Interviews

1. Moved to Japan as my dekasegi father called on me (Japanese)

2. Facing hardships in Japan (Japanese)

3. The difference between Nikkei community in Oizumi and Brazil (Japanese)

4. Change in community after the collapse of Lehman Brothers (Japanese)

5. Accepted by Japanese society as I learned more Japanese (Japanese)

6. From being a dekasegi to a long-term resident (Japanese)

7. Challenges of Brazilian community in Japan (Japanese)

8. Change of identity (Japanese)

9. The term Nikkei (Japanese)

10. My daughter’s identity (Japanese)

11. Starting my own business as a graphic designer after the collapse of Lehman Brothers (Japanese)

12. On becoming a Japanese national (Japanese)

13. Letting people know I am from Brazil (Japanese)

14. Oizumi-machi is my hometown (Japanese)

Paulo Issamu Hirano

(b. 1979) Sansei Nikkei Brazilian who lives in Oizumi-machi in Gunma prefecture. He runs his own design studio.

The term Nikkei (Japanese)

(Japanese) It might be the thing that I hold onto. I mean, I don’t think I can fully identify myself as Japanese or Brazilian. So if there is something like nationality, not identity, then for me it’s being Nikkei. It might sound strange to say that it comforts me, but I started thinking about myself as being Nikkei. It’s the answer that I reached for myself. I had been thinking about it all the time and finally I found that I was Nikkei. It’s a set of values that are not owned by Japanese or Brazilian people, things that only Nikkei would understand, and I think that I could understand them – that’s what this word means to me. I’m not sure if it makes sense.

Brazilians Gunma Prefecture identity Japan Japanese Nikkei Nikkei in Japan Oizumi United States

Date: October 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)