Symposium commemorating the 80th anniversary of Amazon development

Date: Nov. 28, 2009

Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.

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"Open Lecture" Symposium on the 80th Anniversary of the Amazon Development "Businessmen and Migration" Date and time: Saturday, November 28, 2009, 14:00-17:00 Venue: JICA Yokohama, 1st floor, Meeting Room 1 Eighty years ago, when development work began in the Amazon region, modernization and industrialization had reached a stage in Japan, and overseas migration projects to South America's Brazil were in the spotlight as a measure to deal with the rapidly growing population and to acquire overseas resources. Last year, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of immigration to Brazil, various events about Brazilian immigration were held, but little attention was paid to the businessmen who planned and managed the migration projects that supported the lives of immigrants overseas. Therefore, this symposium will focus on four influential businessmen, Hisaya Iwasaki, Eiichi Shibusawa, Sanji Muto, and Risaburo Hirao, and introduce the dreams and ideas they had for the migration project in Brazil, and how they materialized and realized them as business activities. We will also compare these four cases and discuss the relationship between the two governments and immigrants, as well as the impact on Japan-Brazil economic relations. We hope that this endeavor will open up new horizons in the study of Brazilian immigration history, and that the large-scale activities of these businessmen with a long-term perspective will provide guidelines for building a new relationship between Japan and Brazil in the 21st century. For more information, click here >> Organizers: Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation, JICA Yokohama Overseas Migration MuseumInquiries: Overseas Migration Museum Operations Office (TEL: 045-663-3257)

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