Even though it was a Japanese settlement, that doesn't mean that there were no Brazilians living there at all. Even at its lowest, Brazilians made up about 10% of the population. Still, that's still an abnormal number.

In Brazil, there seems to be a constant flow of workers from the north to Sao Paulo. Sometimes it becomes a big flow with a clear reason, but it seems that the people in the north have a vague expectation that something good will happen if they go to Sao Paulo.

When AT was a child, his family also set out from a town in the north, heading for São Paulo. On the way, just before they reached São Paulo, a relative who had arrived earlier told them that there was work available in the town where he currently lives, and so they subtly changed their course accordingly. The camion (light truck) carrying the family left São Paulo and headed for a newly built town far in the interior.

As they walked along the path through the fields, guided by a relative who had joined them along the way, they finally started to pass people here and there after crossing a bridge. AT-san was looking at the people's faces with great interest, and was so impressed that he finally called out to the relative.

"Auntie, what a big family you have!"

AT explained, laughing as he reminisced, that once they crossed the bridge, the group had entered the Japanese settlement, but as a young boy who had never seen a Japanese person before, everyone they met looked the same, so he was surprised and thought they were all the same family.

"That's the Japanese. We're all going to live here from now on."

The aunt told the boy. At the time, she probably didn't think she'd end up living there for so long. She ended up getting married in this town, raising her children, and now has grandchildren here. They're kind of a big family.

Cutting down trees and burning them is not part of the typical agricultural practice in Japan, so experienced Brazilian workers are needed. Once the fields are established, it is difficult for a family to care for such a vast amount of land alone, which is unthinkable in Japan. At one time, the hotel in town acted as a sort of employment agency, with Japanese people constantly coming to hire the Brazilians who were constantly staying there, one after another.

However, it seems that there were surprisingly few people who stayed in the town for as long as the AT family. Some Brazilians left, saying that they felt sick by the sheer number of Japanese people.

When you ask long-time Brazilians about what their town was like in the past and about Japanese people, you get roughly the same answer. As I mentioned in my previous article about baseball, Japanese wives were really hard-working, but their husbands were not, and they all say, "Japanese people were bravo."

Bravo. It's a Portuguese word that also means brave, but I don't think it's used in a very positive way here. It probably has a nuance of being quick to anger or something like that. I haven't had a chance to ask yet, but I think that even now, when an average Japanese person works as an employer with an average Brazilian, they still give off a similar impression. Japanese people are generally pretty strict when it comes to work. That's why they have a reputation of being bravo.

The Brazilians who saw the Japanese as nothing more than an unpleasant bunch of Bravos probably left town early, but those who ended up spending a long time with the Japanese, either because they somehow got along with them or because they couldn't leave town even though they wanted to, eventually seemed to realize that they were more than just Bravos.

"When I work with Japanese people, they don't cheat on my salary and they pay me on time. If I'm going to work, I want to work for a Japanese person."

I heard similar evaluations from Brazilians who came to town.

As an adult, AT-san once went to work in a big city. He laughed as he talked about the discomfort he felt at that time.

"Whether I'm shopping or wandering around town, if there are no Japanese people around I feel uneasy."

AT eventually returned to town and started a family with a Brazilian partner.

Japanese people have always been reluctant to marry non-Japanese people. One of AT's acquaintances who fell in love with a Japanese woman had to elope. But that is now a thing of the past. AT's son married a Japanese woman, and his grandson's Japanese blood is obvious in his appearance. He attends karaoke classes and sings Enka with a punchy style that is unlike that of a Japanese person, and has been doing well in various competitions.

There is an interesting story. Currently, 80% of the town's population is Brazilian, but the Brazilians in the surrounding towns think that they are a little strange. For example, when expressing their opinions, they tend to use the expression "Achoque (I think)," which sounds vague to Brazilians. They are very serious about their work.

Everyone there seems to agree that the Brazilians are gradually becoming more like Japanese people.

© 2007 Shigeo Nakamura