A Cultural History of Spanish Speakers in Japan

Beginning in 1990, thousands of Spanish speakers emigrated to Japan. A Cultural History of Spanish Speakers in Japan focuses on the intellectuals, literature, translations, festivals, cultural associations, music (bolero, tropical music, and pop, including reggaeton), dance (flamenco, tango and salsa), radio, newspapers, magazines, libraries, and blogs produced in Spanish, in Japan, by Latin Americans and Spaniards who have lived in that country over the last three decades.  Based on in-depth research in archives throughout the country as well as field work including several interviews, Japanese-speaking Mexican scholar Araceli Tinajero uncovers a transnational, contemporary cultural history that is not only important for today but for future generations.

Araceli Tinajero is professor of Hispanic literatures at The City College of New York and at the Graduate Center. She is the author of Orientalismo en el modernismo hispanoamericano, El Lector: A History of the Cigar Factory, and Kokoro: A Mexican Woman in Japan. Tinajero is the editor or co-editor of various volumes including Exilio y cosmopolitismo en el arte y la literatura hispánica, Orientalisms of the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian World, Technology and Culture in Twentieth Century México, and Handbook on Cuban History, Literature, and the Arts. She is the Book Review Editor of the journal Asia / América Latina.