This page has the following sections:
After identity struggles, Japanese-Brazilian boy gains interest in his roots The story of a Brazilian boy with Japanese ancestry who grew up in Aichi, Japan, was treated differently and bullied by other students and wished he looked typically Japanese. It tells how he came to accept his identity and think of himself as having two home countries after being involved in group work at a juvenile detention centre he was sent to after committing a crime. Mainichi, 2020.
Brazilian woman seeks human rights relief in Japan after welfare application snubbed The story of a Brazilian woman of Japanese ancestry women who was wrongly rejected for welfare payments by Anjo City on Aichi because she is not Japanese and was told to put her children into care or go back to her country if she couldn't afford to raise her family in Japan. Mainichi, 2022.
Foreign children slipping through the cracks of Japan's education system This article looks at the situation of Maria and other children who are attending a nursery school in Hamamatsu City even though they are 6 years old or over. An NHK survey found that out of 120,000 foreign children between the ages of 6 and 14 living in Japan about 8,400 are believed to have not attended school. NHK World. 17 Apr 2019.
Japan's trial run for migrant workers This article looks at Japanese-Brazilian Nikkeijin in Hamamatsu and tells the story of Flavia who went to a top university in Tokyo even though she was told by her teacher when she was 10 that she had no future in Japan. BBC News, 2007.
Many foreign children in Japan enrolled in special-needs classes for 'language' reasons An article about why there is a high number of children with foreign roots in special-needs classes , including the story of Nayara Natsumi Kinjo, a Japanese-Brazilian person whose teacher at elementary school wrongly told her she might have a disability. Mainichi, 12 Apr 2022.
The Brazilians winning in Japan This article explains the history of migration from Japan to Brazil and then looks at Japanese-Brazilians migrating to Japan to live and work, focusing on Oizumi City in Gunma and telling the stories of two Japanese-Brazilians who have succeeded in Japan as well as reporting on the experiences of those who have struggled. BBC News, 17 July 2015.
Japan failing to support young Brazilians Stories of young Brazilians in Izumo City, Shimano. NHK World, 29 Feb 2020.
Japanese Brazilian A Japanese Brazilian (nikkei burajiru-jin in romaji Japanese writing; nipo-brasileiro in Portuguese) is a Brazilian citizen of Japanese ethnic origin, or a Japanese immigrant living in Brazil. Wikipedia.
Brazilians in Japan Looks at the migration history of Brazilians in Japan, integration and identity issues, religion, education and employment. Wikipedia.
Life as Dekkasseguis: The Brazilian Community in Japan by Erika Calalzans. This article looks at the numbers of Nikkeijin Brazilians in Japan, the effect of the economic crisis in Japan on them, and other problems they face. Asia Pacific Human Rights Center, Dec 2009.
Current Issues regarding the Brazilian Migration to Japan By Lili Kawamura, Discover Nikkei: Japanese migrants and their descendants, 1 Feb 2008.
Roving vans offer banking, food from home for Japan Brazilians Japan's nearly 200,000-strong Brazilian immigrant community live in pockets scattered across the middle of the country, clustered around auto parts factories or warehouses where they have jobs. To reach them, Brazilian companies have adopted mobile businesses, sending vans around the countryside selling traditional pastries, Portuguese language magazines and other goods from home. This article focuses mainly on Oizumi in Gunma. For more on Japanese-Brazilians in Oizumi, see below. Asahi Shimbun, 21 Jun 2017.
Support 21 / さぽうと21 is an volunteer organisation based in Meguro, Tokyo, that provides counselling about living in Japan, scholarships for education, and Japanese lessons for refugees, nikkeijin (descendants of Japanese) and returnees, including those from China, living in Japan. It has developed out of the Association for Aid and Relief which was started in 1979 to help refugees to Japan from Indochina and which has now become an international aid organisation.
Brazilian school in east Japan without gov't status shuts doors due to funding woes Nippaku Gakuen, a school for the children of the large Brazilian population in Ora and Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture, and a symbol of the Brazilian community in east Gunma, has closed because of financial problems and lack of recognition by the Japanese government. Mainichi, 2023. Japanese version
'Prison camps for Brazilians': Foreign kids in Japan being ushered into special education Many foreign children in Japan are being placed in special education against their wishes amid a lack of consensus building with schools and doctors as they have trouble understanding Japanese. The article looks at the stories of several Japanese Brazilian people who were placed in special education classes Mainichi, 2019.
Brazilian elementary school. Hamamatsu, Japan 2002 Children who's families intend to return to Brazil usually are studying at Brazilian schools. Choosing between Japanese and Brazilian education systems is one of the hardest tasks Brazilian parents face in Japan. Discover Nikkei.
200 Brazilian Schools’ Students Able to Earn Japanese High School Diplomas A correspondence-based high school in Gunma Prefecture has decided to tie up with a school for Japanese-Brazilian students next year so the bilingual students can receive Japanese diplomas, its officials said Saturday. Japan Probe.
Language, not labor, key for Japanese-Brazilians This article discusses the problems that lack of Japanese ability causes Nikkeijin Brazilians in Japan, criticizes companies who employ Nikkeijin for not supporting language education for them, but also looks at positive action by one company, Yamaha IM Co, and by Aichi Prefecture. Japan Times, 23 Aug, 2008.
Bow, don’t hug and kiss, when at school in Japan, Brazil kids learn Famed Brazilian cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa has lent his talents to creating a colorful picture book that shows children from Brazil what school life is like in Japan, and how different customs are in this country. He arranged for 120 copies in Japanese and Portuguese to be presented to the Konan board of education as the city has a sizable Brazalian community. Asahi Shimbun, 6 April 2018.
>>> For Brazilian schools in Japan see Ethnic schools and education (Brazilian, Korean, etc) >>>
4th-generation Japanese visa applicants hamstrung by language, age requirements The requirements for this new visa are very high and so very few people have been allowed to apply for it. The article looks at the difficulties experienced by Japanese-Brazilian 'yonsei' trying to get this visa. Mainichi, 2019.
Foreign workers of Japanese ancestry deserve better treatment This editorial criticises the government's program, started in 2009, to pay South American workers of Japanese descent in Japan to return to go back to their original countries when the economy worsened, and the lack of a decision about when to allow those workers to return. It concludes: "Japan should accept foreign workers not as mere manpower but as people. " Asahi Shimbun, 23 Sep 2013.
Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home Looks at the decision by the Japanese government to pay Nikkei, mostly Japanese-Brazilian, immigrants to return to the Latin American countries they came from, and discusses the arguments for and against this policy, especially the rule that Nikkei who agree to leave won't be able to return to work in Japan again in the future. New York Times/ International Herald Tribune, 23 April, 2009.
Recommendations of Overseas Emigration Council Future Policy Regarding Cooperation with Overseas Communities of Nikkei A report for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dec 11, 2000. It also has recommendations on Japanese language education for Nikkei and on the employment of Nikkei in Japan.
Oizumi, Gunma from Wikipedia
Japan Mulls Importing Foreign Workers An article that focuses on Oizumi and emphasizes problems both for the Brazilian community there and between the Brazilian population and Japanese community. Washington Post, 20 Jan, 2007.
The Brazilians winning in Japan This article looks at people of Japanese ancestry in Brazil and Japanese-Brazilians in Japan, and focuses on 'Brazil town' in Oizumi. BBC News, 17 Jul, 2015.
Brazilian schools overlooked in radiation survey An article about how the Council in Oizumi forgot to include theree Brazilan schools in a survey of radiation at schools in the city. The article suggest this is an example of how the Brazilian community there is always overlooked. Majirox News, 11 Feb, 2011.
大泉町多文化共生コミュニティセンター (Oizumimachi Multicultural Co-existence Community Center (In Japanese and Brazilian).
Toyota City: How it became Japan's Detroit "There are many ways to measure how important the car maker Toyota is to the Japanese economy, and how hard its lost year has hit both the country as a whole and this once-booming city that bears its name." Globe and Mail, 17 Jul. 2009.
An Enclave of Brazilians Is Testing Insular Japan "TOYOTA CITY, Japan — Facing labor shortages back in 1990 but ever wary of allowing in foreigners, Japan made an exception for Japanese-Brazilians. With their Japanese roots, names and faces, these children and grandchildren of Japanese emigrants to Brazil would fit more easily in a society fiercely closed to outsiders, or so the reasoning went." New York Times, November 1, 2008.
Brazilian community in the Homi Danchi, Toyota City "The Homi public housing development ('Danchi' in Japanese) in the Homigaoka area of Toyota City, in Aichi Prefecture, is now home to a large population of Brazilian immigrants. They mainly came to the area to work at Toyota and related manufacturing jobs, but are now often the first to lose those jobs due to the worsening recession."
Mutantfrog Travelogue, March 10, 2010
Brazilian community in Toyota City "The Homi public housing development ("Danchi" in Japanese) in the Homigaoka area of Toyota City, in Aichi Prefecture, is now home to a large population of Brazilian immigrants. They mainly came to the area to work at Toyota and related manufacturing jobs, but are now often the first to lose those jobs due to the worsening recession." flickr from Yahoo, 01 Mar, 2009.
Homi "Situated at the top of Homi-ga-oka is the Homi Public Housing Estate which consists of over 40 apartment blocks, shops and schools... Like most Public Housing Estates in Japan today many of the residents are old age pensioners, some of whom live alone. Many of the apartments are uninhabited. The Homi Public Housing Estate has a population of around 11,000 and more than 4,000 of these are Brazilian immigrants." 2009
Nikkei Brazilians and Local Residents: A Study of the H Housing Complex in Toyota City "This article provides some insights on the relationship between Nikkei Brazilians and local residents in Toyota City, the center of Japan’s automobile industry." Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2000.
City strives to school foreign youth: Toyota, Brazilians offer their own types of user-friendly education This article discusses the education of Nikkei Brazilian children Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, which has one of the largest concentrations of Brazilians in Japan, totaling 4,972 as of the end of 1998. It looks at public schools and at the Escola Alegria de Saber, or the Joy of Knowledge School, a private Brazilian school which has set up branches in other parts of Aichi. Japan Times, May 9, 2000.
Forgotten In Japão: Education in the Brazilian Dekasegi Community A film about the Brazilian-Japanese community in Toyota City by Sam Holden
Little Brazil: Hamamatsu and the Japan-Brazil Year of Exchange 2008 "Walk through Hamamatsu and you will quickly notice that it has a rather different flavour from most other Japanese cities...Venture into Hamamatsu’s nightclubs and you will find Brazilians, Westerners and Japanese rubbing shoulders to Brazilian beats." Newsletter, Hamamatsu City.
Helping Brazilian kids master local life Japanese-Brazilian Tetsuyoshi Kodama proudly serves as a bridge between the Japanese and Japanese-Brazilian communities in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. Japan Times, Aug. 23, 2011.
Multicultural Coexistence in Hamamatsu City: Challenges after 2008 Economic Crisis This report looks particularly at the effect of the economic crisis on working conditions for Japanese-Brazilaians in Hamamatsu and on education for Japanese-Brazialian children. It includes a summary in Japanese
Japan's trial run for migrant workers This article looks at whether migrant workers could help solve an imminent labour shortage caused by Japan's population crisis. It focuses particularly on Nikkei Brazilan immigrants, who were encouraged to emigrate to Japan from the 1990s, and on Hamamatsu city in Shizuoka that has a large Nikkei Brazilian population. BBC News, 21 November, 2007.
Lonely Swallows Lonely Swallows is a documentary that follows the struggles of Japanese-Brazilian children living in Hamamatsu.
In Traditionally Insular Japan, A Rare Experiment in Diversity An artcile about the Japanese-Brazilian and Japanese-Peruvian communities in Hamamatsu and the Mundo de Alegra (World of Happiness) school set up for Brazilian and Peruvian children in Hamamatsu. Washington Post, 6 Oct, 2007.
Tsuda, T. (2009) ‘Japanese-Brazilian ethnic return migration and the making of Japan’s newest immigrant minority’ in M. Weiner, (Ed). Japan's minorities: the illusion of homogeneity. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge. Available from: Chuo Library 開架 301.45/J35.
Yamanaka, K. (2003), '"I will go home, but when?": Labour migration and circular diaspora formation by Japanese Brazilians in Japan', in M. Douglass & G. S. Roberts (Eds). Japan and global migration: foreign workers and the advent of a multicultural society. London; New York: Routledge. Available from Chuo Library総合政策 325.252/J35 & Mike. Sections on: world systems theory and migration systems theory; the history of labour migration from Japan to Brazil and Brazil to Japan, 1880s to 1990s; the demography and social structure of the Nikkei Brazilian population in Japan; and Nikkejin as transnational and return migrants.
Sellek, Y. (1997). 'Nikkeijin: The phenomenon of return migration', in M. Weiner (Ed). (1997). Japan's minorities: the illusion of homogeneity. 1st Edition. London: Routledge. Available from: Chuo Library 総合政策 301.45/J35 & Mike. Looks at the hisotry of foerign migration to Japan in general; at the inflow of Nikkeijin since the beginning og the 1990s, at the impact of Nikkeijin migrants on Japanese society and the effect of this inflow on understandings of Japanese identity and immigration policy.
Feminized Migration, Community Activism and Grassroots Transnationalization in Japan by Keiko Yamanaka In the absence of governmental policy to incorporate immigrants into the nation’s political and legal structure, Brazilian children growing up in Japan have encountered great difficulty in acquiring an adequate education. In response, a group of Brazilian mothers founded an organization, ALA Brasil, to help their children cope with study in a public school in Hamamatsu, Japan. 2003.