Londrina - "Little London" or "Little Tokyo"?

[Yuri S Andrade]

LONDRINA was founded by British entrepreneurs in the middle of Mata Atlântica (tropical/subtropical rain forest) in the 1930's. Few British were left and the city is mostly Italian, with strong German, Spanish, Portuguese and Arab communities. Anyhow, Londrina is regarded for its huge Japanese community: about 30,000 in the city (nearly 150,000 in northern Paraná state) which makes Londrina the second biggest "Japanese" city in Brazil and one of the largest outside Japan, along São Paulo (the largest), New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Honolulu. Till today is trivial to hear the Japanese language in the streets, particularly among the elderly.


Tomi Nakagawa Square inaugurated in 2008 to celebrate the IMIN 100 (celebrations over the 100 years of Japanese immigration to Brazil) with the presence of the Crown Prince of Japan, Naruhito. The square is in the most decayed part of Downtown:

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Flickr by Henrique Elache

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olgaleiria Flickr

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Flickr by olgaleiria

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Flickr by olgaleiria

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Bel Mercês Flickr

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lolalombardi Flickr

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Panoramio

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by Rei Santos

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by Rei Santos

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Flickr by Giancarlo Zortea

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Flickr by Amanda Truss

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Flickr by Amanda Truss

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Flickr by Amanda Truss

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Flickr by dirs

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Yuri S Andrade (SSC)

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Yuri S Andrade (SSC)

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Yuri S Andrade (SSC)

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Yuri S Andrade (SSC)

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Yuri S Andrade (SSC)

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image hosted on flickr

SSC by damiao

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Flickr by Lunardelli 35

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Flickr by Erika

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Flickr by Pedro Laperuta

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Flickr by Pedro Laperuta

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Flickr by Pedro Laperuta

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Flickr by Pedro Laperuta

[Yuri S Andrade]

Nishinomiya Square, in front of Londrina's airport terminal, named after Londrina's sister city:

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Flickr by Érre Ortega



IMIN 100 in Rolândia (Londrina Metro Area). The city is mainly German, but as Londrina, harbours a large Japanese community:

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Panoramio by José Carlos Farina

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Panoramio by José Carlos Farina

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Flickr by Gilberto Abelha

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Flickr by Gilberto Abelha

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Flickr by Gilberto Abelha



IMIN 100 in Londrina. Kasato Maru was the ship which brought the first Japanese immigrants to Brazil:

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Erika Flickr

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Erika Flickr

[Yuri S Andrade]

The Matsuri is a large festival organized by the Japanese community that marks the arrival of spring. There are plenty of Japanese food, different kinds of exhibitions, traditional dancing performances and karaoke:

Matsuri 2008:
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Other Matsuri editions:
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Flickr by bbonato

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Flickr by Amanda Truss

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Flickr by Amanda Truss

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Guero Flickr

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sebastiaobasso Flickr

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sebastiaobasso Flickr

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sebastiaobasso Flickr

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sebastiaobasso Flickr

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sebastiaobasso Flickr

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sebastiaobasso Flickr

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sebastiaobasso Flickr

[Yuri S Andrade]

Baseball, Brazil x Japan, at ACEL, a Londrina's Japanese club. Its name was changed during the Vargas dictatorship in the WWII years. AREL is the German club in London, which name was also changed:

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Flickr by olgaleiria

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Flickr by olgaleiria



Sumo

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Flickr by AlexsTcho

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Flickr by AlexsTcho



Sansey, a Japanese folk group from Londrina in a festival in São Paulo:

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Alexandre Matsumoto Flickr

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Alexandre Matsumoto Flickr

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Alexandre Matsumoto Flickr

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Alexandre Matsumoto Flickr

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Alexandre Matsumoto Flickr



Miscellaneous

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@tefo Flickr

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Vinícius Portelinha Flickr

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Gilberto Abelha Flickr

[Yuri S Andrade]

And to say goodbye, the skyline:


picasaweb - frazao

[Joás Santos]

Nice pics.

[Yuri S Andrade]

Thank you, Joás!

[LADEN]

The city is only 3.6% Asian!

[igor_carlos]

Just numbers and statistics because 3.6% of entire Londrina population means a large number comparing to aproximatelly half million inhabitants.

Londrina is an Amazing city to live or invest

I´m one of 1.5 million Brazilian Japanese around the world, this number means less than 1% of Brazilian Population almost 191 million in 2010 census.

More statistcs because Yuri loves it Brazilian Japanese living in Japan in 2008: 312.582
in 2009 during economy crisis: 267.456

Prefecture- 2009 - 2008
Aichi ----- 67.162 - 79.156
Shizuoka - 42.625 - 51.441
Mie ------ 18.667 - 21.668
Gifu ------ 17.018 - 20.481
Gunma ----15.324 - 17.522

[shiroshima]

Wonderful thread!
I´m a member of the Japanese community in Brazil and I'm very proud to see our culture shown here!
Congratulations Yuri!

[FHC]

[sebvill]

Amazing the Jap community over their. There are a lot of japanese descendants here in Lima too.... althought very few preserve their original culture.

[Yuri S Andrade]

Originally Posted by igor_carlos

Just numbers and statistics because 3.6% of entire Londrina population means a large number comparing to aproximatelly half million inhabitants.

Londrina is an Amazing city to live or invest

Exactly. That's because the Brazilian Statistical Office still uses the word amarelo (yellow), for Asians. So, in some parts of the country, some mixed people state they are "yellow" and many Asians don't feel confortable to label themselves "yellow".

3.6% (5% to be more accurate) is an impressive figure for a 500,000 inhabitants city. Londrina harbours the 5th or the 6th largest Japanese community in the world outside Japan. If we regard the metro area, the community is around 40,000-50,000 people.

Originally Posted by igor_carlos

I´m one of 1.5 million Brazilian Japanese around the world, this number means less than 1% of Brazilian Population almost 191 million in 2010 census.

More statistcs because Yuri loves it Brazilian Japanese living in Japan in 2008: 312.582
in 2009 during economy crisis: 267.456

Prefecture- 2009 - 2008
Aichi ----- 67.162 - 79.156
Shizuoka - 42.625 - 51.441
Mie ------ 18.667 - 21.668
Gifu ------ 17.018 - 20.481
Gunma ----15.324 - 17.522

Thank you for posting, Igor! Londrina and the whole Northern Paraná are experiencing the émigrés' comeback. I, for one, welcome this new trend.

Originally Posted by shiroshima

Wonderful thread!
I´m a member of the Japanese community in Brazil and I'm very proud to see our culture shown here!
Congratulations Yuri!

Thank you, shiroshima! And when the page turn, I'd like to post the pics of your newest thread over the Japanese immigration in Paraná.

Originally Posted by sebvill

Amazing the Jap community over their. There are a lot of japanese descendants here in Lima too.... althought very few preserve their original culture.

Yes, Peru is home of one of the largest Japanese communities in the world. If I'm not mistaken, is the 3rd largest, behind Brazil and the US.

[Yuri S Andrade]

I elaborated this map to show the Japanese presence in Brazil:



Almost all of them live inside the black cone through São Paulo and Paraná states. More people in the east and much less in west, into Mato Grosso do Sul state. The red circles represent the biggest concentrations: São Paulo, Londrina, Maringá and Presidente Prudente. In small cities like Bastos (PP area) and Assaí (Ldna area), the Japanese community is more than 25% of the cities total population. The black circle around Curitiba represents the local Japanese community (the 3rd largest in Brazil, around 20,000 people), arisen in the late 1970's, after the Black Frost in northern Paraná state, which driven 2 million people in 5 years out of the region, including the Japanese.

Relatively, northern Paraná is the second most "Japanese" region in the world (about 3-4% of the total population), after Hawaii (about 12%). However, northern Paraná is far more populated: 3.6 million inhabitants against 1.2 million in Hawaii.

[shiroshima]

Originally Posted by Yuri S Andrade

Thank you, shiroshima! And when the page turn, I'd like to post the pics of your newest thread over the Japanese immigration in Paraná.

Ok Yuri!
You can take every pic as you want!

[Yuri S Andrade]

Thank you!

[Fakroef]

Impressive. are you sure this is Brazil?

in proportion, there are more brazilian-japaneses in Londrina or Sao Paulo?

[Alexpilsen]

Of cors its Brazil!

[Yuri S Andrade]

Originally Posted by Fakroef

Impressive. are you sure this is Brazil?

in proportion, there are more brazilian-japaneses in Londrina or Sao Paulo?

Londrina Japanese-Brazilian population is about 4-5% of the total ( Maringá and Presidente Prudente has similar figures). In São Paulo, they are around 2-3%.

Assaí (16,000 inhabitants, Paraná state, near Londrina) and Bastos (20,000 inhabitants, São Paulo state, near Presidente Prudente) have the largest communities in Brazil, relatively speaking: 25% of the total population.

[Yuri S Andrade]

Turning the page...