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Interviews

Paulo Issamu Hirano

(b. 1979) Sansei Nikkei Brazilian who lives in Oizumi-machi in Gunma prefecture. He runs his own design studio.
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Accepted by Japanese society as I learned more Japanese (Japanese)

(Japanese) In my early days in Japan, when I couldn’t understand Japanese, I think that people treated me differently, in a discriminatory way. But I’m not really sure if it was because I’m a foreigner or Brazilian. I had a hard time getting along with people around me, as some of them said to me, “Go back to Brazil” or I had things stolen at school. But at the same time, I think that I was partly responsible because I didn’t know about Japan well enough, and that things would have been different if I’d had a better understanding.

So, like I said, I’m not sure if it was discriminatory to begin with, because as I learned more Japanese, I was able to make more friends and even people who disliked me, they also got friendly, so it might have been because we couldn’t communicated enough. I don’t think I’ve experienced discrimination after I learned Japanese.

Brazilians discrimination interpersonal relations languages Nikkei in Japan

Date: Oct 18, 2016

Location: Gunma, Japan

Interviewer: Shigeru Kojima

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Paulo Issamu Hirano was born in São Paulo in January, 1979. As a Sansei whose grandparents are from Kumamoto Prefecture, he grew up in the Monte Kemel region near Liberdade. In 1989, he moved to Japan as his father, who had come as a dekasegi, called on him. Ever since, he has lived in Oizumi-machi in Gunma Prefecture. At first he was having a hard time with the language, but he made more friends as he learned Japanese. Currently he supports the Brazilian community as a graphic designer with his Japanese skills. In 2009, he started his own business and runs a design studio now. He publishes free magazines that introduce Oizumi-machi. He dedicates his life to making Oizumi-machi a Brazil town. (August, 2017)

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