Upcoming series to examine Japanese diaspora in Brazil

On the occasion of the centennial of Japanese immigration to Brazil, Harvard University’s sixth annual Brazil Week announces “Brazil and Japan: A Century of Journeys Across Borders and Generations.” This weeklong series of events will examine the history and cultural manifestations of the Japanese diaspora in Brazil, as well as the experiences of Nippo-Brazilians who return to Japan. Brazil Week 2008 will take place April 7-11, and all events will be held at the Center for Government and International Studies, 1730 Cambridge St.

Brazil is the Latin American country that has received the most ethnic Japanese immigrants, and it now has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, numbering an estimate of more than 1.5 million (including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity). In June 1908, the boat Kasato Maru arrived in Santos with the first group of Japanese immigrants, a population that would grow to approximately 189,000 between 1908 and 1941, reaching a peak in arrivals between 1924 and 1935.

Today the influence of Japanese culture is present in many aspects of Brazil’s history and culture. Yet the question of identity lingers for the descendants of Japanese immigrants. Many Japanese-Brazilians do not feel completely “Brazilian” until they travel to Japan for the first time, when they realize that they identify more with “being” Brazilian rather than Japanese.

Brazil Week 2008 will bring together a team composed of the most prominent scholars on Japanese immigration from Brazil, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. These specialists come from a variety of research areas such as anthropology, sociology, literature, history, and the arts. The interdisciplinary perspective they bring to the event will illuminate a large range of topics and will reach and engage a very broad audience.

Among the events scheduled, will be an exhibition of rare original photos of Japanese-Brazilian couples from the early 20th century. There will also be a screening of acclaimed director Tizuka Yamasaki’s “Gaijin II.” Finally, world-famous cartoonist Maurício de Sousa will give a presentation on the creation of mascots for the centenary of Japanese immigration to Brazil, an occasion that has received much attention not just in Brazil, but also in Japan.

Brazil Week 2008 is made possible by the support of the Jorge Paulo Lemann Fund of the Brazil Studies Program at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University.