In April, the Embassy of Japan in Brazil released the results of the Public Opinion survey on Japan in Brazil, noting that Brazilians are very in favor of deepening relations between the two countries. Among the factors that contribute to this assessment, we can mention the facts that the Japanese-Brazilian relationship is considered friendly, that Japan is a country that can contribute to technological improvement in the country and also because Brazilians believe that their descendants, at the same time, Over the 100 years of presence in the country, they have contributed to the country's development.
The research was carried out through interviews with 1008 people from the states of Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, during the month of January this year, by the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (IBOPE). This research brings very interesting results about the image that Brazilians have of Japan, the Japanese and their descendants in Brazil. For example, it shows that Brazilian society has a lot of sympathy and admiration for the country of the rising sun.
In fact, if we analyze the relationship between the two countries, it could be mentioned that at least since the 1970s, when important Japanese companies and investments arrived in Brazil, there was already admiration for the economic success of the Asian country. It was a period of intense capital inflow from Japan into the country, proof of this is that, according to data from the Central Bank of Brazil, in the period from 1971 to 1979 the total volume of Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil reached US$ 1 .50 billion, which represented 60.9% of the stock invested by that country until 2000 (US$ 2.47 billion).
Since this period, Brazilian sympathy and interest in the country of the rising sun seems to be growing. In the 1980s, Japan expanded its position of international economic prominence and not only the country's economic growth, but the companies and their management methods were seen with great admiration. This interest was reflected, for example, in the search for implementation of Japanese business techniques by Brazilian companies such as just-in-time, the kanban system, among others.
Still in the 1980s, with the Brazilian economic crisis, which presented high rates of inflation and many economic difficulties, the veneration for Japan led Japanese descendants to start looking for work opportunities in the lands of their ancestors, giving rise to what remained known as the decasségui phenomenon. This flow of people from Brazil to Japan continued with significant dynamism throughout the 1990s.
Currently, the number of Brazilians working in Japan already exceeds 300 thousand, contributing to expanding ties between the two countries. If in the last century Brazil was the place seen as El Dorado for Japanese immigrants and, together with their descendants, they helped to build Brazil, which is today the tenth largest economy in the world with a GDP of around US$ 1.3 trillion . In recent years, it is Japan that has been the Eldorado, at least for Brazilian descendants, and they have also been important to Japan, as they have contributed with their sweat to revitalize the Japanese economy. Japan is currently one of the countries with the lowest birth rate in the world and, therefore, labor has become a scarce asset in this country.
The research, therefore, pointing out the sympathy and admiration of the Brazilian people for the Japanese, signals that relations between the two countries will continue to continue and deepen, as there are favorable conditions for this. At this moment, it is not just the admiration of Brazilian civil society for Japan, in fact, the Japanese have also shown a lot of sympathy and admiration for Brazil, but convergent interests between the two countries are present.
There are converging interests in the social areas, in the economic area due to the growing commercial relationship, in the development of energies that are alternatives to petroleum derivatives, in the international political field due to the mutual desire to join the UN Security Council. And the survey highlights that 75 of those interviewed believe that Japan should have a permanent seat.
The research allows for many other considerations, but in summary it can be concluded that it signals positively for the deepening and intensification of Japanese-Brazilian relations.
* Brazilian Association of Japanese Studies (ABEJ), affiliated with Discover Nikkei, contributes this article to Discover Nikkei. ABEJ is a non-profit organization that brings together professors and researchers from different areas of knowledge about Japan, experts, students and people interested in Japanese issues.
© 2008 Alexandre Ratsuo Uehara
