During Spanish colonial times, trade with Spain had to pass through Lima. By the mid 20th century, Peru had acquired a large Japanese community and was looking to Japan to now export their economic miracle. That didn’t happen but Peru did manage to export it’s first Japanese President, the “Last Samarai”, back to Japan. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp celebrates the 2nd International Pacific Fair held in Lima in 1961. Both Japan and the USA had large displays to promote closer economic ties with a then growing Peru. It must have been nice to be the object of so much competition.
Todays stamp is issue C174, a 1 Sol airmail stamp issued by Peru in January 1962, three months or 90 manianas after the Fair. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.
The first Japanese immigrants came to Peru in 1899. They were virtually all male and were to work in agriculture for a usually 3 year period. Their contact salary was twice what a similar worker made in Japan. Most did not stay in agriculture and moved to Lima to start shops. The numbers went up fast after the USA banned immigration from Japan in 1924. Early on there was some resentment toward the new arrivals. A law was passed that required shops to have a percentage of native Peruvian employees. In 1938, Peru also stopped accepting new Japanese immigrants. After an earthquake in Peru in 1940, the Japanese were especially targeted in the third world style looting that followed. During the war about 10% of the Japanese Peruvian community was sent to internment in the USA. Peru had stated none could return post war, but some did. Most stayed in the USA.
This might have chased off the Japanese in Peru but instead the opposite happened. The economic power of Peruvian Japanese grew and ties with post war Japan grew ever closer. In 1990, Alberto Fujimori was elected as the first Asian leader of a country outside Asia. He opened up much of the economy and sold off many state owned enterprises. You can guess who was doing the buying. The influx of investment did get the economy moving again. However there was also corruption. When a corruption scandal was about to break in 1996, Fujimori escaped to Japan. From there he faxed his resignation from the Peruvian Presidency, a first. I wonder which corrupt politician will be the first to text a resignation?
Peru wanted Fujimori to face criminal charges but Japan found enough red tape to prevent extradition. Fujimori in 2005 traveled to Chile to plot a Peruvian comeback. The Chileans put him under house arrest and started the long process of extradition. From Chile, Fujimori tried to boost his position in Japan by running for a seat in the upper house of the Japanese Diet. He ran on a populist message as the “Last Samurai” He lost that election and was soon in jail in Peru. He was later pardoned for old age and ill health. When he didn’t die fast enough the pardon was overturned and this year, at age 80, Fujimori returned to jail. Peru sounds fun.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the native Peruvians who got jobs at Japanese owned enterprises. The many?, some?, anybody?. Anyway, come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.