Saturday 13 July 2013

Brazilians of Japanese Descent

Pedro's in town!

Pedro is a colleague from the São Paulo, Brazil office and also a friend. Here is a picture of him at Batu Caves:


Some of you are probably scratching your heads and wondering... 'Where's the Brazilian? All I see is this chinese guy standing in the middle of the photo'. LOL!

Today's post is gonna be about Brazilian culture and history. Did you know that Brazil has the largest population of Japanese that are living outside Japan? The Brazilian Institute of Statistics recorded that there are 1.4 million Japanese living in Brazil in 2010! Fascinating, isn't it?

As I understand it, in the early 20th century, coffee was the main export product for Brazil. Brazilian farmers needed labor to work in the coffee plantations and in 1907, a treaty was signed between Brazil and Japan, permitting Japanese to migrate to Brazil.

The beginning of World War I in 1914 started a boom in Japanese migration to Brazil; such that between 1917 and 1940 over 164,000 Japanese came to Brazil, 75% of them going to São Paulo, where most of the coffee plantations were located.

If you like to learn more, do check out this web page on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Brazilian. This is really interesting stuff.

During my time in São Paulo, I've made friends with some very cool people who are Brazilian of Japanese descent. Here is a picture of Marcela (far right) and me, with Natalia.


 And here's us with Eduardo (far right).


Most of these young working adults are 3rd Generation Brazilian of Japanese descent. All of them are as Brazilian as can be and most of them can't speak Japanese. They love their Brazilian chopp, picanha, beaches and samba. They wait eagerly every year for Carnival, where they dance like nobody is watching and party like rock stars :)

The Japanese have now assimilated well into Brazil and hold some notable positions in Brazilian politics and in the business world. There are even some famous celebrities such as Sabrina Sato, a Brazilian comedian and tv personality.

She's half Japanese, 1/4 Swiss, 1/4 Lebanese and 100% Brazilian. And she is gorgeous!

Something that I've noticed but never mentioned on my blog before is that São Paulo is truly a melting pot of the world. The economy is booming and thus, has attracted people from all over. I've met people from as far as China & Korea to Lebanon & Iran, Mexico & Germany who are all living and working there. And there are so many inter-marriages going on that you can find some really exotic looking people there. Like Sabrina Sato.

Well, that's all for culture and history today. And if you want to know where you can find sexy Brazilian bikinis for sale, like the one that Sabrina Sato is wearing above, look no further than here: www.liquido.com.my

Have a great day, folks!


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