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Mitsuyo Maeda,a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda,was a Japanese judōka and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions. He was also known as Count Combat or Conde Koma in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, a nickname he picked up in Spain in 1908...
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Juniti SaitoJuniti Saito is a military officer and the current commander of Brazilian Air Force.The son of Japanese immigrants Iwataro Saito and Toshike Tamaoki, Lieutenant-Brigadier Saito is the first Japanese-Brazilian to reach the highest rank in a branch of the Brazilian Military.In 2010, Saito signed an...
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Luiz GushikenLuiz Gushiken is a Brazilian activist and politician. He was formerly the head of the social communication office of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration, a position which carried a ministerial rank....
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Tizuka YamazakiTizuka Yamasaki is a Brazilian film director.-Early life and work:At the age of 2, her parents moved to the city of Atibaia, in the state of São Paulo. In her teenage years, Yamasaki moved to São Paulo city for an undergraduate course in architecture, though she changed her mind before her...
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Hugo HoyamaHugo Hoyama is a table tennis player from Brazil, he won several medals in single, double, and team events in the Latin American Table Tennis Championships....
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Juliana Imai |
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LovefoxxxLuísa Hanae Matsushita , better known by her stage name Lovefoxxx, is the Brazilian lead singer of indie-electro band Cansei de Ser Sexy.-Biography:...
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Daniele SuzukiDaniele Suzuki is a Brazilian actress and TV host.Daniele Suzuki is the daughter of Hiroshi Suzuki, a first generation Japanese Brazilian from São Paulo, whose parents immigrated from Shizuoka. Her mother is Ivone Suzuki, a Brazilian from Minas Gerais, of Italian, German and Amerindian descent...
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Paulo NagamuraPaulo Roberto Corradi Nagamura is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays for Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer.-Youth:Nagamura came up through the system of hometown São Paulo...
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Lisa OnoLisa Ono is a popular Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer.- Biography :Lisa Ono was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1962 but moved with her family to Tokyo at the age of 10...
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Sabrina SatoSabrina Sato Rahal is a Brazilian comedienne and television personality. She was a contestant on Big Brother Brasil 3 and is a current comedian on comedy program Pânico na TV .-Early life:...
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Fernanda TakaiFernanda Barbosa Takai is a Brazilian singer, better known as the lead vocalist of rock band Pato Fu...
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|poptime= 1.5 million (estimated) Japanese Brazilians
0.8% of BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
's population
|popplace=Japan:
268,000 Japanese Brazilians
|langs= Predominantly PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
Minorities speak Japanese
|rels= Predominantly:
Roman Catholicism
Minority:
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
{{·}} Shintoism
|related=Japanese Americanare American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
, Japanese peopleThe are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
}}
A {{Nihongo|Japanese Brazilian|日系ブラジル人|nikkei burajiru-jin|nipo-brasileiro in Portuguese}} is a Brazilian citizen of Japanese descent, or a Japanese immigrant living in Brazil.
The first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in 1908. Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. According to the IBGEThe Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics or IBGE , is the agency responsible for statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil...
, as of 2000 there were between 1.4 and 1.5 million people of Japanese descent in Brazil.
The largest concentrations of Japanese people in Brazil are mostly found in the states of São PauloSão Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
and ParanáParaná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
.
Background
Between the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, coffee was the main export product of Brazil. At first, Brazilian farmers used African slave labour in the coffee plantations, but in 1850, the slave traffic was abolished in Brazil. To solve the labour shortage, the Brazilian elite decided to attract European immigrants to work in the coffee plantations. The government and farmers offered to pay European immigrants's passage. The plan encouraged millions of Europeans, most of them Italians, to migrate to BrazilImmigration to Brazil is the movement to Brazil of foreign persons to reside permanently. It should not be confused with the colonisation of the country by the Portuguese, or with the forcible bringing of people from Africa as slaves....
. However, once in Brazil, the immigrants received very low salaries and worked in poor conditions, similar to the conditions faced by the black slaves: long working hours and frequent ill-treatment by their bosses. Because of this, in 1902, Italy enacted Decree Prinetti, prohibiting subsidized immigration to Brazil.
Japanese immigrants began arriving in 1908, as a result of the decrease in the Italian immigration to Brazil and a new labour shortage on the coffee plantations.
In the 1930s Japanese industrialisation had significantly boosted the population. However prospects for Japanese people to immigrate to other countries were limited. The US had banned non-white immigration, on the basis that they would not integrate into society; these laws were specifically targeting the Japanese. At the same time in Australia the White Australian Policy at the same time prevented the immigration of non-whites to Australia.
Beginning
The end of feudalism in JapanThe was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...
generated great poverty in the rural population, so many Japanese began to emigrate in search of better living conditions. In 1907, the Brazilian and the Japanese governments signed a treaty permitting Japanese migration to Brazil. The first Japanese immigrants (790 people – mostly farmers) came to Brazil in 1908 on the Kasato Maru from the Japanese port of Kobe, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
, moving to Brazil in search of better living conditions. Many of them became laborers on coffee plantations.
In the first seven years, 3,434 more Japanese families (14,983 people) arrived. The beginning of World War I (1914) started a boom in Japanese migration to Brazil, such that between 1917 and 1940 over 164,000 Japanese came to Brazil, 75% of them going to São PauloSão Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
, where most of the coffee plantations were.
Japanese Immigration to Brazil by Period, 1906 – 1993
| Years | Population |
| 1906–1910 |
1,714 |
| 1911–1915 |
13,371 |
| 1916–1920 |
13,576 |
| 1921–1925 |
11,350 |
| 1926–1930 |
59,564 |
| 1931–1935 |
72,661 |
| 1936–1941 |
16,750 |
| 1952–1955 |
7,715 |
| 1956–1960 |
29,727 |
| 1961–1965 |
9,488 |
| 1966–1970 |
2,753 |
| 1971–1975 |
1,992 |
| 1976–1980 |
1,352 |
| 1981–1985 |
411 |
| 1986–1990 |
171 |
| 1991–1993 |
48 |
| Total |
242,643 |
New life in Brazil
The vast majority of Japanese immigrants intended to work a few years in Brazil, make some money, and go home. However, getting “rich quick” was a dream that was almost impossible to achieve. The immigrants had a very low salary and worked long hours of exhausting work. Also, everything that the immigrants consumed had to be purchased from the landowner (see truck systemA truck system is an arrangement in which employees are paid in commodities or some currency substitute , rather than with standard money. This limits employees' ability to choose how to spend their earnings—generally to the benefit of the employer...
). Soon, their debts became very high.
The land owners in Brazil still had a slavery mentality. Immigrants, although employees, had to confront the rigidity and lack of labour laws. Indebted and subjected to hours of exhaustive work, often suffering physical violence, the immigrants saw the leak as an alternative to escape the situation. Suicide, yonige (to escape at night), and strikes were some of the attitudes taken by many Japanese because of the exploitation on coffee farms.
The barrier of language, religionReligion in Brazil has a higher adherence level compared to other Latin American countries, and is more diverse.In 1891, when the first Brazilian Republican Constitution was set forth, Brazil ceased to have an official religion. The present Constitution guarantees absolute freedom of religion...
, dietary habits, clothing, lifestyles and differences in climate entailed a culture shockCulture shock is the anxiety, feelings of frustration, alienation and anger that may occur when a person is emplaced in a new culture.One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign country. Culture shock can be described as consisting of one or more distinct phases...
. Many immigrants tried to return to Japan but were prevented by Brazilian farmers, who required them to comply with the contract and work with the coffee.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}
On 1 August 1908, The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
remarked that relations between Brazil and Japan at the time were "not extremely cordial", because of "the attitude of Brazil toward the immigration of Japanese laborers."
Japanese children, born in Brazil, were educated in schools founded by the Japanese community. Most only learned to speak Japanese and lived within the Japanese community in rural areas. Over the years, many Japanese managed to buy their own land and became small farmers. They started to plant strawberries, tea and rice. Only 6% of children were the result of interracialMiscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
relationships. Immigrants rarely accepted marriage with a non-Japanese person.
Prejudice and forced assimilation
On July 28, 1921, representatives Andrade Bezerra and Cincinato Braga proposed a law whose Article 1 provided: "The immigration of individuals from the black race to Brazil is prohibited." On October 22, 1923, representative Fidélis Reis produced another bill on the entry of immigrants, whose fifth article was as follows: "The entry of settlers from the black race into Brazil is prohibited. For Asian [immigrants] there will be allowed each year a number equal to 5% of those residing in the country.(...)".
Some years before World War II, the government of President Getúlio VargasGetúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...
initiated a process of forced assimilation of people of immigrant origin in Brazil. The Constitution of 1934 had a legal provision about the subject: "The concentration of immigrants anywhere in the country is prohibited, the law should govern the selection, location and assimilation of the alien". The assimilationist project affected mainly German, Italian, Jewish, Japanese immigrants and their descendants.
In the government's conception, the non-White population of Brazil should disappear within the dominant class of Portuguese Brazilian origin. This way, the mixed-race population should be "whitened" through selective mixing, then a preference for European immigration. In consequence, the non-white population would, gradually, achieve a desirable White phenotype. The formation of "ethnic cysts" among immigrants of non-Portuguese origin prevented the realization of the whitening project of the Brazilian population. The government, then, started to act on these communities of foreign origin to force them to integrate into a "Brazilian culture" with Portuguese roots. It was the dominant idea of a unification of all the inhabitants of Brazil under a single "national spirit". During World War II, Brazil severed relations with Japan. Japanese newspapers and teaching the Japanese language in schools were banned, leaving Portuguese as the only option for Japanese descendants. Newspapers in German or Italian were also advised to cease production, as Germany and Italy were Japan's allies in the war. In 1939, research of Estrada de Ferro Noroeste do Brasil, from São Paulo, showed that 87.7% of Japanese Brazilians read newspapers in the Japanese language, a high figure for a country with many illiterate people like Brazil.
The Japanese appeared as undesirable immigrants within the "whitening" and assimilationist policy of the Brazilian government. Oliveira Viana, a Brazilian jurist, historian and sociologist described the Japanese immigrants as follows: "They (Japanese) are like sulfur: insoluble". The Brazilian magazine "O Malho" in its edition of December 5, 1908 issued a charge of Japanese immigrants with the following legend: "The government of São Paulo is stubborn. After the failure of the first Japanese immigration, it contracted 3,000 yellow people. It insists on giving Brazil a race diametrically opposite to ours". In 1941, the Brazilian Minister of Justice, Francisco Campos, defended the ban on admission of 400 Japanese immigrants in São Paulo and wrote: "their despicable standard of living is a brutal competition with the country's worker; their selfishness, their bad faith, their refractory character, make them a huge ethnic and cultural cyst located in the richest regions of Brazil".
The Japanese Brazilian community was strongly marked by restrictive measures when Brazil declared war against Japan in August 1942. Japanese Brazilians could not travel the country without safe conduct issued by the police; over 200 Japanese schools were closed and radio equipments were seized to prevent transmissions on short wave from Japan. The goods of Japanese companies were confiscated and several companies of Japanese origin had interventions, including the newly founded Banco América do Sul. Japanese Brazilians were prohibited from driving motor vehicles (even if they were taxi drivers), buses or trucks on their property. The drivers employed by Japanese had to have permission from the police. Thousands of Japanese immigrants were arrested or expelled from Brazil on suspicion of espionage. There were many anonymous denunciations because of "activities against national security" arising from disagreements between neighbors, recovery of debts and even fights between children. Japanese Brazilians were arrested for "suspicious activity" when they were in artistic meetings or picnicIn contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
s. On July 10, 1943, approximately 10,000 Japanese and German immigrants who lived in Santos-Sister cities: Shimonoseki, Japan Nagasaki, Japan Funchal, Portugal Trieste, Italy Coimbra, Portugal Ansião, Portugal Arouca, Portugal Ushuaia, Argentina Havana, Cuba Taizhou. China Ningbo. China Constanţa, Romania Ulsan, South Korea Colón, Panama* Cadiz, Spain...
had 24 hours to close their homes and businesses and move away from the Brazilian coast. The police acted without any notice. About 90% of people displaced were Japanese. To reside in Baixada SantistaBaixada Santista is an official metropolitan area on the coast of the São Paulo state originally centered around the port city of Santos. Its administrative center is located at Santos, because local economics and politics revolves around that city...
, the Japanese had to have a safe conduct. In 1942, the Japanese community who introduced the cultivation of pepper in Tomé-AçuTomé-Açu is a town and municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil.-References:...
, in ParáPará is a state in the north of Brazil. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest it also borders Guyana and Suriname, and to the northeast it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Belém.Pará is the most populous state...
, was virtually turned into a "concentration camp" (expression of the time) from which no Japanese could leave. This time, the Brazilian ambassador in Washington, D.C., Carlos Martins Pereira e Sousa, encouraged the government of Brazil to transfer all the Japanese Brazilians to "internment camps" without the need for legal support, in the same manner as was done with the Japanese residents in the United StatesJapanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
. No single suspicion of activities of Japanese against "national security" was confirmed.
During the National Constituent Assembly of 1946, Rio Miguel Couto Filho proposed Amendments to the Constitution as follows: "It is prohibited the entry of Japanese immigrants of any age and any origin in the country". In the final vote, a tie with 99 votes in favor and 99 against. SenatorThe Federal Senate of Brazil is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, it was inspired by the United Kingdom's House of Lords, but with the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 it became closer to the United States...
Fernando de Melo Viana, who chaired the session of the Constituent Assembly, had the casting vote and rejected the constitutional amendment. By only one vote, the immigration of Japanese people to Brazil was not prohibited by the Brazilian Constitution of 1946.
The Japanese immigrants appeared to the Brazilian government as undesirable and non-assimilable immigrants. As Asian, they did not contribute to the "whitening" process of the Brazilian people as desired by the ruling Brazilian elite. In this process of forced assimilation the Japanese, more than any other immigrant group, suffered the ethno-cultural persecution imposed during this period.
Prestige
For decades, Japanese Brazilians were seen as a delayed and non-assimilable people. The immigrants were treated only as a reserve of cheap labour that should be used on coffee plantations and that Brazil should avoid absorbing their cultural influences. This widespread conception that the Japanese were negative for Brazil was changed in the following decades. In the 1970s, Japan became one of the richest countries of the world, synonymous with modernity and progress. In the same period, Japanese Brazilians achieved a great cultural and economic success, probably the immigrant group that most rapidly achieved progress in Brazil. Due to the powerful Japanese economy and due to the rapid enrichment of the NiseiDuring the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...
, in the last decades Brazilians of Japanese descent achieved a social prestige in Brazil which largely contrasts with the aggressiveness that the early immigrants were treated in the country.
Integration and intermarriage
{{Ref improve section|date=June 2009}}
| Intermarriage in the Japanese-Brazilian community |
| Generation |
Denomination in |
Proportion of each generation in all community (%) |
Proportion of mixed-race in each generation (%) |
| Japanese |
English |
| 1st |
Issei |
Immigrants |
12.51% |
0% |
| 2nd |
Nisei |
Children |
30.85% |
6% |
| 3rd |
Sansei |
Grandchildren |
41.33% |
42% |
| 4th |
Yonsei |
Great-grandchildren |
12.95% |
61% |
Nowadays, many Japanese Brazilians belong to the third generation (sanseiSansei is a Japanese language term used in countries in South America, North America and Australia to specify the children of children born to Japanese people in the new country. The Nisei are considered the second generation, grandchildren of the Japanese-born immigrants are called Sansei and...
), who make up 41.33% of the community. First generation (isseiIssei is a Japanese language term used in countries in North America, South America and Australia to specify the Japanese people first to immigrate. Their children born in the new country are referred to as Nisei , and their grandchildren are Sansei...
) are 12.51%, second generation (niseiDuring the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...
) are 30.85% and fourth generation (yonseiis a Japanese diasporic term used in countries, particularly in North America and in Latin America, to specify the great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants . The children of Issei are Nisei . Sansei are the third generation, and their offspring are Yonsei...
) 12.95%.
A more recent phenomenon in Brazil is intermarriageInterracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...
s between Japanese Brazilians and non-ethnic Japanese. Though people of Japanese descent make up only 0.8% of the country's population, they are the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, with over 1.4 million people. In areas with large numbers of Japanese, such as São PauloSão Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
and ParanáParaná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
, since the 1970s, large numbers of Japanese-descendants started to marry into other ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
s. Although interracial relationships are not well accepted in Japan, immigrants in Brazil seem to be relatively more inclined towards integration with Brazilian culture.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} Even so, Jeffrey Lesser's work has shown the complexities of integration both during the Vargas era, and more recently during the dictatorship (1964–1984)
Nowadays, among the 1.4 million Brazilians of Japanese descent, 28% have some non-Japanese ancestry. This number reaches only 6% among children of Japanese immigrants, but 61% among great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants.
Religion
Immigrants, as well as most Japanese, were mostly followers of Shintoor Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
. In the Japanese communities in Brazil, there was a strong performance of Brazilian priests to convert the Japanese. More recently, intermarriage with Catholics also contributed to the growth of Catholicism in the community. Currently, 60% of Japanese-Brazilians are Roman Catholics and 25% are adherents of a Japanese religion.
Language
The knowledge of the Japanese and Portuguese languages reflects the integration of the Japanese in Brazil over several generations. Although first generation immigrants will often not learn Portuguese well or not use it frequently, most second generation are bilingual. The third generation, however, are most likely monolingual in Portuguese or speak, along with Portuguese, a not fluent Japanese.
A research conducted in the Japanese Brazilian communities of Aliança and Fukuhaku, both in the state of São Paulo, released information on the language spoken by these people. Before coming to Brazil, 12.2% of the first generation interviewed from Aliança reported they had studied the Portuguese language in Japan and 26.8% said to have used it once on arrival in Brazil. Many of the Japanese immigrants took classes of Portuguese and learned about the History of BrazilThe history of Brazil begins with the arrival of the first indigenous peoples, thousands of years ago by crossing the Bering land bridge into Alaska and then moving south....
before migrating to the country. In Fukuhaku only 7.7% of the people reported they had studied Portuguese in Japan, but 38.5% said they had contact with Portuguese once on arrival in Brazil. All the immigrants reported they spoke exclusively Japanese at home in the first years in Brazil. However, in 2003, the figure dropped to 58.5% in Aliança and 33.3% in Fukuhaku. This probably reflects that through contact with the younger generations of the family, who speak mostly Portuguese, many immigrants also began to speak Portuguese at home.
The first Brazilian born generation, the Nisei, alternate between the use of Portuguese and Japanese. Regarding the use of Japanese at home, 64.3% of Nisei informants from Aliança and 41.5% from Fukuhaku used Japanese when they were children. In comparison, only 14.3% of the third generation, Sansei, reported to speak Japanese at home when they were children. It reflects that the second generation was mostly educated by their Japanese parents using the Japanese language. On the other hand, the third generation did not have much contact with their grandparent's language, and most of them speak the national language of Brazil, Portuguese, as their mother tongue.
Japanese Brazilians usually speak Japanese more often when they live along with a first generation relative. Those who do not live with a Japanese-born relative usually speak Portuguese more often. Japanese spoken in Brazil is usually a mix of different Japanese dialectsThe comprise many regional variants. The lingua franca of Japan is called hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo , and while it was based initially on the Tokyo dialect, the language of Japan's capital has since gone in its own direction to become one of Japan's many dialects...
, since the Japanese community in Brazil came from all regions of Japan, influenced by the Portuguese language. The high numbers of Brazilian immigrants returning from Japan will probably produce more Japanese speakers in Brazil.
Distribution and population
| 2000 IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics or IBGE , is the agency responsible for statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil...
estimates
for Japanese Brazilians |
| State | Population of
Japanese Brazilians |
| São Paulo |
693,495 |
| Paraná |
143,588 |
| Bahia |
78,449 |
| Minas Gerais |
75,449 |
| Others |
414,704 |
| Total |
1,405,685 |
According to the IBGE, as of 2000 there were 70,932 Japanese born immigrants living in Brazil (compared to the 158,087 found in 1970). Of the Japanese, 51,445 lived in São Paulo. Most of the immigrants were over 60 years old, because the immigration to Brazil is ended since the mid-20th century.
In 2008, IBGE published a book about the Japanese diasporaThe Japanese diaspora, and its individual members known as , are Japanese emigrants from Japan and their descendants that reside in a foreign country...
and it estimated that, as of 2000, there were 1,405,685 people of Japanese descent in Brazil. The Japanese immigration was concentrated to São Paulo and, still in 2000, 49.3% of Japanese Brazilians lived in this state. There were 693,495 people of Japanese origin in São Paulo, followed by ParanáParaná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
with 143,588. More recently, Brazilians of Japanese descent are making presence in places that used to have a small population of this group. For example: in 1960, there were 532 Japanese Brazilians in BahiaBahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
, while in 2000 they were 78,449, or 0.6% of the state's population. Northern Brazil (excluding ParáPará is a state in the north of Brazil. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest it also borders Guyana and Suriname, and to the northeast it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Belém.Pará is the most populous state...
) saw its Japanese population increase from 2,341 in 1960 (0.2% of the total population) to 54,161 (0.8%) in 2000. During the same period, in Central-Western Brazil they increased from 3,582 to 66,119 (0.7% of the population).
For the whole Brazil, with over 1.4 million people of Japanese descent, the largest percentages were found in the states of São Paulo (1.9% of Japanese descent), Paraná (1.5%) and Mato Grosso do SulMato Grosso do Sul is one of the states of Brazil.Neighboring Brazilian states are Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay and Bolivia to the west. The economy of the state is largely based on agriculture and cattle-raising...
(1.4%). The smallest percentages were found in RoraimaRoraima is the northernmost and least populated state of Brazil, located in the Amazon region. It borders the states of Amazonas and Pará, as well as the nations of Venezuela and Guyana. The population is 400,000 and the capital is Boa Vista...
and AlagoasAlagoas is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco ; Sergipe ; Bahia ; and the Atlantic Ocean . It occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti...
(with only 8 Japanese). The percentage of Brazilians with Japanese roots largely increased among children and teenagers. In 1991, 0.6% of Brazilians between 0 and 14 years old were of Japanese descent. In 2000, they were 4%, as a result of the returning of DekasegiDekasegi is a term used in Latin American cultures to refer to ethnic Japanese people who have migrated to Japan, having taken advantage of Japanese citizenship or nisei visa and immigration laws to escape from economic instability in South America...
s (Brazilians of Japanese descent who work in Japan) to Brazil.
Japanese from Maringá
A 2008 census revealed details about the population of Japanese origin from the city of MaringáMaringá is a city in southern Brazil that was founded on May 10, 1947. Maringá is the third largest city in the state of Paraná. The city has a population of 357,117 , 612,617 in its metropolitan area...
in Paraná, making it possible to have a profile of the Japanese Brazilian population.
There were 4,034 families of Japanese descent from Maringá, comprising 14,324 people.
1,846 or 15% of Japanese Brazilians from Maringá were working in Japan.
Of the 12,478 people of Japanese origin living in Maringá, 6.61% were Issei (born in Japan); 35.45% were Nisei (children of Japanese); 37.72% were Sansei (grandchildren) and 13.79% were Yonsei (great-grandchildren).
The average age was of 40.12 years old
52% of Japanese Brazilians from the city were women.
- Average number of children per woman
2.4 children (similar to the average Southern Brazilian woman)
Most were Roman Catholics (32% of Sansei, 27% of Nisei, 10% of Yonsei and 2% of Issei). Protestant religions were the second most followed (6% of Nisei, 6% of Sansei, 2% of Yonsei and 1% of Issei) and next was BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
(5% of Nisei, 3% of Issei, 2% of Sansei and 1% of Yonsei).
49.66% were married.
- Knowledge of the Japanese language
47% can understand, read and write in Japanese. 31% of the second generation and 16% of the third generation can speak Japanese.
31% elementary education; 30% secondary school and 30% higher education.
20% were mixed-race (have some non-Japanese origin).
The Dekasegi
{{See also|Brazilians in Japan}}
During the 1980s, the Japanese economic situation improved and achieved stability. Many Japanese Brazilians went to Japan as contract workers due to economic and political problems in Brazil, and they were termed "DekasegiDekasegi is a term used in Latin American cultures to refer to ethnic Japanese people who have migrated to Japan, having taken advantage of Japanese citizenship or nisei visa and immigration laws to escape from economic instability in South America...
". Working visas were offered to Brazilian Dekasegis in 1990, encouraging more immigration from Brazil.
In 1990, the Japanese government authorized the legal entry of Japanese and their descendants until the third generation in Japan. At that time, Japan was receiving a large number of illegal immigrants from PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan and ThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. The legislation of 1990 was intended to select immigrants who entered Japan, giving a clear preference for Japanese descendants from South America, especially Brazil. These people were lured to Japan to work in areas that the Japanese refused (the so-called "three K": Kitsui, Kitanai and Kiken – hard, dirty and dangerous). Many Japanese Brazilians began to immigrate. The influx of Japanese descendants from Brazil to Japan was and continues to be large: there are over 300,000 Brazilians living in Japan today, mainly as workers in factories.
Because of their Japanese ancestry, the Japanese Government believed that Brazilians would be more easily integrated into Japanese society. In fact, this easy integration did not happen, since Japanese Brazilians and their children born in Japan are treated as foreigners by native Japanese. Even people who were born in Japan and immigrated at an early age to Brazil and then returned to Japan are treated as foreigners. Despite the fact that most Brazilians in Japan look Japanese and have a recent Japanese background, they do not "act Japanese" and have a Brazilian identity. This apparent contradiction between being and seeming causes conflicts of adaptation for the migrants and their acceptance by the natives.
They also constitute the largest number of Portuguese speakers in Asia, greater than those of formerly Portuguese East TimorThe Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, Macau and GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
combined. Likewise, Brazil maintains its status as home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.
Cities and prefectures with the most Brazilians in Japan are: Hamamatsu, Aichi, Shizuokais the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and the prefecture's second-largest city in terms of both population and area. It became one of Japan's 19 "designated cities" in 2005.-Geography:...
, Kanagawa, Saitama' is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture in Japan, situated in the south-east of the prefecture. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance...
, and Gunma. Brazilians in Japan are usually educated. However, they are employed in the Japanese automotive and electronics factories, a trade considered below native Japanese. Most Brazilians go to Japan attracted by the recruiting agencies (legal or illegal) in conjunction with the factories. Many Brazilians are subjected to hours of exhaustive work, earning a small salary by Japanese standards. Nevertheless, in 2002, Brazilians living in Japan sent US$ 2.5 billion to Brazil.
Due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010, many Brazilians are returning from Japan to Brazil. From January to March, it is estimated that 20,000 Brazilian immigrants left Japan.
Brazilian identity in Japan
In Japan, many Japanese Brazilians suffer prejudice because they do not know how to speak Japanese correctly. Despite their Japanese appearance, Brazilians in Japan are culturally Brazilians, usually only speaking Portuguese, and are treated as foreigners.
The children of Dekasegi Brazilians encounter difficulties in Japanese schools. Thousands of Brazilian children are out of school in Japan.
Academic studies report that many Japanese Brazilians felt (and were often treated) as Japanese in Brazil. But when they move to Japan, they realize that they are totally Brazilian. In Brazil, Japanese Brazilians rarely listened to sambaSamba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
or participated in a carnivalThe Carnival of Brazil is an annual festival held forty-six days before Easter. On certain days of Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival," from carnelevare, "to remove meat." Carnival celebrations...
parade. However, once in Japan, Japanese Brazilians often promote carnivals and samba festivities in the Japanese cities to demonstrate their pride of being Brazilians.{{Failed verification|date=May 2010}}
The Brazilian influence in Japan is growing. Tokyo has the largest carnival parade outside of Brazil itself. Portuguese is the third most spoken foreign language in Japan, after Chinese and Korean, and is among the most studied languages by students in the country. In Oizumi, it is estimated that 15% of the population speak Portuguese as their native language. Japan has two newspapers in the Portuguese language, besides radio and television stations spoken in that language. The Brazilian fashion and Bossa NovaBossa Nova may refer to:*Bossa nova, a style of music*Bossa Nova , a dance form associated with the music*Bossa Nova , a 2000 film*Bossa Nova - album by John Pizzarelli...
music are also popular among Japanese.
In 2005, there were an estimated 302,000 Brazilian nationals in Japan, of whom 25,000 also hold Japanese citizenship. Each year, 4,000 Brazilian immigrants return to Brazil from Japan.
100th anniversary
In 2008, many celebrations took place in Japan and Brazil to remember the centenary of Japanese immigration. Prince Naruhito of Japanis the eldest son of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, which makes him the heir apparent to the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan.-Early life and education:...
arrived in Brazil on June 17 to participate in the celebrations. He visited BrasíliaBrasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
, São Paulo, ParanáParaná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
, Minas Gerais and Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
. Throughout his stay in Brazil, the Prince was received by a crowd of Japanese immigrants and their descendants. He broke the protocol of the Japanese Monarchy, which prohibits physical contact with people, and greeted the Brazilian people. In the São Paulo sambódromo, the Prince spoke to 50,000 people and in Paraná to 75,000. He also visited the University of São PauloUniversidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
, where people of Japanese descent make up 14% of the 80,000 students. Naruhito gave a speech in Portuguese.
Arts
- Erica Awano
Erica Awano , is a Japanese-Brazilian manga artist. She is a granddaughter of Japanese immigrants. Even though her style is heavily influenced by Japanese manga and she has been called "the best Brazilian manga artist", her works are considerably different from traditional manga, mainly because of...
, artist and author
- Fernanda Takai
Fernanda Barbosa Takai is a Brazilian singer, better known as the lead vocalist of rock band Pato Fu...
, singer
- Juliana Imai, top model
- Lovefoxxx
Luísa Hanae Matsushita , better known by her stage name Lovefoxxx, is the Brazilian lead singer of indie-electro band Cansei de Ser Sexy.-Biography:...
(Luísa Hanae Matsushita), singer
- Aline Nakashima
Aline Nakashima is a Brazilian model who was discovered at a modeling tryout in Brazil at the age of 17. She made two appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, in 2006 and 2007...
, top model
- Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima is a Brazilian model, best known as a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000, and as a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009...
, top model
- Lisa Ono
Lisa Ono is a popular Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer.- Biography :Lisa Ono was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1962 but moved with her family to Tokyo at the age of 10...
, singer
- Sabrina Sato Rahal
Sabrina Sato Rahal is a Brazilian comedienne and television personality. She was a contestant on Big Brother Brasil 3 and is a current comedian on comedy program Pânico na TV .-Early life:...
, model and reality television personality
- Daniele Suzuki
Daniele Suzuki is a Brazilian actress and TV host.Daniele Suzuki is the daughter of Hiroshi Suzuki, a first generation Japanese Brazilian from São Paulo, whose parents immigrated from Shizuoka. Her mother is Ivone Suzuki, a Brazilian from Minas Gerais, of Italian, German and Amerindian descent...
, actress and TV host
- Milton Trajano
Milton Trajano is a Brazilian cartoonist. He is iG Esportes website cartoonist. He also signs Lendas da Bola comic strip....
, cartoonist
- Tizuka Yamasaki, film director
- Kenzo Machida, TV journalist
- Akihiro Sato
This is about an article about a Japanese football player.For the Japanese Brazilian model-actor residing in the Philippines, see Akihiro Sato . is a Japanese footballer who plays for Kashima Antlers in the J. League Division 1.-Career statistics:...
, actor and model
- Bento Hinoto, guitarist
- Leandro Okabe, model
- Daniel Matsunaga, actor and model
- Hideo Muraoka, model
- Fabio Ide, model
- Tomie Ohtake, artist
- Ruy Ohtake, architect
- Marcia Nishie, Japanese singer
Military
- Tenente-Brigadeiro-do-ar (Lieutenant-Brigadier) Juniti Saito
Juniti Saito is a military officer and the current commander of Brazilian Air Force.The son of Japanese immigrants Iwataro Saito and Toshike Tamaoki, Lieutenant-Brigadier Saito is the first Japanese-Brazilian to reach the highest rank in a branch of the Brazilian Military.In 2010, Saito signed an...
, current Brazilian Air ForceThe Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces"...
commander.
Politics
- Luiz Gushiken
Luiz Gushiken is a Brazilian activist and politician. He was formerly the head of the social communication office of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration, a position which carried a ministerial rank....
- Shigeaki Ueki former Ministry of Mines and Energy
- Paulo Kobayashi former Chamber of Deputies Representative
- Mario Hato former Chamber of Deputies Representative
- Diogo Nomura former Chamber of Deputies Representative
- Walter Iihoshi Chamber of Deputies Representative
- William Boss Woo former Chamber of Deputies Representative
- Cássio Taniguchi political
Sports
- Sérgio Echigo
Sergio Echigo is a Nisei Japanese Brazilian football player and former Japanese football player....
, former footballer
- Sandro Hiroshi
Sandro Hiroshi, full name Sandro Hiroshi Parreão Oi is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays as a forward for Brazilian side Red Bull Brasil.-Club career:*1998 Tocantinópolis*1999 Rio Branco*1999-2001 São Paulo...
, footballer
- Deco
Anderson Luís de Souza, OIH , commonly known as Deco, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese professional footballer who currently plays for Fluminense....
, footballer
- Hugo Hoyama
Hugo Hoyama is a table tennis player from Brazil, he won several medals in single, double, and team events in the Latin American Table Tennis Championships....
, table tennis player
- Vânia Ishii
Vânia Yukie Ishii is a female judoka from Brazil, daughter of Chiaki Ishii who won the bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich....
, judoka
- Yoshizo Machida, karateka
- Chinzo Machida
Chinzô Machida is a Japanese Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division.-Biography:Chinzô Machida is the older brother of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida. He is a Shotokan Karate Black Belt and Shotokan Karate Vice Champion . He lost in the final to...
, mixed martial artsMixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
fighter and karateka
- Lyoto Machida
Lyoto Carvalho Machida is a Japanese-Brazilian mixed martial artist from Belém, Brazil who fights as a light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
, mixed martial artsMixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
fighter, karateka and former sumo wrestler
- Andrews Nakahara
Andrews Nakahara is a Japanese-Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and kyokushin karateka. He made his MMA pro debut against Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM.2...
, mixed martial artsMixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
fighter and karateka
- Mitsuyo Maeda
,a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda,was a Japanese judōka and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions. He was also known as Count Combat or Conde Koma in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, a nickname he picked up in Spain in 1908...
, judoka
- Paulo Miyashiro
Paulo Henrique Miyashiro de Abreu is an athlete from Brazil. He competes in triathlon.Miyashiro competed at the second Olympic triathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He placed thirty-fourth with a total time of 1:58:16.76.-References:...
, triathlete
- Paulo Nagamura
Paulo Roberto Corradi Nagamura is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays for Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer.-Youth:Nagamura came up through the system of hometown São Paulo...
, footballer
- Mariana Ohata
Mariana Ohata is an athlete from Brazil, who competes in triathlon.A former member of the Brazilian National Swim Team, Ohata competed at the first Olympic triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics...
, triathlete
- Tetsuo Okamoto
Tetsuo Okamoto was a Brazilian swimmer. He was a bronze medalist at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki , the first Brazilian swimmer to win a medal at the Olympics...
, former swimmer
- Rogério Romero
Rogério Aoki Romero is a former backstroke swimmer from Brazil, who competed at five consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1988. A resident of Belo Horizonte, he won the gold medal in the 200 m Backstroke at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba...
, former swimmer
- Lucas Salatta
Lucas Vinícius Yokoo Salatta is a Brazilian backstroke swimmer.At his 1998 state championship, Salatta set two age records in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly with only 11 years old....
, swimmer
- Fabiana Sugimori
Brazil sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China The country debuted in the Games in 1972 and 2008 was its 10th participation....
, swimmer
- Manabu Suzuki
is a former racing driver, journalist, sport announcer and radio and TV presenter for the automotive industry. He is a Japanese citizen and is nicknamed Mana-P .Suzuki competed in the Formula Toyota and Saurus Cup until the mid nineties...
, former racing driver turned car magazine writer and motorsport announcer
- Rodrigo Tabata
Rodrigo Barbosa Tabata or simply Rodrigo Tabata , is an attacking midfielder. He currently plays for Qatari club Al Rayyan...
, footballer
- Tadashi Tamaki, Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
.
- Noguchi Pinto, footballer
- Pedro Ken, footballer
- Ana Tiemi, volleyball player
External links
{{Commons category|Japanese Brazilians}}
{{Demographics of Brazil}}
{{Brazil topics}}
{{Japanese diaspora}}
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