Half-breed!?
One of my first lessons in Japan: I'm Brazilian, not Japanese.
And I'm not talking in nationalist terms. It's on the sense that my background resembles more of the average Brazilian rather than the average Japanese. Therefore, I still consider myself more "Brazilian", especially in things like way of thinking, than Japanese. This may change as I stay in Japan, but that's my opinion at this moment.
Why I'm saying this? Because of an identity problem some Japanese descendents face here. In Brazil, Japanese descendents are more a less considered "Japanese". Some may consider themselves this way. Actually, discussing this in depth is worth another post... some other day.
Then, when they come to Japan, Japanese descendents aren't "Japanese". They may physically look like them, but in most cases their cultural background, even though the Japanese community tries to "preserve the traditions", is different. Considering Brazil, the descentents assimilated good part of Brazilian culture; besides, Japan itself changed from the time Japanese immigrants first went to Brazil.
But, again, background matters. And to that sense, I'm a Brazilian nikkei (Japanese descendent) as well. Talking to Jonas some days before my entrance exam made me realise a strange part of the "nikkei background" most descendents may not realise they have.
In some point during the conversation he mentioned how surprised he was when a Brazilian Japanese descendent said to him that another person "is not Japanese [descendent]. He is 'half-breed' (mestiço)" because one of that person's parents was not "ethnic Japanese descendent" (or "ethnic Japanese") only. According to him, Italian or German descendents (more common where he lived in Brazil) doesn't usually make that distinction so strongly.
When I heard it from him was the first time I was conscious of that. In many cases, members of the Japanese community in Brazil (myself included) may say things like that. It's not that unusual. Besides, sometimes we call "gaijin" those without Japanese descendency. Why that "segregation" is done so naturally? Ok, I have to admit that it may not be so common as it once was, but it's still possible to hear such things inside the community quite often.
I'll be careful to avoid doing it from now. I just wonder how the community got used to saying these kinds of things as if it was natural. Maybe because the first immigrants didn't want to mix with the rest of the Brazilian community... Also, some say the Japanese were (or are...) segregationists, especially when it comes to the misguided notion that Japan is described as having "one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture and one race. There is no other nation (that has such characteristics)". (Check also for "Nihonjinron".)
So, is it a result from the combination of the two factors mentioned above or are the reasons something completely different?
I wonder...
And I'm not talking in nationalist terms. It's on the sense that my background resembles more of the average Brazilian rather than the average Japanese. Therefore, I still consider myself more "Brazilian", especially in things like way of thinking, than Japanese. This may change as I stay in Japan, but that's my opinion at this moment.
Why I'm saying this? Because of an identity problem some Japanese descendents face here. In Brazil, Japanese descendents are more a less considered "Japanese". Some may consider themselves this way. Actually, discussing this in depth is worth another post... some other day.
Then, when they come to Japan, Japanese descendents aren't "Japanese". They may physically look like them, but in most cases their cultural background, even though the Japanese community tries to "preserve the traditions", is different. Considering Brazil, the descentents assimilated good part of Brazilian culture; besides, Japan itself changed from the time Japanese immigrants first went to Brazil.
But, again, background matters. And to that sense, I'm a Brazilian nikkei (Japanese descendent) as well. Talking to Jonas some days before my entrance exam made me realise a strange part of the "nikkei background" most descendents may not realise they have.
In some point during the conversation he mentioned how surprised he was when a Brazilian Japanese descendent said to him that another person "is not Japanese [descendent]. He is 'half-breed' (mestiço)" because one of that person's parents was not "ethnic Japanese descendent" (or "ethnic Japanese") only. According to him, Italian or German descendents (more common where he lived in Brazil) doesn't usually make that distinction so strongly.
When I heard it from him was the first time I was conscious of that. In many cases, members of the Japanese community in Brazil (myself included) may say things like that. It's not that unusual. Besides, sometimes we call "gaijin" those without Japanese descendency. Why that "segregation" is done so naturally? Ok, I have to admit that it may not be so common as it once was, but it's still possible to hear such things inside the community quite often.
I'll be careful to avoid doing it from now. I just wonder how the community got used to saying these kinds of things as if it was natural. Maybe because the first immigrants didn't want to mix with the rest of the Brazilian community... Also, some say the Japanese were (or are...) segregationists, especially when it comes to the misguided notion that Japan is described as having "one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture and one race. There is no other nation (that has such characteristics)". (Check also for "Nihonjinron".)
So, is it a result from the combination of the two factors mentioned above or are the reasons something completely different?
I wonder...
1 comment:
Interessante...
Post a Comment