Japanese Brazilian

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Flag of Japan Japanese Brazilian Flag of Brazil
Nipo-brasileiro

The first Japanese people in Brazil
Total population

c. 1,500,000 Japanese Brazilians
0.5% of Brazil's population
Regions with significant populations
Japan:
   300,000 Japanese Brazilians.[1]
Languages
Predominantly Portuguese.
Minorities speak Japanese.
Religions
Predominantly Roman Catholic[2], Buddhism, Shintoism[3]
Related ethnic groups
Japanese American, Japanese Peruvian

A Japanese Brazilian (日系ブラジル人 in Japanese ; nipo-brasileiro in Portuguese) is a Brazilian citizen of Japanese ethnic origin, or a Japanese immigrant living in Brazil. The first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil 100 years ago. Nowadays, Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, numbering an estimate of more than 1.5 million (including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity),[4] considerably more than that of the 1.2 million in the United States.[5]

The largest concentrations of Japanese in Brazil are mostly found in the state of São Paulo and in the state of Paraná.

Contents

[edit] History

A poster used in Japan to attract immigrants to Brazil. It says "Let's go to South America (Brazil) with the family."
A poster used in Japan to attract immigrants to Brazil. It says "Let's go to South America (Brazil) with the family."

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, slavery 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 any European immigrant's passage. The plan encouraged thousands of Europeans, most of them Italians,[6] to migrate to Brazil. However, once in Brazil, the immigrants received a very low salary 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.[7]

The Brazilian elite thought only the European workers were able to develop the country. The promotion of European immigration was part of the "whitening project" (embranquecimento) of Brazil. Until 1892, Asians and Africans were forbidden to immigrate to Brazil. Asians began arriving only in 1908, as a result of the decrease in the Italian immigration to Brazil and a new labour shortage on the coffee plantations.[8]

[edit] The beginning

The end of feudalism in Japan generated great poverty in the rural population, so many Japanese began to migrate 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 (791 people - mostly farmers) came to Brazil in 1908 on the Kasato Maru from the Japanese port of Kobe, 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 Paulo, since that was where most of the coffee plantations were.[9]

Japanese immigration to Brazil
Source: (IBGE)[10]
 
Period
Ethnic group 1904-1913 1914-1923 1924-1933 1945-1949 1950-1954 1955-1959
Japanese 11,868 20,398 110,191 12 5,447 28,819


[edit] New life in Brazil

The vast majority of the Japanese immigrants had the intention of enriching in Brazil and return to Japan by up to three years. However, the rapid enrichment in Brazil was a dream almost impossible to achieve. Submitted to hours of exhaustive work, the immigrants had a very low wage: the fare was discounted in salary. Moreover, everything that the immigrants consumed should be purchased with the farmer. Soon the debts became very high.

A Japanese Brazilian woman during a festival in Curitiba.
A Japanese Brazilian woman during a festival in Curitiba.

The barrier of language, religion, dietary habits, clothing, lifestyles and differences in climate entailed a culture shock. Many immigrants tried to return to Japan but were prevented by Brazilian farmers, which required them to comply with the contract and work with the coffee.

The children of Japanese, 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 interracial relationships. Immigrants rarely accepted to marry a non-Japanese person.[11]

The third generation has completely changed the characteristics of the Japanese population of Brazil. Most left the rural area and migrated to Brazilian urban centres (mainly São Paulo city). Today, 90% of Japanese-Brazilians live in urbans areas. The grandchildren of Japanese also began to integrate into Brazil. With the closing of Japanese schools in Brazil during World War II, the Japanese were forced to attend Brazilian schools and learn the Portuguese language. Earlier, the Japanese in Brazilian cities worked in small stores, selling vegetables, fish and fruit. Over time, they diversified their areas of activity.

[edit] World War II

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. When the conflict was over, many Japanese refugees decided to settle in Brazil, thus creating a large Japanese community. Second or higher generation Brazilians are often monolingual in Portuguese. Some Japanese schools provide education in Japanese and Portuguese.

[edit] Integration and miscegenation

Miscegenation in the Japanese-Brazilian community[12]
Generation Mixed-race (%)
First 0%
Second 6%
Third 42%
Fourth 61%

A more recent phenomenon in Brazil are intermarriages between Japanese Brazilians and non-Japanese. Though people of Japanese descent make up only 0.7% of the country's population, they are the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, with over 1.5 million people. In areas with large numbers of Japanese, such as São Paulo and Paraná, since the 1970s large numbers of Japanese-descendants started to marry into other ethnic groups. Although interracial relationships are not well accepted in Japan, immigrants in Brazil seem to be more acceptable to the miscegenation of Brazilian culture.

Nowadays, among the 1.5 million Brazilians of Japanese descent, 40% have some non-Japanese ancestry. This number reaches only 6% among children of Japanese immigrants, but 61% among great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants.

[edit] Religion

Immigrants, as well as most Japanese, were mostly followers of Buddhism and Shinto. 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.[13]

[edit] Language

Nowadays, the vast majority of Japanese Brazilians are monolingual in Portuguese. First generation Japanese can speak original Japanese dialects, but only a few Brazilian-born are fluent. Nowadays, only 0.23% of Japanese Brazilians speak Japanese at home.

Japanese spoken in Brazil is usually a mix of different Japanese dialects, since the Japanese community in Brazil comes 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.[14]

[edit] The Dekasseguis

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 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. 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.[15]

The Kasato Maru
The Kasato Maru

They also constitute the largest number of Portuguese speakers in Asia, greater than those of formerly Portuguese East Timor, Macau and Goa combined. Nevertheless, Brazil maintains its status as home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.

Cities with more Brazilians are: Hamamatsu, Aichi, Shizuoka, Kanagawa, Saitama and Gunma. Brazilians in Japan are usually schooled. However, they are employed in the Japanese automotive and electronics industries, a work considered below native Japanese. Most Brazilians go to Japan attracted by the recruitment 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.[16] Nevertheless, in 2002, Brazilians living in Japan sent to Brazil US$ 2.5 billion.[17]

[edit] 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 Brazilians suffer prejudice in Japanese schools for not knowing the Japanese language. Thousands of Brazilian children are out of school in Japan.[18] Scholars 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 heard the samba and participated in a carnival parade. However, once in Japan, Japanese Brazilians often promote carnivals and samba festivities in the Japanese cities to demonstrate their pride of being Brazilians.[19]

[edit] Notable persons

Liberdade, São Paulo.
Liberdade, São Paulo.

[edit] Arts

[edit] Politics

  • Getúlio Hanashiro, politician
  • Luiz Gushiken, politician
  • Cássio Taniguchi, politician, former mayor of Curitiba
  • Mauricio Yamakawa, politician, former mayor of Paranavaí

[edit] Sports

[edit] Research

  • Alfredo Kojima, informatics programmer
  • Célia Takada, journalist
  • Kokei José Uehara, hydraulic engineer and professor of University of São Paulo (pt)
  • Shigeaki Ueki, lawyer and businessman, former president of Petrobrás
  • Tizuko Kishimoto, University of São Paulo researcher in kids education, teachers formation, games and toys.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Asahi.com - EDITORIAL: Brazilian immigration
  2. ^ Adital - Brasileiros no Japão
  3. ^ U.S. State Department - International Religious Freedom Report 2007
  4. ^ Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Japan-Brazil Relations
  5. ^ US Census data 2005
  6. ^ http://www1.ibge.gov.br/brasil500/italianos/regdestino.html
  7. ^ http://www.historica.arquivoestado.sp.gov.br/materias/anteriores/edicao09/materia01/
  8. ^ http://www.imigracaojaponesa.com.br/naviodaesperanca.html
  9. ^ http://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br/imigracaojaponesa/historia.php
  10. ^ Brasil 500 anos
  11. ^ http://www.labeurb.unicamp.br/elb/asiaticas/japones.htm
  12. ^ Template:Cite University
  13. ^ http://www.panib.org.br/
  14. ^ http://www.labeurb.unicamp.br/elb/asiaticas/japones.htm
  15. ^ http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200805030045.html
  16. ^ http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/bbc/ult272u42891.shtml
  17. ^ http://www.portaldekassegui.com/tabelanuncio.htm
  18. ^ http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/bbc/ult272u42891.shtml
  19. ^ http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ea/v20n57/a09v2057.pdf

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