Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:04 pm Post subject: Japinhos/Japinhas in Japan
So, how are Nippo-Brasilians treated/thought of in Japan?
I'm talking about the Japinhos that look really Japanese to those that only shows a hint of their Japanese bloodlines, but clearly exhibits Brasilian culture in their actions. Not the ones who may completely try to hide their "Brazilianess"...
I remember seeing a (cheesy) movie about some Brasilians in Japan. The two Japinhos were saying, "In Brasil, we're Japones. In Japan, we're Brasilians"....
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 3:46 am Post subject: Re: Japinhos/Japinhas in Japan
NomadicLife wrote:
So, how are Nippo-Brasilians treated/thought of in Japan?
I'm talking about the Japinhos that look really Japanese to those that only shows a hint of their Japanese bloodlines, but clearly exhibits Brasilian culture in their actions. Not the ones who may completely try to hide their "Brazilianess"...
I remember seeing a (cheesy) movie about some Brasilians in Japan. The two Japinhos were saying, "In Brasil, we're Japones. In Japan, we're Brasilians"....
NomadicLife - since i seem to be the only japonesa here (or any lurkers?! ) i'll try answering as much as i can, altho' i think i am far from qualified.
i used to know several Japanese-Brazilians living in Kanagawa-Pref but don't know anyone personally now. i wouldn't reckon many of them live in Tokyo or Yokohama either - i understand there are lots of Jpnese-Brazilians living in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka-Pref, etc.
nonetheless, from what i've read and been told, and also from what my non-Japanese friends have to always tell me about, i could well imagine that some (if not most) indeed do feel being completely isolated in Japan.
here is one article i found in the brazzil magazine before. not a joy to read nor being totally fair-minded but def. shows one aspect to look at some social problems we have here in Japan i must say.
Japanese Brazilian, Stay Off Japan! Eva Paulino Bueno
A Japanese Brazilian living in Japan must have a strong heart, and stomach, and a strong sense of oneself, in order not to get lost and crazy in the sea of Japanese coldness and rejection. When the Japanese cannot avoid seeing that these Brazilian Japanese do have a culture, their reaction is disgust.
When I arrived in Japan, in 1999, I brought in my luggage several films about Brazil, and the certainty that they would be a great hit. I came to Japan hired to teach Spanish in a women's university that has more than ten thousand students. I arrived planning to expand the Spanish courses and to include courses on Latin American Culture and Civilization. In these courses, I thought, I would use the Brazil material I had brought, as a kind of introduction. Afterwards, I imagined, I would design and teach a course on Brazilian culture and literature.
And why not? After all, Brazil is the country that has more Japanese and descendants of Japanese living outside Japan. So, I was positively sure that my students' interest in the Portuguese language and in Brazil was merely a matter of time, a bit of pedagogical ability. With the help of our music, and the lush images I had in my videos, who could resist?
I also brought in my luggage a few ideas about Japan. Who, among those growing up in the city of Maringá, Paraná, in the 70's, didn't accumulate such ideas? I was raised with "Japanese" friends, eating the sweat bean paste and other Japanese delicacies their mothers served when we got together to study after school, going to the Bon-o-dori parties at the Acema—Japanese Brazilian Club, writing my name in Japanese (a friend's grandfather taught me), and even learning quite a few curse words in Japanese.
Who among us didn't hear in the radio the theme of the Japanese program that started early in the morning, filling the soundwaves with the sweet and melancholy chords of "Sakura, Sakura…" Among the many ideas I brought with me to Japan, right on top of the emotional baggage about the country was the concept that, although my family doesn't have any exact connection with Japan, my going to live and work there had, in a certain way, the feeling of going back to one of my homes.
The highest the jump, the biggest the fall. After two years living here, I gave up teaching Spanish, and put away the plans to teach Latin American Culture and Civilization. Portuguese? This language I never had the opportunity to speak, much less to teach. But at the very least I could give two courses about Brazilian Carnaval when I was invited to a special occasion in a language school in Osaka; I could also show the seniors in the university the Brazilian film Gaijin (which they found very strange, and only found worthy of comment the fact that the name of the director of the film, Tizuka, is wrong, and should be Chizuka). These two occasions, I must emphasize, were forced, stolen moments, because there is no interest, in Japan, for countries which are not the United States (which the Japanese simply call "America"), or for any language which is not English.
Thanks for that article, mika. Not a joy to read, indeed.
I must say that the Japinhos I've met so far are definitely Brasilian in every aspect culturally. Racism (or whatever you want to call it in this case) is painful coming from anybody, but must be especially painful when it's coming from the very people whose blood is the same as the blood that's running through your veins.
I must say that the Japinhos I've met so far are definitely Brasilian in every aspect culturally.
care to elaborate, NomadicLife... i wonder what your ideas of "Brazilianess" are?
contrary to popular opinion, some of the Brazilians i've come across seemed to be most shy and quiet people actually, and all nervous too! i'd thought they would be the most relaxed people on earth...
Quote:
Racism (or whatever you want to call it in this case) is painful coming from anybody, but must be especially painful when it's coming from the very people whose blood is the same as the blood that's running through your veins.
i'd call it a type of xenophobia or plain mass psychology... but then again, it is rather complex to explain where all this comes from cos oftentimes i could hardly understand it myself...
one main reason i can relate to a bit tho' is that Japanese people would tend to avoid any confrontation at all (talking to foreigners included) even when it's absolutely necessary and thus misunderstandings will remain unsolved - i.e instead of discussing their problems, they bottle up their anger or resentment, etc. - until they finally burst into a rage or end it all, depending on the person's nature.
i assume living in such a narrow and close country without much natural resources may well be one cause of our suffocating, competitive society.
Brasil seems, by contrast, to be all spacious and rich in natural resources. such a fortunate country, in many ways...
care to elaborate, NomadicLife... i wonder what your ideas of "Brazilianess" are?
contrary to popular opinion, some of the Brazilians i've come across seemed to be most shy and quiet people actually, and all nervous too! i'd thought they would be the most relaxed people on earth...
I meant to say culturally.
I concur with your observation that most are quite shy and quiet -- at least the ones that are living outside of Brasil. The Brasilians I know here in the US are just that. Very different from the Spanish-speaking 'latin' Americans.
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) i'll try answering as much as i can, altho' i think i am far from qualified.
i'd thought they would be the most relaxed people on earth... 
