Why Brazilians Are Seeking New Lives in the US

Japanese people began moving to Brazil in 1908 and continued in large numbers until the early 1960s. 

 OMG, just like the Japanese people who moved to the United States, the emigrants to Brazil came from all over Japan, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. It is lit! Between 1908 and 1941, approximately 190,000 Japanese people migrated to Brazil. Many of the emigrants were farmers dealing with extremely difficult conditions in Japan's rural areas, you know? They were dealing with overpopulation, falling crop prices, massive debt and unemployment, and even extremely harsh weather up north. In addition to all of the factors that "pushed" the Japanese out of Japan, the expanding and labor-deficient Brazilian coffee plantation economy was, like, the necessary "pull" factor that completely drew them there.

New immigrant workers were extremely needed in Brazil after slavery was abolished in 1888, and immigration from Europe (particularly Italy) was declining. Japanese emigration was highly encouraged by active recruitment and propaganda, you know? They were all about combating overpopulation and poverty in rural areas, and they even established "emigration companies" to recruit and transport people to Brazil. So lit! Starting with the "Gentlemen's Agreement" in 1908 and then the Oriental Exclusion Act of 1924, the United States was all like "nah fam" to more Japanese people moving here. So, all the migrants were like, "Alright, let's go to Brazil instead." Although the majority of Japanese emigrants went to Brazil as temporary migrant workers with the hope of returning to Japan in a few years with mad stacks, reality proved to be hella tough. They earned far less than expected as contract laborers, worked in extremely harsh conditions on coffee plantations, and initially found it difficult to obtain their own land to cultivate. 

Many people eventually became small landowners in Japanese colônias, which were rural agricultural enclave communities founded on land set aside with the Japanese government's assistance.

 

As the years passed, the prospect of returning to Japan with large sums of money became increasingly unlikely, and the majority of them ended up settling down in Brazil permanently with their families. However, many of them remained unassimilated and isolated in their ethnic enclaves, dreaming of returning home.The outbreak of World War II was extremely chaotic, and it resulted in some pretty repressive vibes for Japanese people in Brazil, but it wasn't as harsh as what happened to Japanese-Americans, you know? Most importantly, fam, the war ended any hope of Japan ever returning. In contrast to their unassimilated parents, many of the Brazilian-born, second-generation nisei began flexin' and hustlin' to integrate into Brazilian society (Cardoso 1973). Another wave of Japanese immigrants arrived after World War II (this time, primarily due to economic difficulties in a war-torn Japan), and some of whom We're much more woke and socially advanced than the immigrants who came before us, you know? From 1953 to 1962, 50,000 Japanese people travelled to Brazil. Like, these post-war emigrants were all about moving to Brazil to settle down for good, you know? And many of them ended up becoming small landowners in these cool agricultural enclaves almost immediately. Race is, like, the biggest thing that distinguishes Japanese-Brazilians as "Japanese" in Brazil, you know? OMG, being called "japonês" is definitely something all Japanese people in Brazil can relate to. It's very confusing for those who come from places where race isn't a big deal. OMG, it came down for the first time a few days after I arrived in Brazil. I was walking down the street in downtown Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul) when I heard: "Hey, bro!" What's up, my dude?! "Yo, Japanese family!"

OMG, there are approximately 1,228,000 Japanese-Brazilians in Brazil, making it the largest community of Japanese descendants (nikkeijin) living outside of Japan.

 

So lit! The majority of Brazil's population (91%) lives in the developed southwest and southern regions, particularly São Paulo and Paraná. It's super bright over there, you know? According to the São Paulo Humanities Research Center (1987-1988), the majority of Brazilian nikkeijin are 2nd gen nisei (30.9 percent) or 3rd gen sansei (41%), with a small but growing number of yonsei (4th gen). OMG, the Japanese-Brazilians are the original Asian minority in Brazil. They're extremely well-integrated into Brazilian society, you know? They're crushing it socially and culturally, fam. The majority of them are lit and live in big cities, with only a few families living in rural colônias. Socioeconomically, they are mostly middle-class and extremely educated. The intermarriage rate is around 40%, so six percent of the nisei and 42 percent of the sansei are of mixed descent, you know? Because of this insane social integration, a significant amount of cultural assimilation has occurred among the nisei and sansei.
Despite their social and cultural integration into mainstream Brazilian society, Japanese-Brazilians maintain a strong "Japanese" ethnic minority identity, which is far stronger than their identification with majority Brazilians or the Brazilian nation (cf. Maeyama 1996:398). Because Japanese-Brazilians are all about repping their distinct ethnic vibes that comprise their "Japaneseness" in Brazil, you know? Even as they become increasingly Brazilianized, they maintain their minority identities. For example, many of my nikkeijin informants emphasized the Japanese aspect of their dual ethnic identity, claiming to feel more "Japanese" than "Brazilian." Only a small percentage of them were fully repping a strong Brazilian vibe. This paper thoroughly investigates all aspects of the ongoing vibe of Japanese ethnic uniqueness and identity among the nikkeijin in Brazil.Primordial Ethnicity: Racial Vibes and the Essence of Japanese Ethnic Identity, you know?