Liberdade
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Liberdade, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Liberdade (pron. IPA: [libeɾ'dadzi], Portuguese for "Freedom") is the name of a district in the borough of Sé, in São Paulo, Brazil. It is home to largest Japanese community outside Japan in the world that has been growing since the 1950s. Being São Paulo's own equivalent of Japantown in the USA, it is a haven for everything Japanese.
Significant populations of Chinese (this includes those from mainland China, Taiwan and Macau) and Koreans also live in the district of Liberdade. It is served by the São Paulo Metro. An estimated 300,000-600,000 Brazilians of Japanese descent live in the community.
The entrance to Liberdade has been marked by a nine-meter tall red torii (a Japanese arch that marks the entrance to Shinto temples) since 1974. This towering structure, situated on Rua Galvão Bueno, is a distinctive representation of the neighborhood. Liberdade was successfully connected to the São Paulo subway network in the 1970s, opening up this area to commerce like never before. Today, thousands of paulistanos (citizens of São Paulo) flock to the public square in Liberdade every Sunday to purchase craft goods at the weekly fair. In January 2008 a project to revitalize the quarter, due the 100 years of Japanese immigration in Brazil, was approved by the mayor Gilberto Kassab. 40% of the restoration may be ready for the visit of the prince Naruhito to São Paulo in June 2008.
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