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FOCUS: Japanese settlers in Dominican Republic led poverty-stricken lives+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SANTO DOMINGO, March 7_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: THIS IS THE THIRD OF 14 NEWS FOCUS STORIES ABOUT EMIGRATION TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)
"Everything was different from what I had imagined," said 81-year-old Seiji Kasahara, recalling his life after settling in Dajabon in the Dominican Republic.
Originally from Fukushima Prefecture, north of Tokyo, Kasahara now lives in the Dominican capital Santo Domingo.
The fenced-off settlement was a state-run "colonia" created by the Dominican government, with the office of an administrator from the Agriculture Ministry at the entrance.
The administrator instructed the settlers what to do, and his permission was required to leave or enter the settlement.
Initially, Kasahara, part of the first emigrant group, sent letters full of hope to his family back home, but the guidelines promising that about 18 hectares of land would be distributed to settlers free of charge were not satisfied.
Every evening, families met with the administrator to plead that land distribution take place as soon as possible because they had been promised to be settled as landed farmers.
In December 1956, five months after settlement, distribution was finally approved on condition that the emigrants themselves measure and demarcate the land. When that finally took place among 28 families, the average plot was less than one-third that specified in the guidelines.
Another problem was water. Kasahara's land, determined by drawing lots, was farthest from the irrigation-water gate, and almost no water reached it. "Because the amount to begin with was small, water taken by turns was insufficient, and that constantly triggered fights among settlers," he said.
The land was smaller than promised, harvests were limited and selling prices were cheap. The families repeatedly appealed to the Japanese Embassy to resolve the water-shortage problem and increase land distribution, but nothing happened.
One year and four months after settlement, Kasahara and his wife snuck away, hoping to find a way to make a living. "There was nothing to feed our children. I sold a bicycle and a sewing machine, and there was nothing more to sell."
Traveling on a national highway, there were lookout posts and armed soldiers. "I gave them a bribe and managed to reach the second-largest city Santiago," he said.
While he was working at a rented field, a dark-colored passenger car stopped, and an embassy official jumped out and shouted, "What the hell have you done?"
"Why did the government push us to a place where we can't even eat?" was his answer, to which the official said, "If the Dominican government knows this, emigrant applicants in Japan cannot come. Return immediately."
Kasahara then called family members remaining at the settlement, saying the couple would return. On a truck going there, however, his wife gave birth prematurely, and the baby died several days later.
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