When I entered the History course at Universidade Federal Fluminense at the age of 18, I was faced with a new world: heated discussions, inexhaustible lists of bibliography suggested by teachers, in short, a unique universe of immense possibilities was before my eyes. Faced with that myriad of themes, subjects and focuses, in the second period I sought the position of volunteer assistant in a research on the Economic History of Colonial Brazil, however I did not obtain the position. Observing a book about Japan, the researcher praised my initiative to go alone looking for things that interested me and my thirst to always learn more, finally advising me to explore my potential in an area that had caught my attention since my childhood: Japanese Studies.

Little by little I accumulated readings and, as much as possible, attended the main events related to Japanese culture in the State of Rio de Janeiro. For example, the Tanabata Festival of the Brazil-Japan Cultural Institute, located in Bairro do Castelo, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and the Japanese Film Festivals organized by the Cultural and Information Center of the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro in partnership with Japanese-Brazilian institutions. Despite direct contact with the Japanese and their descendants, according to the existing bibliography on Japanese Immigration in Brazil, immigration to the State of Rio de Janeiro simply would never have existed. In addition to São Paulo, a few works addressed the presence and diverse contributions of the Japanese and their descendants in the Amazon, Northeast and South, but Rio de Janeiro was a big gap.

São Paulo is the main focus, placed as the paradigm, a type of absolute model, which would explain the entire experience of Japanese immigration to Brazil, justified mainly by having been the “initial landmark” and by the large flow. However,

“(...) the testimonies regarding the history of Japanese immigration in Brazil seemed definitive with the events already studied and defined. Stereotypes were created and consolidated especially in studies on São Paulo and Paraná (...). When Japanese immigration scholars refer to the State of Rio de Janeiro, they do so in a vague and imprecise way, as if nothing relevant had happened here” (INOUE, 2002, p.4)

How would the existence and performance of several institutions - with different functions and activities - created and maintained by and/or for Japanese immigrants in Rio de Janeiro be explained if the entire bibliography on Japanese immigration, and even many historians and researchers of the History of Rio de Janeiro? Did Rio de Janeiro not recognize your presence in the State? The very clear evidence of the numerical and cultural presence of the Japanese in Rio de Janeiro showed the need to rescue the memory of these immigrants, much less numerous than in neighboring São Paulo, it is a fact, but with their own specificity, which deserved and needed to be brought to light .

After enrolling in the Literature – Portuguese/Japanese course at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, in order to become proficient in the Japanese language, allowing me to also circulate among the bibliography in Japanese, I was able to join a project of ongoing research regarding Japanese Immigration in the State of Rio de Janeiro. In the project I had access to the works of Professor Mariléia Inoue, with whom I was also able to talk, more specifically to “ No Outro Lado Nasce o Sol: O Trabalho dos Japoneses e seu Descendentes no Estado do Rio de Janeiro ”, her doctoral thesis defended from the Program of Postgraduate Studies in Sociology at the University of São Paulo in 2002. Using official documents, such as immigrant entry registration lists, and interviews with Japanese and Japanese descendants from various areas of the State of Rio de Janeiro, through which managed to access a varied set of private documents of the most different types: letters, photographs, diaries, among others. Inoue concluded that the Japanese colony settled in the less noble area of ​​the current metropolitan area of ​​the capital, especially in Baixada Fluminense, dedicating itself mainly to agriculture and the development of cultivation techniques for orange, guava, persimmon, tomatoes, legumes, vegetables and flowers.

As a result of an internal migration movement, part of the colony later headed to the coastal region of the state. Linking himself to the fishing industry, he developed fishing techniques, building boats and preparing fish. Highlighting in his work the pioneering installation of a fishing school in Cabo Frio, seeking to train specialized labor for fishing activities. In addition to the Japanese presence in these activities, there are records of Japanese people and their descendants in urban activities, in the industrial, commercial and service sectors.

Based on Professor Inoue's work and several interviews that I conducted throughout the project, I decided to think about how the State of Rio de Janeiro appeared in the midst of the Celebrations of the Centenary of Japanese Immigration. According to the Association for the Celebrations of the Centenary of Japanese Immigration in Brazil, the main purposes of the celebrations organized to commemorate the hundred years were: to express gratitude for the receptivity of Brazilians and for the happy coexistence with other immigrants; strengthen ties between the Japanese-Brazilian community in Brazil and Japan; strengthen the Brazil-Japan bilateral relationship and, finally, value and increase the dissemination of Japanese culture in Brazil and Brazilian culture in Japan. The Commission for Celebrations in the State of Rio de Janeiro sets out to survey its “own history” , where we were able to observe a reinforcement in the trajectory of characters from the period commonly defined as “pre-immigration” or “pre-Kasato Maru”, that is, the period between the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Brazil and Japan (1895 ) and the arrival of the ship Kasato Maru (1908) disembarking with the “first” Japanese immigrants in the Port of Santos. Bringing figures such as Saburo Kumabe, who arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1906, acquiring land in the Macaé region; Wasaburo Otake, who arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1890 with the crew of the Cruzador Almirante Barroso; and Fukashi Sugimura, a member of the Japanese Legation who arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1907, an attempt was made to highlight the Nikkei community in Rio de Janeiro, stating that Japanese immigration began here and not in São Paulo. In other words, not being able to compete in numerical terms with the migratory flow that headed towards São Paulo, an attempt was made to gain visibility for the Rio de Janeiro community in the national context of the Commemorations.

Now, more than a year after the celebration of the centenary, there are still several books, articles, reports, documentaries, among other materials produced. The spaces for discussion and the efforts organized to produce cannot be easily dismantled or lost after all the “excitement” has passed. It is up to researchers and also Nikkei institutions, especially in Rio de Janeiro, to rekindle the spotlight and continue with research and work, analyzing and searching for a series of documents and testimonies still in the dust and doomed to oblivion.

© 2010 Aline Rocha de Souza