JAPAN: PERUVIANS ARE ATTACKED IN REVENGE FOR SIEGE AT JAPANESE AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE IN PERU

Record ID: 355425

  • Title: JAPAN: PERUVIANS ARE ATTACKED IN REVENGE FOR SIEGE AT JAPANESE AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE IN PERU
  • Date: 24th December 1996
  • Summary: ISEZAKI, JAPAN (DECEMBER 24, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV EXTERIOR OF 'LA BODEGUITA' AND SIGN 0.08 2. SMV VAN WITH BROKEN WINDSHIELD/ SHATTERED GLASS (3 SHOTS) 0.21 3. MV KIYOSHI MACHIDA, OWNER OF LA BODEGUITA, PULLING OUT ROASTING CHICKENS FROM OVEN 0.28 4. SCU PERUVIAN TEA-TOWEL ON WALL; PERUVIAN CUSTOMERS EATIN
  • Embargoed: 8th January 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISEZAKI, JAPAN
  • City:
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVA4EO504V0XF8Q5YDJ5R0L6DDZN
  • Story Text: INTRO: Shops and cars owned by Peruvians in the Japanese town of Isezaki have been stoned. The attacks started after the hostage crisis in Peru's capital Lima began more than a week ago.

    Peruvians living in Isezaki 110 km (65 miles) north of Tokyo talked on Tuesday (December 24) of their fears that a violent resolution of the hostage crisis in Lima could spark a backlash against them and their businesses in Japan.

    The Peruvian-Japanese community in Isezaki and the surrounding area is the largest in Japan, accounting for about 4,000 of the 15,000 Peruvians in the country.

    In downtown Isezaki, 'La Bodeguita' restaurant serves as a community centre for the immigrant Peruvian workers.

    Cans of Lima beans, peppers, Peruvian beer and Peruvian-style roast chicken -- a Christmas specialty -- draw Peruvians from around the region.

    On Friday, three days after armed Marxist guerrillas stormed into the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima and took hundreds of hostages, someone threw a rock through the windshield of a small van operated by the restaurant.

    "I'm really worried" said Kiyoshi Machida, owner of La Bodeguita.

    "Many people have come in here worrying they might lose their jobs because of the hostage crisis, or even be deported from the country", he added Machida also said a Peruvian customer had told him his boss was threatening to fire all Peruvian workers at a small welding shop.

    The Peruvian-Japanese, like Japanese-Brazilians and other descendants of Japanese immigrants in South America, started coming to Japan in large numbers in the late 1980s, mostly as factory workers.

    One middle-aged Peruvian, who came to Machida's restaurant to pick up a Christmas chicken for his family, said all countries had problems with terrorists.

    "We are here working to support Japan, and now we look very bad because of these terrorists in Lima...it really isn't fair" said Moises Infantes, a Peruvian-Japanese who works at the Sanyo plant.


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