I ended up remembering my times as a dekassegui, when visiting a city where many of them still live, despite the crisis that also affected this country. It was just two days, but it brought back memories of an entire period.
The day started very early. It started even earlier for my dear mother, who lovingly prepared our obentô . 1 I miss your food! We woke up early to wait for the construction company's bus. It took about forty minutes to get to the factory and along the way, the driver would stop by at various points on time to pick up other dekasseguis as well. On the way, we usually listened to music or slept.
Upon arriving at the factory, we clocked in, stored our belongings and made a table in the outdoor courtyard. Taisô , labor gymnastics, was hated by some, especially in winter. It was done three times a day: before starting work, mid-morning and mid-afternoon. It even helped to shake off sleep and relax a little.
After entering the factory and putting on our lab coat, we spent our hours gluing together parts of electronic devices – cell phones, notebooks , televisions and printers. We worked sitting down and so it was considered very light work. Vacancies at this factory were famous and sought after. Generally, work lasted until the end of the afternoon, but I ended up staying until 10 at night and we had many weekends of work. I preferred to work as much as I could, I didn't mind working on weekends because it made me feel good, since I was there for work and, of course, I would get paid more at the end of the month.
My birthday, at the factory.
During working hours, there wasn't much to think about, other than the future, Brazil and dreams. It was very repetitive work and I felt as if my abilities were atrophying. Talking was not allowed, but if it was quiet, no one would come and complain. So, whenever possible, we talked about what our life was like in Brazil, about our dreams and plans. In the first few days, I felt a lot of pain in my shoulders and hands, but after 1 month, I got used to it and no longer felt it. One of the rewards I gave myself was to buy juice from the machine or go to eat at a restaurant. So, as the days went by, I fueled my desire to return to my country and accomplish what I had interrupted.
There was also a night shift. Some employees exchanged day for night, entering the factory at 8 o'clock at night and leaving at 7 o'clock in the morning, when the other group of employees arrived. For me, that would be a much more exhausting routine, but there were people who preferred night work.
I was the youngest employee at the factory, I arrived at 17 years old. They allowed me to work overtime when I turned 17 and a half. Talking to the other girls, I felt that it was necessary to have strength, I didn't want to let what happened to some of them happen to me: missing their scheduled return to Brazil, or getting pregnant, spending their savings and needing to stay longer. But it didn't take much effort, as the only thing I wanted was to go back to studying. I just thought about it. I met 2 boys, but as they had no ambitions in life and no plans, I felt it wasn't worth having a serious relationship.
Everything was very accessible on a day-to-day basis and even though I didn't know much about the Japanese language, it ended up being necessary only at certain moments. Our section leader was also Brazilian, which facilitated communication in the environment. I had already studied a little Japanese in Brazil, but I applied and improved very little. I only needed to use Japanese on a few occasions, for example, in stores and restaurants. Cities with a high concentration of dekasseguis have Brazilian product stores with butchers, bakeries, magazines and snack bars, obviously with service in Portuguese. There are magazines aimed at dekasseguis , with many advertisements for services relating to their needs and also everything in Portuguese: sales of cell phones and other electronic devices, moving transport companies to Brazil, Brazilian clothes and perfumes. There was also a kind of walking video store, selling subtitled films and Brazilian soap operas on videotapes. It was a little truck that went from door to door to offer tape rentals. The reality is that I returned to Brazil with a very basic knowledge about Japan in all aspects. Among famous places, I visited Mount Fuji, Tokyo Disneyland, Suzuka Circuit and Universal Studios. In terms of cooking, I enjoyed the basics - sushi, sashimi, udon.
Children of dekasseguis have the option of attending Brazilian schools in Japan. My sister studied at one of them, as we thought that 2 years was too little time to adapt to a Japanese school and would be too difficult for a 13-year-old girl. In her case, the 2 years turned into 4 and when she entered high school, my fear was that she would get lost and no longer have dreams, that she would be content with the life she was having and that her dream would be to work in factories. This is actually very common. There are parents who find it convenient for their children to work like them, so as not to have to pay for school fees. Now, children, living with dekasseguis , no longer have people to look up to, to imagine a different future and they also end up finding it easy to get money for whatever they want to buy, especially in the world of electronics. Fortunately, with the proper guidance from my mother and her own willpower, this did not happen in our family and my sister returned to Brazil to attend the 3rd year of high school.
With an immense desire to go back to studying as soon as possible, I couldn't handle the goal of staying for 2 years. I left after 1 year and a half. Fortunately, things went as I imagined. The pre-university course lasted 5 months and I studied all day, only stopping for meals. I felt helpless at times, seeing some students who had been attending the course for years or months longer than me, and I thought: “I practically spent 1 and a half years without studying, how am I going to compete for a place at university, when so many of them Have you been studying longer than me?” Even so, I tried not to get discouraged. I thought that even if I didn't pass, the more I studied, the more I would advance towards the next year of studies. With great relief and joy, I managed to study at a public university.
I know there are different opinions and stories. It all depends on the view we have of things and the situations we have been through. However, as a scholarship holder, we went through completely different opportunities and experiences from the time I had as a dekassegui and the intention of this article is to share my story, either to encourage reflection or to show a little of the world of dekasseguis . Of course, everyone can choose how to be happy and it's important not to give up on that.
Notes:
1. Obentô is the name given to the Japanese lunchbox, but it is a word commonly used among Nikkei as well, to refer to any lunchbox.
© 2010 Silvia Lumy Akioka
