen in the distance from the bridge. The sole purpose of my visit to Asuncion was to have Japanese food in the Japanese hotel "Hotel Uchiyamada" located in the center of the small capital with a population of 500,000. I directed my bike toward the section with high-rise buildings. I asked the way many times in the center of the capital, but it took a long time to reach my hotel as it did in Buenos Aires.

The name of this hotel is written only in Chinese characters. The reason is that they accept only the people from the Orient for the sake of security. Although I saw some Koreans, most guests are Japanese. And most of them are people who study and work in Paraguay for a long time. They stay in this hotel instead of renting an apartment. The hotel gives a special discount of $500 a month to the guests who stay long. Among them there were two Japanese women. One of them is Minako Okajima. She is a senior high school student of 17 years of age. She came to this country to learn Spanish and how to play the harp for a year. One night we listened her concert and the sound of the musical instrument called "arpa" in Spanish was beautiful. The sound was so beautiful that I bought a CD recorded by some professional players later. The other woman is Yuriko Nakajima. She has repeatedly visited this hotel for the last several years in order to learn Guarani, the indigenous language of Paraguay. At first I guessed she is a university professor, but she is an ordinary housewife. She was visiting for a month this time. In Paraguay Guarani is spoken daily as well as Spanish. The teacher of Yuriko is Norma, a 22-year-old beautiful woman. She is a university student. I heard from her that there is a Japanese man who speaks Esperanto. His name is Yoshikazu Furukawa and he is the Japanese consulate. I soon called him and made an appointment to see him. We would see each other at a college. He studied Guarani together with Norma at the college after work. He also studied the language at a different language school in the city. He told me that he would soon be given a license as a Guarani teacher from the school. To have a consulate like him does credit to us Japanese.

One day Norma invited me to the party of the people who study Guarani. I of course accepted her invitation. The party was held in a large room on the second floor of the above-mentioned Guarani school. At dusk I took a bus and went there with Yuriko and Norma. The rush-hour bus was crowded and I was worried about the video camera in the backpack. Asuncion doesn't have many tourists and seems to be safe, but everyone told me not to go out of the hotel to the dangerous streets after dark. After walking on the dark streets of the night, we safely arrived at the Guarani school. About thirty people came to the party. It was a simple party that everyone took some snacks and drinks from home. They warmly welcomed unknown me. The women kissed me on the cheek. I was introduced in both Spanish and Guarani. Needless to say, I can't speak Guarani and I introduced myself in Spanish. Soon later they began to sing together to the guitar. I heard that the song is widely known in Paraguay, but I was the last person who knew the song. I was just listening. Meanwhile, they began to dance. A party can't be over without dancing in Latin-American countries. Some women invited me to dance and I did, learning their steps. At last the participants left in twos and threes and the party was over. The monetary unit of most countries in Central and South America is peso. However, "guarani" is used in this country. I felt animated to know that not a few Paraguayans try to keep their indigenous language in the situation that most of the indigenous languages have been and are disappearing in North and South America. I also want to do something that Esperanto will be used more widely and be handed over to the future generation. About 7,000 Japanese immigrants and their offspring live in Paraguay. I never visited the towns where a group of these Japanese live, although there were some of them in the countries in South America that I had already traveled. I thought there would be some also in Paraguay and if possible I wanted to visit there. I had the idea of going directly east from Asuncion to a border city in Brazil to see the Iguassu Falls. However, the distance between the two places is as far as 350km. So I thought it would be better to stay in Ciudad del Este, a border city in Paraguay and to enter Brazil on the following day. But my guidebook writes this city is dangerous. I looked in the map to find a large town that might have some hotel before the city. The large town that I found is as far as 200km away from the border. "Hotel Uchiyamada has a car that transports the guests like a taxi, but for free. One day I talked to the driver of the hotel car. He told me that there is the Japanese colony Colonia Yguazu 40km before the border and that there are some hotels. That was more than I expected. I decided to go there.

The national highway 7 in the east of Asuncion leads to Colonia Yguazu, and then goes into Brazil near the Iguassu Falls. As the west side of Asuncion across the river is Argentina, this highway is the most important international road for Paraguay. Along the highway there are small towns or villages unlike those I traveled in the desert of Chile, in Patagonia of Argentina or in the area from Uruguay to Asuncion. The traffic is heavier. As a result, there are a plenty of gas stations. I have been worried about running out of gas since entering Chile, but finally I am free of such a worry. The highway is lined with grass on its both sides and trees fringe those green belts of grass. Cows are browsing the grass. The land is dyed all in green behind the trees. This highway is a pastoral road.

After 4-hour trip from Asuncion I saw a signboard of "Colonia Yguazu". I asked someone on the roadside, "Where is the Japanese hotel 'Fukuoka Ryokan'?" The person answered me it would be on the north side of the road. I made a left turn and rode onto a wide cobblestoned road. There were a supermarket next to a gas station and a modern building of farmers cooperative. I saw a big Shinto shrine gate straight ahead. It is the biggest shrine gate in South America. There is a large park behind the gate. A church stands in the background of the road on the left hand of the gate and a building of Japanese Association neighbors to the church. On the right hand of the gate there are a gymnasium, and, at a distance, a football ground and two baseball grounds. Baseball grounds are rarely seen in Latin America. This place is without doubt a Japanese colony. "Fukuoka Ryokan" was located two blocks away from the gate to the right hand. It was a large ordinary house and didn't have a signboard. I saw a motorcycle parked on the road before the hotel. Yoshito Sakaki was standing by the bike. I had met him in "Hotel Uchiyamada" in Asuncion. He has traveled by the bike for eight months from Canada through Central America to Panama, and from Ecuador he took almost the same route with mine. He is making a motorcycle trip around the world. But…, he should have left Asuncion for some place in the north of Colonia Yguazu one day earlier than I. I asked him the reason and he answered that he had made a detour to Colonia Yguazu because the shortcut road of red soil in the north was muddy on account of rain. As he told me he was staying in "Hotel Yguazu" along the Highway 7, I changed my idea to stay in "Fukuoka Ryokan" and went there with him.

The owner of the hotel Sinobu Kanzawa learned civil engineering at a senior high school of technology in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japanese four major islands. After graduation he immigrated with his parents into Chaves in the south of Colonia Yguazu in 1955. He was 20 years old then. Five years later in 1960, Japanese government bought the huge land of 878 square kilometers, which is nearly equal to Kagawa Prefecture, from Paraguayan government to prepare for immigration. At that time Shinobu who had knowledges of civil engineering was employed by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) of today. National Highway 7 was already constructed in the previous year of 1959, however, the road was not paved yet and exposed red soil. Colonia Yguazu is near the tropics and in addition it has reportedly one of the richest soils of the world. Consequently the land around there was the jungle covered with 20 to 30m-high trees. The newly constructed Highway 7 solely ran through the jangle, leaving a red line. A group of surveying including Shinobu went into the jungle where the sunlight didn't reach the ground even on a clear day. He told me that he felt like being psychologically suffocated while working in the dark jungle and that he felt relieved when he went out of the jungle to the Highway 7, only open to the sky, for deep breathing under the sunshine. The jungle has now completely disappeared and soybean is planted there. And wheat is planted as subsidiary crop.The following year, August 22 in 1961, 14 families of the first immigrants came to Colonia Yguazu. Later on the number of the immigrants increased, however, immigration was not so easy that two thirds of them left the colony. Now 200 families remain in this colony. All of them live in a large house and enjoy a rich life. They employ Paraguayans or Brazilians to manage their huge land or shops. The population of the colony is 10,000 and among them Japanese might be around 1,000 provided a family consists of 5 people. Although it is a Japanese colony, Japanese are in the minority.

Unlike other immigrants, Shinobu has been working for JICA since he was young. Several years after he started working in this colony, the land on the south side of the highway remained unsold. The reason was that this land is located in a valley surrounded with low hills and consequently the rainwater stayed there. However, Shinobu knew how to drain the water as he learnt civil engineering. So he bought the land with an area of 1.3km along the highway by 450m from the highway. The price of one lot of the land in those days was around $5,000 for 0.3 square kilometers (1km by 300m). Today his land faces the main street in Colonia Yguazu. Along the highway a series of gas stations and shops stand. In the middle of the area "Hotel Yguazu" is found on the bottom of the valley. As he owns an enough land, his hotel is constructed in a spacious site and even has a swimming pool. The house build for the caretaker of his hotel is such a large house with three bathrooms that I thought I would want to be his caretaker. The house has, in addition, a garage. Shinobu has sold the unnecessary land to Paraguayans or Brazilians. I found that Shnobu is in fact a landowner of huge land although he is merely one of the usual landowners of this district. After his retirement at the age of 55, he worked for a construction company in Yokohama as a field manager for 4 years. He was the only Japanese from a foreign country. He told to his Japanese coworkers that he owned a large land in Paraguay. No one believed his story.Shinobu also has a large house with a swimming pool in Asuncion. According to him, the house has as many as eight bathrooms. The size of the house is beyond the imagination for Japanese. The young Japanese immigrant Kazuaki Okinishi whom I met in Neuquen, Argentina also lives in a large house with a pool. I have always lived in such a small apartment that Westerners would mock it as a rabbit hutch. Obviously all of the Japanese immigrants were not as successful as Shinobu or Kazuaki. Nevertheless, the fairly successful person of the Japanese office workers who graduated from the so-called first-class universities and worked for first-class companies cannot live in such a large house, for example, with a swimming pool. Now I think that the life of those Japanese workers, including my life that was spent for the government during 29 years, is really ridiculous. However, I retired, left Japan and am thinking about living in Colombia. But I will not cultivate the soil like those immigrants. I am thinking about translating my travel stories, first into Spanish and then into Esperanto. So I will not be as successful as Shinobu. Nevertheless, I hope in Colombia I will be able to live in a more spacious place than the apartment complex in Nara, Japan. My dream is to live in a large house once in my life. Including this reason, I will go back to Colombia where Marcela is waiting.