Japanese Immigration to Brazil

In terms of culture, the Japanese immigration to Brazil is one of the most interesting issues when considering Latin-American groups and of course the organizations created by Japanese population, which allowed them in the first years in Brazil to organize and boost their productive activities like agriculture but then institutions were created to strengthen this amazing cultural identity which now is mixed with the national identity any Brazilian would have. When you go to Liberdade, the Japanese neighborhood in the city of Sao Paulo and you go to the popular Brazilian “feira” there, sometimes is hard to believe you are in Brazil. It is only when you listen to some Japanese speaking Portuguese (many don’t speak) or when you look ads in Portuguese that you remember you are not in Japan. And it is not strange considering that roughly 1.2 million Japanese and Japanese descendants live in Brazil nowadays.

The history of Japanese immigration to Brazil started before 1908 when the first ship, Kasato Maru, arrived in the port of Santos with 781 people. This was the first result of years of discussions, negotiations and conflicts between Brazil and Japan. Studying the socio-political and economic situation of both countries in nineteenth century it is possible to conclude that what allowed the immigration of Japanese people to Brazil was the critical economic situations both countries had and what boosted even more this migration was the profitable business it was in that times. Brazilian government and migration agencies wanted Japanese people basically to supply the lack of labor force when slavery was abolished in the coffee cultivations. Coffee was described to Japanese as "the tree that provides gold” and productivity of the plants would be such that the branches would arched with the weight of fruits so it was just needed to harvest them easily enough with the hands. This was not the reality, but Japanese immigrants only realize of this when established in Brazil.

Japanese population contributed in many areas in the Brazilian society like culture, education, sports, science and technology, health, and economy. Japanese immigration allowed close relations between both countries which allowed many initiatives and projects of economic development from the Japanese government and institutions like banks to help their largest population outside Japan could reach economic growth and prosperity which at the same time helped the Brazilian economy through foreign direct investments.

One of the most amazing contributions is the area of agriculture because it was so great and so important that Japanese immigrants and their descendants are still seen and admired in the country as the people who revolutionized the industry. They came also to be recognized and respected by the development they gave to agriculture by introducing new techniques and equipment that increased production and product quality. They were the first, for instance, to use fertilizers and pesticides in farming. They were pioneers in the cooperative movement founding the Cooperativa Agrícola de Cotia in 1927 and Cooperativa de Juquerí in 1929, subsequently Cooperativa Central Agrícola Sul-Brasil. In the late 70’s, one in ten farmers in the state of São Paulo was Japanese or as they are known, Nikkei. They were responsible for 35% of food produced in the state and supplied 70% of Ceagesp, the largest warehouse of vegetables, fruits, fish and flowers in Latin America.

The contribution to agricultural development in Brazil is so important that some products were used to designate the source of its growers. Zucchini and Japanese eggplant are examples of it. This effort of immigrants working in the field created a revolution in the Brazilian dining table – the daily menu of population, which was composed almost exclusively of rice, beans, meat and pasta, also included vegetables, expanding the food brought by other migratory flows.

The next pictures show how amazing and interesting is being in Liberdade.

REFERENCES

Clavijo, D, Rangel, N & Arroyave, D. (2010). The Nikkeis and the agricultural development in Brazil. Universidad EAFIT.

Japan International Agency – JICA (2003). Os Nikkeis e a Sociedade Brasileira nos próximos 20 anos. São Paulo, Brazil.

O bairro da Liberdade e o Centenário da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil. Retrieved from: http://static.blogo.it/viajandaun/liberdade.jpg

Liberdade in Sao Paulo. Retrieved from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Liberdade_in_Sao_Paulo_002.JPG

Guiozão e tempulá. Retrieved from: http://brauncafe.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/lei-230x306.jpg