Japan and Brazil – 100 years of immigration

Japan and Brazil – 100 years of immigration

Japans Naruhito traveled to Brazil on Thursday to celebrate one hundred years of immigration between the two countries. The next in line for the Chrysanthemum Throne, Prince Naruhito will be in Brazil for 4 days in which he will stay in the countries largest city as well as visit other towns that have been common places for Japanese immigrants to emigrate to.

Brazil holds the second largest population of Japanese in the entire world, where some one and a half million Japanese have emigrated and taken up permanent residence. On the other side of the immigration, roughly three hundred thousand Brazilians have made the move from Brazil to take up a new home on the foreign soils of Japan.

The immigration policy that went into effect in 1908 started off with almost 800 Japanese citizens moving to Brazil for work with the growing coffee industry that was booming in plantations all near the Sao Paulo area. From that time until now, there has been a steady traffic of new immigrants taking up residency. In Brazil, the largest bulk of the Japanese population is found along the south part of the country where it is now common to see many sushi restaurants as well as other common traditions such as karaoke and martial arts.