Why Are Brazilians Moving to the United States?

OMG, like obvi, the prob is all about how you see it, ya know? 

 The external ethnic vibe I got in Brazil was kinda similar, but unlike Fanon, I wasn't ethnically weighed down by a historical legacy of colonialism, exploitation, and slavery from the Brazilians. OMG, like, during my first week in Brazil, I was shook af 'cause I totally realized that being Japanese wasn't seen as bad like being black in France for Fanon. It's cray! For me, the Brazilian obsession with calling me japonês was just them acknowledging diferença and not hating on it. At worst, there may have been a lil' bit of teasing or roasting sometimes, but never straight-up hating or disliking. Like, tbh, I was way more entertained than triggered. After a hot minute, it became hella basic, like duh.

Yet, the vibes Brazilians give off about racial difference ain't always this lowkey. I like, totally clocked that some Brazilians be flexin' by pulling their eyes up with their fingers to show the olhos puxados (slanted eyes, or like, literally "pulled eyes") of the Japanese-Brazilians. But like, this ethnic gesture isn't meant to be, like, offensive to the nikkeijin, it's just, like, a funny way of pointing out their unique looks. In contrast to the United States, where this gesture is like, totally seen as an ethnic insult, when it was used in Brazil to refer to people or things Japanese, the vibe was either neutral or even positive. OMG, so like, I was totally peeping this sitch where my landlady in Riberão Preto (São Paulo) was spilling the tea about her Japanese-Brazilian friend's kids to someone else. "Their dad is Brazilian, but they still look hella Japanese," she was like, pulling her eyes up with her fingers for emphasis. I've also peeped the gesture being used when talking about stuff made by the Japanese, ya know?

The weird Japanese physiognomy has like totally been conveniently appropriated in Brazilian commercials, ya know? 

A TV ad for Toshiba products ends with a magnifying glass flexin' on the eyes of a Japanese face, ya know? "Open your eyes, fam," the ad urges. The statement lowkey has a double connotation that's like telling consumers to peep the vibes of Toshiba products, you know? Again, local context is everything, making an unmitigated ethnic insult in one society a good-humored advertising gimmick in another. YOLO, like, the vibes are different, ya know? What's offensive in one place might be lit in another. My Jap-Brazi informants seemed to vibe with my take on those ethnic experiences in Brazil. Like, honestly, only a small number of them even cared about being called japonês all the time in Brazil, whether it was by their race or how people treated them. A few peeps said they'd be triggered if someone called them "Jap," but most were like, nah, that never goes down. Others even peep positive vibes into the vibe. "My kids came home from school one day kinda bothered that they are always called japonês by the other kids," one Japanese-Brazilian mother remarked. "I was like, I straight up told them that the Brazilians ain't clowning on them, you know?" I told them that being Japanese is, like, hella lit and something to flex on. The Japanese are like, totally respected and admired in Brazil, you know? Even the slanted eyes gesture was like, no biggie, just some ethnic humor. OMG it's so wild that only one person got triggered by the gesture, like they were all like "OMG they're totally making fun of the Japanese and it's not cool!" Yet even she like totally admitted that the tendency to express ethnic prejudice in a jocular manner takes like so much of the bite out of Brazilian "ethnic discrimination."

"Even if we become like, totally Brazilian and act all Brazilian-ish, we'll still be seen by Brazilians as Japanese 'cause of our faces, ya know?"

Despite the lack of shade, the attention on the racial vibes of the nikkeijin in Brazilian society has a big impact on their ethnicity since ethnic identity is not just about their dope cultural heritage, but also about being woke to their common racial roots, which sets them apart from the rest of society. For the Japanese-Brazilians, racial phenotype has like totally become the most basic thing that identifies them as a "Japanese" minority and like totally sets them apart from other Brazilians (cf. Saito 1976:196-7). In Brazilian society, the Brazilian nikkeijin are like super easy to spot 'cause of their unique "oriental" look (traços orientais), which is like sooo different from whites (brancos), blacks (pretos), and mixed blood mestiços of all types (including mulatos, morenos, and pardos) (cf. Maeyama 1984:455). OMG, Brazilians are all about those phenotypic vibes because they're super woke about racial stuff, like even the tiniest diff in skin color gets major attention.1 The Japanese-Brazilians are always called "japonês" by other Brazilians just because of their looks, not only in places where names aren't known (like on the streets, stores, and public areas) (cf. Maeyama 1984:448), but also when they're talked about with friends.