On June 18 1908, the first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil, aboard the Kasato Maru. A new era was about to start for Brazilian culture and ethnicity, but permanence was not first and foremost in the mind of the newly arrived workers who had responded to the appeal of a Japan-Brazil immigration agreement. Most of them had imagined their trip as a temporary endeavor – a way to achieve prosperity before returning to their native country. The trip from Kobe to the Santos port, in São Paulo State, lasted 52 days. Besides 781 workers bound by the immigration agreement, there were also 12 independent passengers. The Friendship, Trade and Navigation Treaty which made the trip possible had been signed in Paris in 1895. However, a crisis in the Brazilian coffee industry which lasted until 1906 had delayed the first entry of Japanese immigrants.
In 1907, a new law allowed each Brazilian state to establish its own immigration guidelines. São Paulo State determined that 3,000 Japanese could immigrate over a period of three years.Japan went through great transformations under Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito), ruler from 1867 until his death in 1912, who took upon himself the mission of modernizing Japan. Some events of the period affected the economy adversely. From 3,000 that number has increased to nearly 2 million.
As you walk through the Liberdade district of Sao Paulo, you could be forgiven for thinking you are in down-town Tokyo. Bright red torii gates of Shinto shrines line the streets, and myriad Asian restaurants and supermarkets display advertisements in Japanese characters.This is the center of the biggest Japanese immigrant community in the world. Over 1.8 million people of Japanese descent live in Brazil, 600,000 of them concentrated in Liberdade.
First settlers arrived in 1908, escaping poverty and unemployment in Japan, and were heading for the coffee plantations of Brazil's south which were in pressing need of laborers after the abolition of slavery.They were housed in former slaves' barracks where they slept on the floor, and suffered from illnesses new to them, like malaria, which they didn't know how to treat. They also had to adapt to a culture vastly different to their own.
But in spite of the initial hardship, the contribution Japanese immigrants made to Brazilian society has been far-reaching. Rikkyo University professor and author of several studies on Japanese immigration to Latin America Hiroaki Maruyama states that they introduced organized farming to the Amazon, where previously only hunter-gatherer system was practiced.
They also started commercial cultivation of pepper, setting Brazil on the road of becoming the world's fourth largest producer of the spice according to The International Pepper Community, an inter-governmental organization of pepper producing countries.Japanese influence was not limited to agriculture - early settlers popularized martial arts, helping create Brazilian jiu jitsu, and even the national drink, caipirinha, is sometimes mixed with Japanese rice wine instead of cachaca, creating a sakerinha.
Re-Immigrating to Japan
n 2008, the number of Brazilians in Japan reached 312,582. Brazilians correspond to the third biggest group of immigrants in Japan after the Koreans and the Chinese. The Brazilian community in Japan is the second biggest Brazilian community in a foreign country, and the biggest Portuguese-speaking community in Asia. Most Brazilians are found in the following prefectures: Aichi (Nagoya city), Shizuoka (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka), Gifu (Gifu), Mie, Saitama (Saitama), Gunma (Oizumi) and Kanagawa.
These Japanese-descent Brazilians, many with university diplomas, came to Japan searching for better income and better life. But they worked in jobs that were generally refused by the Japanese, and required lower educational qualification. Most of their employers were automobile and electronics companies. One report describes the situation as follows:
Close to one-fifth of the entire Brazilian nikkeijin population now lives in Japan. Well- educated and middle-class in Brazil, most of them work as unskilled laborers in small and medium-size firms in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Still, based on the exchange rate, they earn five to ten times their Brazilian incomes. Like their own forebears, most of them arrive in the new country intending to work for just a couple of years and then quickly return to Brazil with their savings. Consequently, they have also become known as dekasegi, short for dekasegi rodosha, Japanese for "temporary migrant worker." But many have already brought their families to Japan, and the process of long-term immigrant settlement has begun.
In 2008, Brazil and Japan celebrated the passing of one hundred years since Japanese immigration to Brazil started. In contrast, in 2009, the Brazilian community in Japan has nothing to celebrate due to difficulties caused by the economic crisis. The foreign workers, specially the Brazilian community, heavily felt the economic crisis. Many Brazilians are opting (or somehow forced) to leave Japan and return home to find work.The situation turned very serious for those who stayed despite the economic crisis. One account expresses the situation:
The crisis shows no signs of improving and because of this there are many Brazilians who used to live here and have returned to Brazil. The ones who stayed, like me, are trying to survive this mad crisis that affects Japan, almost every day I watch the Japanese news reporting on Brazilians living on the streets, people who have nothing to eat and others who live in public shelters, relying on the donations of kind people.
The problems faced by Brazilian nikkei-jin (Japanese-descent Brazilians) start with the fact that they look Japanese. But they are culturally Brazilians, and many of them cannot speak the Japanese language and are treated as foreigners. Their children also suffer difficulty because of the language barrier and a significant number of them leave school. Other children who came to Japan while very young forget the Portuguese language and lose the ability to understand their parents. Besides this and many other challenges, the Brazilian community is struggling to fit into the Japanese society and stay in Japan.
Many Brazilians who lost their jobs were forced to return to Brazil. But Mr. Sidival Furuzawa Pereira, 36 years old, and some other Brazilians want to stay in Japan despite the difficult situation. Mr. Pereira lost his job in mid-2009, and did not have the money to pay for house rent. He started to live on the streets of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka prefecture. Since then, he has been surviving by collecting discarded metal and electrical goods to sell at recycling centers. Mr. Pereira earned around 350 Yen (around three US dollars) a day. Instead of buying food, he saved the money until he had the minimum amount to send for his wife and children in Brazil. Seeing the harsh situation of Mr. Pereira and his effort to survive, a Japanese gave him an apartment to live in and eventually received food from a non-governmental organization (NGO).
But not getting enough for his needs, he still had to survive on food he would find in garbage bins. He said that he was very grateful for the help being given to him and he loved Japan. Every time he had the opportunity to call his wife, she would ask him why he would not come back to Brazil. Mr. Pereira would tell her that he was determined to live in Japan because he thought that Brazil had no job available for him, and he found it more feasible to scavenge for recyclable materials and send money to Brazil despite the continuing dire economic situation in Japan.
Job vacancies became increasingly difficult to find even for Japanese workers, and the situation was worse for Brazilians due to the language barrier. Japanese workers are now competing with Brazilians and other foreigners in getting work in factories that used to employ mostly foreigners.
References:
Hu Rights, JICA, Jazilian, et al.
In 1907, a new law allowed each Brazilian state to establish its own immigration guidelines. São Paulo State determined that 3,000 Japanese could immigrate over a period of three years.Japan went through great transformations under Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito), ruler from 1867 until his death in 1912, who took upon himself the mission of modernizing Japan. Some events of the period affected the economy adversely. From 3,000 that number has increased to nearly 2 million.
As you walk through the Liberdade district of Sao Paulo, you could be forgiven for thinking you are in down-town Tokyo. Bright red torii gates of Shinto shrines line the streets, and myriad Asian restaurants and supermarkets display advertisements in Japanese characters.This is the center of the biggest Japanese immigrant community in the world. Over 1.8 million people of Japanese descent live in Brazil, 600,000 of them concentrated in Liberdade.
First settlers arrived in 1908, escaping poverty and unemployment in Japan, and were heading for the coffee plantations of Brazil's south which were in pressing need of laborers after the abolition of slavery.They were housed in former slaves' barracks where they slept on the floor, and suffered from illnesses new to them, like malaria, which they didn't know how to treat. They also had to adapt to a culture vastly different to their own.
But in spite of the initial hardship, the contribution Japanese immigrants made to Brazilian society has been far-reaching. Rikkyo University professor and author of several studies on Japanese immigration to Latin America Hiroaki Maruyama states that they introduced organized farming to the Amazon, where previously only hunter-gatherer system was practiced.
They also started commercial cultivation of pepper, setting Brazil on the road of becoming the world's fourth largest producer of the spice according to The International Pepper Community, an inter-governmental organization of pepper producing countries.Japanese influence was not limited to agriculture - early settlers popularized martial arts, helping create Brazilian jiu jitsu, and even the national drink, caipirinha, is sometimes mixed with Japanese rice wine instead of cachaca, creating a sakerinha.
Re-Immigrating to Japan
n 2008, the number of Brazilians in Japan reached 312,582. Brazilians correspond to the third biggest group of immigrants in Japan after the Koreans and the Chinese. The Brazilian community in Japan is the second biggest Brazilian community in a foreign country, and the biggest Portuguese-speaking community in Asia. Most Brazilians are found in the following prefectures: Aichi (Nagoya city), Shizuoka (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka), Gifu (Gifu), Mie, Saitama (Saitama), Gunma (Oizumi) and Kanagawa.
These Japanese-descent Brazilians, many with university diplomas, came to Japan searching for better income and better life. But they worked in jobs that were generally refused by the Japanese, and required lower educational qualification. Most of their employers were automobile and electronics companies. One report describes the situation as follows:
Close to one-fifth of the entire Brazilian nikkeijin population now lives in Japan. Well- educated and middle-class in Brazil, most of them work as unskilled laborers in small and medium-size firms in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Still, based on the exchange rate, they earn five to ten times their Brazilian incomes. Like their own forebears, most of them arrive in the new country intending to work for just a couple of years and then quickly return to Brazil with their savings. Consequently, they have also become known as dekasegi, short for dekasegi rodosha, Japanese for "temporary migrant worker." But many have already brought their families to Japan, and the process of long-term immigrant settlement has begun.
In 2008, Brazil and Japan celebrated the passing of one hundred years since Japanese immigration to Brazil started. In contrast, in 2009, the Brazilian community in Japan has nothing to celebrate due to difficulties caused by the economic crisis. The foreign workers, specially the Brazilian community, heavily felt the economic crisis. Many Brazilians are opting (or somehow forced) to leave Japan and return home to find work.The situation turned very serious for those who stayed despite the economic crisis. One account expresses the situation:
The crisis shows no signs of improving and because of this there are many Brazilians who used to live here and have returned to Brazil. The ones who stayed, like me, are trying to survive this mad crisis that affects Japan, almost every day I watch the Japanese news reporting on Brazilians living on the streets, people who have nothing to eat and others who live in public shelters, relying on the donations of kind people.
The problems faced by Brazilian nikkei-jin (Japanese-descent Brazilians) start with the fact that they look Japanese. But they are culturally Brazilians, and many of them cannot speak the Japanese language and are treated as foreigners. Their children also suffer difficulty because of the language barrier and a significant number of them leave school. Other children who came to Japan while very young forget the Portuguese language and lose the ability to understand their parents. Besides this and many other challenges, the Brazilian community is struggling to fit into the Japanese society and stay in Japan.
Many Brazilians who lost their jobs were forced to return to Brazil. But Mr. Sidival Furuzawa Pereira, 36 years old, and some other Brazilians want to stay in Japan despite the difficult situation. Mr. Pereira lost his job in mid-2009, and did not have the money to pay for house rent. He started to live on the streets of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka prefecture. Since then, he has been surviving by collecting discarded metal and electrical goods to sell at recycling centers. Mr. Pereira earned around 350 Yen (around three US dollars) a day. Instead of buying food, he saved the money until he had the minimum amount to send for his wife and children in Brazil. Seeing the harsh situation of Mr. Pereira and his effort to survive, a Japanese gave him an apartment to live in and eventually received food from a non-governmental organization (NGO).
But not getting enough for his needs, he still had to survive on food he would find in garbage bins. He said that he was very grateful for the help being given to him and he loved Japan. Every time he had the opportunity to call his wife, she would ask him why he would not come back to Brazil. Mr. Pereira would tell her that he was determined to live in Japan because he thought that Brazil had no job available for him, and he found it more feasible to scavenge for recyclable materials and send money to Brazil despite the continuing dire economic situation in Japan.
Job vacancies became increasingly difficult to find even for Japanese workers, and the situation was worse for Brazilians due to the language barrier. Japanese workers are now competing with Brazilians and other foreigners in getting work in factories that used to employ mostly foreigners.
References:
Hu Rights, JICA, Jazilian, et al.
