100 years ago...
Exactly 100 years ago, in April 28th 1908, the ship Kasato Maru left from the port of Kobe carrying the first Japanese emigrants to Brazil. They arrived in June 18th in Santos. From that point, lots of things happened, both for the good and for the bad. The fact is that currently both countries exert influence onto each other, with Brazil having the largest Japanese community outside Japan and Brazilians being the third largest foreign community in Japan (after Chinese and Koreans).
One of the major concerns now is keeping that part of History alive. Many japanese descendents and Japanese alike don't know about the immigration (or emigration depending on your point of view). Thinking about it I tried to find sources to link to... Actually I could try to write something myself and I've done something like that sometime ago. Still, I wanted sources in all three languages (Portuguese, Japanese and English) or at least two (the former two) to satisfy most who might read this. Don't have time now to do it myself and couldn't find anything that completly satisfied me... I accept suggestions. For now, some sort of "official site" I found:
Nippaku 2008
I'll probably go back to this subject with more informations... hopefully.
As for me, I went to Kobe for this celebration. On the 26th there was a documentary called Mundo Nikkey about the Japanese immigration to Brazil and the immigration of some Japanese descendents to Japan. As it happens, the director of the movie is a relative of mine. So it was a good chance to meet part of the family as well... Including another relative that went there for the same reason; one that I haven't seen in almost 7 years...
The next day there was an event in Meriken Park (organized by CBK) to celebrate the emigration centenary. Among the events, Bossa Nova; some medley between taiko, maracatu and capoeira (yes, it sounds weird... but it was interesting); frevo and, as there seems to always have in events concerning Brazil, samba.
I'm not impressed anymore when I see the sudden crowd (mostly men) with cameras when girls start dancing samba "dressed for the occasion". (Well, check the picture some Japanese newspapers have about the celebration. I have to concede that those dancers were gorgeous and good at it... Well, they're pros.) But I may give some sort of unpolite answer next time someone asks if that's "traditional clothing"...
One of the major concerns now is keeping that part of History alive. Many japanese descendents and Japanese alike don't know about the immigration (or emigration depending on your point of view). Thinking about it I tried to find sources to link to... Actually I could try to write something myself and I've done something like that sometime ago. Still, I wanted sources in all three languages (Portuguese, Japanese and English) or at least two (the former two) to satisfy most who might read this. Don't have time now to do it myself and couldn't find anything that completly satisfied me... I accept suggestions. For now, some sort of "official site" I found:
Nippaku 2008
I'll probably go back to this subject with more informations... hopefully.
As for me, I went to Kobe for this celebration. On the 26th there was a documentary called Mundo Nikkey about the Japanese immigration to Brazil and the immigration of some Japanese descendents to Japan. As it happens, the director of the movie is a relative of mine. So it was a good chance to meet part of the family as well... Including another relative that went there for the same reason; one that I haven't seen in almost 7 years...
The next day there was an event in Meriken Park (organized by CBK) to celebrate the emigration centenary. Among the events, Bossa Nova; some medley between taiko, maracatu and capoeira (yes, it sounds weird... but it was interesting); frevo and, as there seems to always have in events concerning Brazil, samba.
I'm not impressed anymore when I see the sudden crowd (mostly men) with cameras when girls start dancing samba "dressed for the occasion". (Well, check the picture some Japanese newspapers have about the celebration. I have to concede that those dancers were gorgeous and good at it... Well, they're pros.) But I may give some sort of unpolite answer next time someone asks if that's "traditional clothing"...
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