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, , lead=yes are Brazilian citizens who are nationals or naturals of Japanese ancestry or Japanese immigrants living in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
or Japanese people of Brazilian ancestry. The first group of Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in 1908. Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan. Since the 1980s, a return migration has emerged of Japanese Brazilians to Japan. More recently, a trend of
interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...
has taken hold among Brazilians of Japanese descent, with the racial intermarriage rate approximated at 50% and increasing.


History


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 Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
in the coffee
plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s, but in 1850, the slave trade was abolished in Brazil. To solve the labour shortage, the Brazilian elite decided to attract European immigrants to work on the coffee plantations. This was also consistent with the government's push towards "whitening" the country. The hope was that through procreation the large African and Native American groups would be eliminated or reduced. The government and farmers offered to pay European immigrants' passage. The plan encouraged millions of Europeans, most of them
Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...
, to migrate to Brazil. However, once in Brazil, the immigrants received very low salaries and worked in poor conditions, including long working hours and frequent ill-treatment by their bosses. Because of this, in 1902, Italy enacted ''Decree Prinetti'', prohibiting subsidized emigration to Brazil. The end of feudalism in Japan generated great poverty in the rural population, so many Japanese began to emigrate in search of better living conditions. By the 1930s, Japanese industrialisation had significantly boosted the population. However, prospects for Japanese people to migrate to other countries were limited. The US had banned non-white immigration from some parts of the world on the basis that they would not integrate into society; this Exclusion Clause, of the 1924 Immigration Act, specifically targeted the Japanese. At the same time in Australia, the
White Australia Policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting ...
prevented the immigration of non-whites to Australia.


First immigrants

In 1907, the Brazilian and the Japanese governments signed a treaty permitting Japanese migration to Brazil. This was due in part to the decrease in the Italian immigration to Brazil and a new labour shortage on the coffee plantations. Also, Japanese immigration to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
had been barred by the
Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 The was an informal agreement between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan whereby Japan would not allow further emigration to the United States and the United States would not impose restrictions on Japanese immigrants already ...
. The first Japanese immigrants (781 people – mostly farmers) came to Brazil in 1908 on the '' Kasato Maru''. About half of these immigrants came from southern
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
. They travelled from the Japanese port of
Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
via the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
in South Africa. Many of them became owners of coffee plantations. In the first seven years, 3,434 more Japanese families (14,983 people) arrived. The beginning of World War I in 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 Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
, where most of the coffee plantations were located.


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. This was exacerbated by the fact that it was obligatory for Japanese immigrants to Brazil prior to the Second World War to emigrate in familial units. Because multiple persons necessitated monetary support in these familial units, Japanese immigrants found it nearly impossible to return home to Japan even years after emigrating to Brazil. The immigrants were paid 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 system). Soon, their debts became very significant. 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 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,
religion Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
, dietary habits, clothing, lifestyles and differences in climate entailed a
culture shock Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration ...
. 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. Even when they were free of their contractual obligations on Brazil’s coffee plantations, it was often impossible for immigrants to return home due to their meager earnings. Many Japanese immigrants purchased land in rural Brazil instead, having been forced to invest what little capital they had into land in order to someday make enough to return to Japan. As independent farmers, Japanese immigrants formed communities that were ethnically-isolated from the rest of Brazilian society. The immigrants who settled and formed these communities referred to themselves as ''shokumin'' and their settlements as ''shokuminchi''. On 1 August 1908, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 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 labourers." Japanese children born in Brazil were educated in schools founded by the Japanese community. Most only learned to speak the
Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
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 The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
, tea and rice. Only 6% of children were the result of interracial relationships. Immigrants rarely accepted marriage with a non-Japanese person.Enciclopédia das Línguas no Brasil – Japonês
(Accessed September 4, 2008)
By the 1930s, Brazilians complained that the independent Japanese communities had formed ''quistos raciais'', or “racial cysts”, and were unwilling to further integrate the Japanese Brazilians into Brazilian society. The Japanese government, via the Japanese consulate in São Paulo, was directly involved with the education of Japanese children in Brazil. Japanese education in Brazil was modeled after education systems in Japan, and schools in Japanese communities in Brazil received funding directly from the Japanese government. By 1933, there were 140,000-150,000 Japanese Brazilians, which was by far the largest Japanese population in any Latin American country. With Brazil under the leadership of
Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
and the Empire of Japan involved on the Axis side in World War II, Japanese Brazilians became more isolated from their mother country. Japanese leaders and diplomats in Brazil left for Japan after Brazil severed all relations with Japan on 29 January 1942, leading Japanese Brazilians to fend for themselves in an increasingly-hostile country. Vargas’s regime instituted several measures that targeted the Japanese population in Brazil, including the loss of freedom to travel within Brazil, censorship of Japanese newspapers (even those printed in Portuguese), and imprisonment if Japanese Brazilians were caught speaking Japanese in public. Japanese Brazilians became divided amongst themselves, and some even turned to performing terrorist acts on Japanese farmers who were employed by Brazilian farmers. By 1947, however, following the end of World War II, tensions between Brazilians and their Japanese population had cooled considerably. Japanese-language newspapers returned to publication and Japanese-language education was reinstituted among the Japanese Brazilian population. World War II had left Japanese Brazilians isolated from their mother country, censored by the Brazilian government, and facing internal conflicts within their own populations, but, for the most part, life returned to normal following the end of the war.


Prejudice and forced assimilation

On 28 July 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 22 October 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 mmigrantsthere will be allowed each year a number equal to 5% of those residing in the country..."RIOS, Roger Raupp. Text excerpted from a judicial sentence concerning crime of racism. Federal Justice of 10ª Vara da Circunscrição Judiciária de Porto Alegre
, November 16, 2001] (Accessed September 10, 2008)
Some years before World War II, the government of President
Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
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 Japanese, Italian,
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
, and German 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 government focused on Italians, Jews, and Japanese. 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 Italian or German were also advised to cease production, as Italy and Germany 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 at the time.SUZUKI Jr, Matinas. História da discriminação brasileira contra os japoneses sai do limbo ''in'' Folha de S.Paulo, 20 de abril de 2008
(visitado em 17 de agosto de 2008)
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 5 December 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 equipment was seized to prevent transmissions on
short wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
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 A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
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 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
picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
s. On 10 July 1943, approximately 10,000 Japanese and German and Italian immigrants who lived in Santos 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 Santista The Baixada Santista is a metropolitan area located on the coast of São Paulo state in Brazil, with a population of 1.7 million. Its most populous city is Santos. As an administrative division (''Região Metropolitana da Baixada Santista''), it ...
, the Japanese had to have a safe conduct. In 1942, the Japanese community who introduced the cultivation of pepper in Tomé-Açu, in
Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana and S ...
, was virtually turned into a "
concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...
". 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 States. No single suspicion of activities of Japanese against "national security" was confirmed. During the National Constituent Assembly of 1946, the representative of
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
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 favour and 99 against.
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
Fernando de Melo Viana, who chaired the session of the
Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
, 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 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. The Japanese were able to overcome the difficulties along the years and drastically improve their lives through hard work and education; this was also facilitated by the involvement of the Japanese government in the process of migration. The image of hard working agriculturists that came to help develop the country and agriculture helped erase the lack of trust of the local population and create a positive image of the Japanese. 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
Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation ...
, in the last decades Brazilians of Japanese descent achieved a social prestige in Brazil that largely contrasts with the aggression with which the early immigrants were treated in the country. File:Família Japonesa em Bastos 1930.jpg,
Japanese family in Bastos, SP
File:Japanese Workers in Coffee Plantation.jpg,
Japanese immigrants working on coffee plantation
File:Japanese Workers in Coffee Sieving.jpg,
Japanese immigrants working on coffee plantation
File:Japanese Immigrants disembarkment in Brazil 1937.jpg,
Japanese immigrants arriving to the
Port of Santos The Port of Santos (in Portuguese: ''Porto de Santos'') is located in the city of Santos, state of São Paulo, Brazil. As of 2006, it is the busiest container port in Latin America. In 2016, it was considered the 39th largest port in the world f ...
File:Japanese Immigrants in tea Plantation 02.jpg,
Japanese Immigrants on tea plantation in Registro, SP
File:Japanese Immigrants with silkworm breeding 01.jpg,
Japanese immigrants with silkworm breeding
File:Commerce japonais, São Paulo-années 1940.jpg,
Japanese store in São Paulo
File:Fábio Riodi Yassuda, Ministro da Indústria e Comércio..tif, alt=Fábio Riodi Yassuda, a Nisei who became the first Brazilian minister of Japanese descent.,
, a
Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation ...
who became the first Brazilian minister of Japanese descent.


Integration and intermarriage

As of 2008, many Japanese Brazilians belong to the third generation (
sansei is a Japanese and North American English term used in parts of the world such as South America and North America to specify the children of children born to ethnic Japanese in a new country of residence. The ''nisei'' are considered the second g ...
), who make up 41.33% of the community. First generation (
issei is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country a ...
) are 12.51%, second generation (
nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation ...
) are 30.85% and fourth generation ( yonsei) 12.95%. A more recent phenomenon in Brazil is intermarriages 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 Japan, with over 1.4 million people. In areas with large numbers of Japanese, such as
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
and Paraná, since the 1970s, large numbers of Japanese descendants started to marry into other
ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
s. Jeffrey Lesser's work has shown the complexities of integration both during the
Vargas era The Vargas Era (Portuguese: ''Era Vargas''; ) is the period in the history of Brazil between 1930 and 1945, when the country was governed by president Getúlio Vargas. The period from 1930 to 1937 is known as the Second Brazilian Republic, and ...
, 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
Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoi ...
and
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
. In the Japanese communities in Brazil, there was a strong effort by Brazilian priests to proselytize 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.


Martial arts

The Japanese immigration to Brazil, in particular the immigration of the
judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
Mitsuyo Maeda ,Virgílio, pp. 22–25 a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda (),Virgílio, p. 9 was a Japanese ''judōka'' (judo practitioner) and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions, also being one of the first documented mixed martial artists of t ...
, resulted in the development of one of the most effective modern martial arts,
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting ( ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...
. Japanese immigrants also brought
sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...
wrestling to Brazil, with the first tournament in the country organized in 1914. The country has a growing number of amateur sumo wrestlers, with the only purpose-built sumo arena outside Japan located in
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
. Brazil also produced (as of January 2022) sixteen professional wrestlers, with the most successful being
Kaisei Ichirō is a retired third generation Japanese Brazilian professional sumo wrestler (''rikishi'') from São Paulo, Brazil. Making his debut in September 2006, he reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in May 2011. His highest rank was '' sekiwake''. H ...
.


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 Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...
. The third generation, however, are most likely
monolingual Monoglottism (Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. ...
in Portuguese or speak, along with Portuguese, non-fluent Japanese. A study 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 Brazil The history of Brazil begins with indigenous people in Brazil. Europeans arrived in Brazil at the ending of the 15th century. The first European to claim sovereignty over Indigenous lands part of what is now the territory of the Federative Repub ...
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 A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
. 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 dialects The dialects of the Japanese language fall into two primary clades, Eastern (including Tokyo) and Western (including Kyoto), with the dialects of Kyushu and Hachijō Island often distinguished as additional branches, the latter perhaps the most di ...
, 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

In 2008, IBGE published a book about the
Japanese diaspora The Japanese diaspora and its individual members, known as Nikkei (日系) or as Nikkeijin (日系人), comprise the Japanese emigrants from Japan (and their descendants) residing in a country outside Japan. Emigration from Japan was recorded a ...
and it estimated that, 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 Japanese immigration to Brazil has ended since the mid-20th century. According to the IBGE, as of 2000, there were 1,435,490 people of Japanese descent in Brazil. The Japanese immigration was concentrated to São Paulo and, still in 2000, 48% of Japanese Brazilians lived in this state. There were 693,495 people of Japanese origin in São Paulo, followed by Paraná 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
Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest by ...
, while in 2000 they were 78,449, or 0.6% of the state's population. Northern Brazil (excluding
Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana and S ...
) 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 3,583 to 66,119 (0.7% of the population). * Centro-Oeste (5) 1960 and Total 2000 conflict with IBGE 2008 p71. However, the overall Japanese population in Brazil is shrinking, secondary to a decreased birth rate and an aging population; return immigration to Japan, as well as intermarriage with other races and dilution of ethnic identity. 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 Sul (1.4%). The smallest percentages were found in
Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazona ...
and
Alagoas Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. I ...
(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 Dekasegis (Brazilians of Japanese descent who work in Japan) to Brazil.


Image gallery

File:Japanese Immigrants logging.jpg, Japanese in a Brazilian forest. File:Japanese Immigrants in their own Potato Farm.jpg, Japanese immigrants with their planting of potatoes. File:Japanese immigrant family in Brazil 01.jpg, Japanese family in Brazil. File:Japanese immigrant family in Brazil 02.jpg, Japanese family in Brazil. File:Japanese Immigrants in a train.jpg, A train taking Japanese immigrants from Santos to
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
(1935). File:Japanese Workers in Coffee Gathering.jpg, Japanese on coffee plantation (1930). File:Desembarque_Kasato_Maru.jpg, The first immigrants on the ''Kasato Maru'' ship (1908). File:Japoneses_no_brasil.jpg, Japanese immigrants in Brazil. File:Masaji Ishida and Kiyono Watanabe.jpg, Marriage of Japanese immigrants at São Paulo state, Brazil. File:Norimiti ishida e Francisca Ribeiro da Silva.jpg, Brazilian couple. Inter-racial couple in Brazil; unusual during the '60s in rural areas. File:Oomoto in Brazil.jpg, Japanese in São Paulo-Brazil, Liberdade neighborhood, in a Shinto chapel. File:Massaji Ishida.jpg, Brazilian issei, (first generation of Japanese immigrant), reading newspaper in Romaji, while the shown title is about Kardec spiritism (a French–Brazilian sect) which is quite similar to Shinto and Buddhist principles. File:Zé Ocada.jpg, Group of Japanese descendants with Brazilians working resting after tree cutting, to clear areas for coffee plantations in Brazil, '50s and '60s. File:Norimiti.jpg, Brazilians, second generation after Japanese immigration (sanseis) in rural areas, coffee plantations, São Paulo state, Brazil.


Japanese from Maringá

A 2008 census revealed details about the population of Japanese origin from the city of
Maringá Maringá () is a municipality in southern Brazil founded on 10 May 1947 as a planned urban area. It is the third largest city in the state of Paraná, with 385,753 inhabitants in the city proper, and 764,906 in the metropolitan area ( IBGE 2013) ...
in Paraná, making it possible to have a profile of the Japanese-Brazilian population. *Numbers There were 4,034 families of Japanese descent from Maringá, comprising 14,324 people. *Dekasegi 1,846 or 15% of Japanese Brazilians from Maringá were working in Japan. *Generations 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). *Average age The average age was of 40.12 years old *Gender 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) *Religion Most were Roman Catholics (32% of Sansei, 27% of Nisei, 10% of Yonsei and 2% of Issei).
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
religions were the second most followed (6% of Nisei, 6% of Sansei, 2% of Yonsei and 1% of Issei) and next was
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
(5% of Nisei, 3% of Issei, 2% of Sansei and 1% of Yonsei). *Family 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. *Schooling 31% elementary education; 30% secondary school and 30% higher education. *Mixed-race A total of 20% were mixed-race (have some non-Japanese origin).


The Dekasegi

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 " Dekasegi". Working
visas Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allow ...
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
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-la ...
,
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, and
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
. 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. 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 Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-wes ...
,
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a popu ...
and
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to ...
combined. Likewise, Brazil, alongside the Japanese American population of the United States, maintains its status as home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan. Cities and prefectures with the most Brazilians in Japan are:
Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview ...
,
Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture an ...
, Shizuoka,
Kanagawa is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanaga ...
, Saitama, and
Gunma is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima ...
. Brazilians in Japan are usually educated. However, they are employed in the Japanese automotive and electronics factories. 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 exhausting 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 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...
, many Brazilians returned from Japan to Brazil. From January 2011 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 fluently. Despite their Japanese appearance, Brazilians in Japan are culturally Brazilians, usually only speaking Portuguese, and are treated as foreigners.Onishi, Norimitsu
"An Enclave of Brazilians Is Testing Insular Japan,"
''New York Times.'' November 1, 2008.
The children of ''Dekasegi'' Brazilians encounter difficulties in Japanese schools. Thousands of Brazilian children are out of school in Japan. 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 Nova 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.


100th anniversary

In 2008, many celebrations took place in Japan and Brazil to remember the centenary of Japanese immigration. Prince Naruhito of Japan arrived in Brazil on 17 June to participate in the celebrations. He visited
Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitschek o ...
, São Paulo, Paraná,
Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
and
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
. 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 Paulo, where people of Japanese descent make up 14% of the 80,000 students.
Naruhito is the current Emperor of Japan. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era, following the abdication of his father, Akihito. He is the 126th monarch according to Japan's traditional order of succession. ...
, the crown prince of Japan, gave a speech in Portuguese.


Media

In
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
there are two Japanese publications, the '' São Paulo Shimbun'' and the '' Nikkey Shimbun''. The former was established in 1946 and the latter was established in 1998. The latter has a Portuguese edition, the '' Jornal Nippak'', and both publications have Portuguese websites. The ''Jornal Paulista'', established in 1947, and the ''Diário Nippak'', established in 1949, are the predecessors of the ''Nikkey Shimbun''.Matheus, Tatiane.
O outro lado da notícia
." '' Estadão''. February 9, 2008. Retrieved on March 17, 2014. "O primeiro jornal japonês no País foi o Nambei, ..
The ''Nambei'', published in 1916, was Brazil's first Japanese newspaper. In 1933 90% of East Asian-origin Brazilians read Japanese publications, including 20 periodicals, 15 magazines, and five newspapers. The increase of the number of publications was due to Japanese immigration to Brazil. The government banned publication of Japanese newspapers during World War II. Tatiane Matheus of '' Estadão'' stated that in the pre- World War II period the '' Nippak Shimbun'', established in 1916; the '' Burajiru Jiho'', established in 1917; and two newspapers established in 1932, the '' Nippon Shimbun'' and the '' Seishu Shino'', were the most influential Japanese newspapers. All were published in São Paulo.


Education

Japanese international day schools in Brazil include the Escola Japonesa de São Paulo ("São Paulo Japanese School"), the Associação Civil de Divulgação Cultural e Educacional Japonesa do Rio de Janeiro in the Cosme Velho neighborhood of
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, and the Escola Japonesa de Manaus. The Escola Japonesa de
Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
(ベロ・オリゾンテ日本人学校), and Japanese schools in
Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in ...
and Vitória previously existed; all three closed, and their certifications by the Japanese education ministry (MEXT) were revoked on March 29, 2002 (Heisei 14). There are also supplementary schools teaching the Japanese language and culture. As of 2003, in southern Brazil there are hundreds of Japanese supplementary schools. The Japan Foundation in São Paulo's coordinator of projects in 2003 stated that
São Paulo State SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U. ...
has about 500 supplementary schools. Around 33% of the Japanese supplementary schools in southeastern Brazil are in the city of São Paulo. As of 2003 almost all of the directors of the São Paulo schools were women.Carvalho, Daniela de. ''Migrants and Identity in Japan and Brazil: The Nikkeijin''.
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, ...
, August 27, 2003. , 9781135787653
Page number unstated
(
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
PT46).
MEXT recognizes one part-time Japanese school (hoshu jugyo ko or hoshuko), the Escola Suplementar Japonesa Curitiba in
Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...
. MEXT-approved hoshukos in Porto Alegre and Salvador have closed.


History of education

The Taisho School, Brazil's first Japanese language school, opened in 1915 in São Paulo. In some areas full-time Japanese schools opened because no local schools existed in the vicinity of the Japanese settlements.Laughton-Kuragasaki, Ayami, VDM Publishing, 2008. p
10
"The immigrants opened Japanese schools for their children as they were living in the rural areas where there were no local schools for their children and no support from the local authorities. About 600 Japanese schools were open by 1938. The children were full-time students, ..
In 1932 over 10,000 Nikkei Brazilian children attended almost 200 Japanese supplementary schools in São Paulo. By 1938 Brazil had a total of 600 Japanese schools. In 1970, 22,000 students, taught by 400 teachers, attended 350 supplementary Japanese schools. In 1992 there were 319 supplementary Japanese language schools in Brazil with a total of 18,782 students, 10,050 of them being female and 8,732 of them being male. Of the schools, 111 were in São Paulo State and 54 were in Paraná State. At the time, the São Paulo Metropolitan Area had 95 Japanese schools, and the schools in the city limits of São Paulo had 6,916 students. In the 1980s, São Paulo Japanese supplementary schools were larger than those in other communities. In general, during that decade a Brazilian supplementary Japanese school had one or two teachers responsible for around 60 students. Hiromi Shibata, a PhD student at the University of São Paulo, wrote the dissertation ''As escolas japonesas paulistas (1915–1945)'', published in 1997. Jeff Lesser, author of ''Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil'', wrote that the author "suggests" that the Japanese schools in São Paulo "were as much an affirmation of Nipo-Brazilian identity as they were of Japanese nationalism."


Notable persons


Arts

* * Erica Awano, artist and author * Roger Cruz, comic book artist * Fabio Ide, actor and model * Yuu Kamiya, manga artist and novelist * Juliana Imai, model * Daniel Matsunaga, actor, and model * Lovefoxxx (Luísa Hanae Matsushita), lead singer of
CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone technol ...
* Carol Nakamura, model and actress * Ruy Ohtake, architect * Tomie Ohtake, artist (Originally from Kyoto, Japan) * Oscar Oiwa, artist * Leandro Okabe, model * Lisa Ono, singer *
Ryot Ryot (alternatives: raiyat, rait or ravat) was a general economic term used throughout India for peasant cultivators but with variations in different provinces. While zamindars were landlords, raiyats were tenants and cultivators, and served as hi ...
(Ricardo Tokumoto), cartoonist * Akihiro Sato, actor and model * Sabrina Sato, model and TV host * Daniele Suzuki, actress and TV host * Fernanda Takai, lead singer of Pato Fu * Adilson Tokita - music producer * Carlos Toshiki (Carlos Toshiki Takahashi), singer-songwriter * Luana Tanaka, actress * Carlos Takeshi, actor * Marlon Teixeira, model * Tizuka Yamasaki, film director *
Mateus Asato Mateus Asato (December 29, 1993) is a guitarist from Campo Grande, Brazil. He rose to fame by posting videos of himself playing guitar on Instagram, and has since amassed over one million followers. He has toured with several pop stars as a gu ...
, Musician


Business

* Teruaki Yamagishi,
businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...
and
management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
(Originally from
Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
)


Politics

* Luiz Gushiken, former minister of communications * Newton Ishii, Federal Police agent * Kim Kataguiri, organizer of the Free Brazil Movement * Juniti Saito, former commander of the Brazilian Air Force


Religious

* Júlio Endi Akamine, Roman Catholic archbishop * Hidekazu Takayama, Assemblies of God pastor and politician


Sports

* Luís Oyama, footballer * Gabriel Kazu, footballer (Originally from Seki, Gifu,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
) * Sérgio Echigo, former footballer * Sandro Hiroshi, former footballer *
Wagner Lopes is a football manager and former player who played as a forward. Born in Brazil, Lopes is a naturalised Japanese citizen and represented their national team on 20 occasions. After retiring he took up coaching, mainly working in both his home ...
, former footballer *
Ruy Ramos is a former football player and manager, originally from Brazil, who spent his career in Japan and played for the Japan national team. Ramos is currently active as a television personality and ''tarento'', represented with Irving. Club car ...
, former footballer * Kazuyoshi Miura, footballer (who holds his Brazilian citizenship since the 1980s) - Originally from
Shizuoka, Shizuoka is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and the prefecture's second-largest city in both population and area. It has been populated since prehistoric times. the city had an estimated population of 690,881 in 106,087 households, and ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
* Hugo Hoyama, table tennis player * Vânia Ishii, judo wrestler * Caio Japa, futsal player * Kaisei Ichiro, sumo wrestler * Stefannie Arissa Koyama,
judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
(Originally from Gunma, Japan) * Pedro Ken, footballer * Bruna Leal, 2012 London Olympics gymnast *
Lyoto Machida (born 30 May 1978), is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and karateka, who currently competes in the Light heavyweight division. He formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was a former UFC Light He ...
,
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inco ...
fighter,
karateka (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujia ...
, former
sumo wrestler A , or, more colloquially, , is a professional sumo wrestler. follow and live by the centuries-old rules of the sumo profession, with most coming from Japan, the only country where sumo is practiced professionally. Participation in official ...
and the former Ultimate Fighting Championship light-heavyweight champion * Mario Yamasaki, mixed martial arts referee, jiu-jitsu practitionerTatame Magazine >> Mario Masaki Interview
. URL accessed on October 16, 2010.
* Shigueto Yamasaki, judoka at 1992 Olympics *
Goiti Yamauchi is a Japanese-born Brazilian mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Welterweight division for Bellator MMA. As of December 13, 2022, he is #5 in the Bellator Welterweight Rankings. Background Yamauchi was born in Anjō, Aichi to ...
,
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inco ...
fighter, Bellator Fighter (Originally from Anjō, Aichi,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
) * Scott MacKenzie, darts player *
Mitsuyo Maeda ,Virgílio, pp. 22–25 a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda (),Virgílio, p. 9 was a Japanese ''judōka'' (judo practitioner) and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions, also being one of the first documented mixed martial artists of t ...
, judo wrestler (Originally from Hirosaki, Aomori,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
) * Arthur Mariano, 2016 Rio Olympics gymnast *
Andrews Nakahara Andrews Nakahara (born March 12, 1983) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and kyokushin karateka currently signed with K-1. He made his MMA pro debut against Kazushi Sakuraba at the Dream 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 ...
,
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inco ...
fighter and
karateka (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujia ...
* Paulo Miyao, Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor * Paulo Miyashiro, triathlete * Paulo Nagamura, footballer * Mariana Ohata, triathlete * Tetsuo Okamoto, former swimmer * Poliana Okimoto, long-distance swimmer * Noguchi Pinto, footballer * Rogério Romero, former swimmer * Lucas Salatta, swimmer * Sérgio Sasaki, Rio 2016 Olympic gymnast * Manabu Suzuki, former racing driver turned car magazine writer and motorsport announcer (Originally from
Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
) * Rafael Suzuki, racing driver * Rodrigo Tabata, footballer, represents
Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it s ...
internationally * Marcus Tulio Tanaka, footballer, represents
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
internationally * Bruna Takahashi, Table Tennis player * Augusto Sakai, mixed martial arts fighter * Daniel Japonês, futsal player *
Igor Fraga Igor may refer to: People * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name * Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler * Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling * ...
,
racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
and e-sports player (Originally from Kanazawa, Ishikawa,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
)


See also

* South America Hongwanji Mission * List of Japanese Brazilians * Asian Latin Americans * Brazilians in Japan * Brazil–Japan relations * Japanese Peruvians * Japanese Argentines * Shindo Renmei


Notes


References

* Masterson, Daniel M. and Sayaka Funada-Classen. (2004), '' The Japanese in Latin America: The Asian American Experience.'' Urbana, Illinois:
University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...
. ;
Jeffrey Lesser
A Discontented Diaspora: Japanese-Brazilians and the Meanings of Ethnic Militancy, 1960–1980 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007); Portuguese edition: Uma Diáspora Descontente: Os Nipo-Brasileiros e os Significados da Militância Étnica, 1960–1980 (São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra, 2008).

Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999); Portuguese edition: Negociando an Identidade Nacional: Imigrantes, Minorias e a Luta pela Etnicidade no Brasil (São Paulo: Editora UNESP, 2001).


Further reading

* Shibata, Hiromi. ''As escolas Japonesas paulistas (1915–1945)'' (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Sao Paulo, 1997). *


External links


Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa

Fundação Japão em São Paulo

Centenário da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil (1908–2008)





Site da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071202025657/http://www.100anosjapaobrasil.com.br/ Site comemorativo do Centenário da Imigração Japonesa que coleta histórias de vida de imigrantes e descendentes
Center for Japanese-Brazilian Studies (Centro de Estudos Nipo-Brasileiros)
{{Japanese diaspora Brazilian Ethnic groups in Brazil Brazil–Japan relations