Brazil: Biggest Japanese Community Outside Japan

Japanese immigration to Brazil



Brazil is, of course, the counry which received more Japanese immigrants than other Latin American countries. Between 1,300,000 and 1,500,000 people of Japanese origin live in the Portuguese-speaking country in the Western Hemisphere, especially in the São Paulo State.

The first Japanese immigrants to Brazil were those who went by the Kasato-maru in 1908(791 people of 158 families). In that era Brazil lacked workforces for farms, especially for coffee, and received European immigrants to cover such needs. Brazil began to look at Japan as a promising provider of workforce, which matched Japanese government's intention to enlarge its presence in the world. Thousands of Japanese farmers wanted to go to Brazil to get rid of the poverty and make some money by working arduously for a couple of years(the first immigrants from Fukuoka are the 79 people of 21 families who tripped by the Ryojun-maru in 1910). More and more Japanese workers set out toward Santos(port for São Paulo) whose number reached 20,686(5,308 families) between 1918 and 1925, from which 2,239 of 568 families are from Fukuoka.

Japanese immigrants were characterized by their eager to be independent farmers. This tendency, nevertheless, was out of Brazil's expectation to make use of more agricultural workforce. For Brazilian farm owners it was inconvenient to go on looking for new immigrants due to the independence of the precedent ones even they worked well. As a result, the São Paulo State stopped to pay the trip fare for Japanese immigrants and it's the Japanese government which succeeded this service. The farmers' influx went on from the archipelago since the Far East(the amount of immigrants to Brazil were between 5,000 and more than 20,000 by year between 1926 and 1934).

The Brazilian policy began to be rigid in the middle of the 1930s. The nationalist movements in Europe arrived at Brazil which started to limit the number of immigrants. Only 2,849 Japanese immigrants per year were admitted. After the burstout of the Pacific War, in Dec 1941, Brazil discarded the diplomatic relations with Japan in Jan 1942. It was forbidden to publish newspapers in Japanese, Japanese schools were closed, and immigrants had nothing but to listen to the Japanese radio to know latest news, believing the their home country would win.

The broadcasting on Aug 15, 1945(called "Gyokuon-hoso" in Japanese), which announced Japan's surrender, was unbelievable for Japanese immigrants in Brazil. Many of them didn't believe this news, wanted their mother country to win and even some said that Emperor's boats would come " to bring them back to Japan." Some of them knew the surrender by way of Brazilian media, and in 1946 some murders occured by Japanese extremists to their countrimen who recognized the truth, as for them it was inconceivable for Japan, the Divine Country, to be defeated.

The Japanese community in Brazil started a new stage after the World War II. Those who decided to stay in Brazil for good started to make a lot of effort for their childrens' education. The nisseis(children of immigrants) and the sanseis(granchildren) went to universities, some of them have attained important posts like deputees and mayor of Curitiba(capital of the Paraná State), considered by Brazilians to be "honest workers."(by Miguel)


SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL.

[Nick]

Very interesting.Your infomation and commetary on this subject was very intriguing.

Those photos of the Japanese celebrating a festival in Sao Polo are just unbelievabe.Brazil is the third lagest immigrant group in Japan after the Korens.

The total number of immigrants in Japan total 0.8 percent of the population.

Originally Posted by Nick

Very interesting.Your infomation and commetary on this subject was very intriguing.

Those photos of the Japanese celebrating a festival in Sao Polo are just unbelievabe.Brazil is the third lagest immigrant group in Japan after the Korens.

The total number of immigrants in Japan total 0.8 percent of the population.

true, many brazilians of japanese descent are going to japan, but most of them come back in 3 or 4 years....

SABRINA SATO- JAPANESE BRAZILIAN MODEL

LIBERDADE: JAPANESE NEIGHBORHOOD, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

[Nick]

That Japanese neighbourhood in Sao Polo is the only place that looks like it is really part of Japan outside of Japan.Just amazing.

'Most brazilain Japanese return back to Brazil in 2 of 3 years'

Why is that?

[lumpia]

^i kno its AMAZING!! it looks like Japan!!! ...
about the returning stuff.. i hav a japanese m8 who tells me that nihonjin are not very welcoming towards the brazilian japanese people for some reason (i have NO idea why).. they welcome Gaijin with open arms, but brazilian Nikkeijin get treated like 2nd class citizens(??)... hmm weird..

[elfreako]

I think the main reason that the 'Nikkei-jin' (Brazilians of Japanese descent) return after 4 years is due to the visa rules; the non-renewable work permits for Brazilians are valid for 4 years only. The same applies to the Peruvians and Colombians.

I know that these guys have a difficult time adjusting to life in rigid Japan. They may look Japanese, but there the resemblance ends - they are happy-go-lucky Latins through and through. There was a recent article in the press about neighbourhood tensions between the Brazilians and the local Japanese in Hamamatsu (a town famous in Japan for having the largest population of Brazilians) which was sparked by the regular weekend block parties that the Nikkei-jin held causing the rather reserved Japanese locals no end of grief! LOL!

By the way, that huge red 'toorii' gate you see in the second pic is not made of timber but tacky aluminium! There's also a Macdonald's in that neighbourhood where all the signage and menus are in Japanese - a complete transplant from Japan. The whole neighbourhood is a really weird place as you could honestly be mistaken for thinking you were in downtown Tokyo or Osaka.

Originally Posted by Nick

That Japanese neighbourhood in Sao Polo is the only place that looks like it is really part of Japan outside of Japan.Just amazing.

'Most brazilain Japanese return back to Brazil in 2 of 3 years'

Why is that?

japan is a very diferent world from them, the culture is very diferent.. so most of them go to japan, get some money, and come back to brazil to live a better life here....brazilians are not treated well there, life is very diferent, so they prefer to come back as fast as they can

Originally Posted by elfreako

I think the main reason that the 'Nikkei-jin' (Brazilians of Japanese descent) return after 4 years is due to the visa rules; the non-renewable work permits for Brazilians are valid for 4 years only. The same applies to the Peruvians and Colombians.

no, if you are of japanese descent, i think you can stay for along time

I There was a recent article in the press about neighbourhood tensions between the Brazilians and the local Japanese in Hamamatsu (a town famous in Japan for having the largest population of Brazilians) which was sparked by the regular weekend block parties that the Nikkei-jin held causing the rather reserved Japanese locals no end of grief! LOL!

[/QUOTE]

[Nick]

Originally Posted by LERULERU

no, if you are of japanese descent, i think you can stay for along time

[/QUOTE]

The Japanese dont like noise after 8pm.They go crazy when any party takes place after that hour.Dinner parties are very popular as a result.This is one reason why they have 'Noisy zones' or 'Entertainment areas' in big cities.It keeps the noise out of the suburbs so all the Ojisans(old men) can get there sleep.

I remember attending a party back in 2000.The appartment residents called the police 4 times.We were pretty noisy.The music was loud and they're was plenty of outdoor chatting while cooking meat on the balcony BBQ.What got me though was the time.Everyone went home by 11.15 pm to get the last train.In any other country it would be acceptable to make a resonable amount of noise up to that time.

I could imagine what the locals would think when people from another culture,completely oppoistie in so many ways,party and dance on the street late into the night.

Sounds great to me.I should head up to Hamamastu for a look one day.All the Brazilains ive met in Osaka and Kyoto are serious party dudes who like to enjoy life and have lots of BBQs.

nick, r u japanese?

[lumpia]

no house parties? no get-togethers? the japanese are a very reserved people... well, maybe not the okinawans

Originally Posted by lumpia

no house parties? no get-togethers? the japanese are a very reserved people... well, maybe not the okinawans

must be boring

[Nick]

Originally Posted by LERULERU

nick, r u japanese?

Na mate.Aussie through and through with a nice thick accent.

[Puffdaddy]

Originally Posted by LERULERU

japan is a very diferent world from them, the culture is very diferent.. so most of them go to japan, get some money, and come back to brazil to live a better life here....brazilians are not treated well there, life is very diferent, so they prefer to come back as fast as they can

By knowing how the cutlure and the personality of Brazilian... Japan is kinda bowring for them. Brazailian are much more lay back them Japanese and not as seriouse about work them to enjoy their own time... Anyhow, the cultures are quiet different btw them... and I understand why Brazilian wouldn't stay they for too long.

By the way... does anybody has more photo of Brailzian Japanese pictures?? Hehe, they must be pretty hot eh~

[Bond James Bond]

Hmm, well I don't know about anyone else, but the Brazilian Japanese sound way more fun!

[Bond James Bond]

Hey, check this out:
http://www.debito.org/Bortzpressconf.html
And these are the Brazilians who've been discriminated against:
http://www.debito.org/bortzdiscrimreport.html
Check this out!

The caption under that photo notes this: "Note that the bar girls photographed on the right are mostly non-Japanese; only they are the exceptions."

[Bond James Bond]

Hey, and check this out, too: They've got a Carnival parade in Japan!!!
http://www.abc.net.au/am/s352397.htm

Sushi and Samba in Japan

AM Archive - Saturday, 25 August , 2001 00:00:00
Reporter: Mark Simkin
HAMISH ROBERTSON: The ordered calm and quiet conformity of Japanese society is likely to be a little shaken this weekend as Tokyo plays host to a Samba festival.

It's a little known fact that Tokyo is home to a large Brazilian population, and the street carnival is expected to attract huge numbers. But as our Tokyo correspondent Mark Simkin reports, life is not all one big party for the city's Latin population.

MARK SIMKIN: Tonight in one of Tokyo's most traditional suburbs, sushi will mix with Samba. Half a million Japanese, Brazilians and Japanese-Brazilians are expected to take part in a giant street carnival.

Japan might be one of the world's most homogenous countries, but one of its great secrets is that it's home to 200,000 Brazilians. They are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Japanese who, at the turn of the century, emigrated to Brazil in search of work.

In the 1990s Japan began to suffer labour shortages, and it changed its immigration laws to encourage Brazilians of Japanese descent to come home.

One of them was Adelson Silva de Brito. He runs a Brazilian cafe in Hamamatsu in central Japan. Locals have gathered there today to watch a soccer game on the TV.

Hamamatsu is home to Japan's biggest Brazilian population. Adolfson Silva de Brito says it's becoming a Brazilian rather than a Japanese town.

ADELSON SILVA DE BRITO: The Brazilian community here is forming a kind of a - maybe a ghetto. We Brazilians here are forming a totally independent community that has its own life, its own business, its own way to deal with things.

MARK SIMKIN: Their life isn't easy. The Japanese economy is sliding into its fourth recession in a decade, and the Japanese-Brazilians are bearing the brunt of it. Most of them work in factories, and many are being laid off. But they say that's not the greatest challenge; the real difficulty is fitting in in such a monocultural country. You have only to talk to Hamamatsu's Japanese locals to realise the problem.

'Compared to the Japanese, their manners are bad', this woman says.

'Whenever a crime is committed, it seems to be done by a foreigner', adds this woman. 'It wasn't like this in the old days.'

The Brazilians in turn complain about constant discrimination.

UNIDENTIFIED: My wife was born in Brazil from a Japanese [inaudible], but she is classed as a foreigner here. This is hard.

MARK SIMKIN: In 1999 Anna Bortz, a journalist at a local Brazilian TV station, became the first foreigner to win a discrimination court case in Japan after she sued a jewellery store that only served Japanese customers.

ANNA BORTZ: If we come from the [inaudible] like the Asian or like the American or other countries, we are discriminated.

MARK SIMKIN: There is discrimination, of course, in most countries around the world. Is Japan any different in that sense?

ANNA BORTZ: Yes. I think the difference in Japan is the problem that there is no protection [inaudible]. There is a kind of taboo to talking about discrimination.

MARK SIMKIN: The challenges being faced in Hamamatsu could soon be felt on a much larger scale. A demographic time-bomb is ticking in Japan. Soon one-quarter of the entire population will be retired, limiting the workforce and cutting the tax base.

The government will have to consider dramatically increasing immigration if it wants to keep the world's second-largest economy afloat.

This is Mark Simkin in Hamamatsu for Saturday AM.

[Buster]

Sao Paulo's Japanese neighbourhood looks really neat. I'm glad that they've retained a strong sense of community. That model is a beauty!

Us Japanese in Toronto don't have much of a community. There are a few stores and services that cater to Japanese students, must most of us have assimilated into the Canadian way of life (whatever that may be).