Tatiana Maebuchi
@tatianamaebuchiBorn in São Paulo, Tatiana Maebuchi is a third generation Japanese Brazilian on her mother’s side, and fourth generation on her father’s side. She is a journalist with a degree from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica in São Paulo, and has written for magazines, websites, and media marketing. She is also a travel blogger. As a member of the communications team of the Brazilian Society of Japanese Culture and Social Welfare (Bunkyo), Maebuchi helped contribute to the dissemination of Japanese culture.
Updated July 2015
Stories from This Author
Japanese or Brazilian?
Feb. 12, 2018 • Tatiana Maebuchi
Born in Brazil, Victor Keith Miamura is a yonsei and, at the age of two, he went to live in Japan with his parents, in the late 1980s. He grew up in Aichi, in the city of Toyokawa. “At that time I had to have appendix surgery. Then, to pay for the surgery, they borrowed money and then, to pay off the debt, they decided to go to Japan”, he says. Japanese or Brazilian? In Japan, Keith says he didn't …
Tokyo 2020 unites Brazilian Nikkeis
Jan. 17, 2018 • Tatiana Maebuchi
Japan and the rest of the world are preparing for the highly anticipated 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. “Tokyo Gorin Ondo 2020”, the new version of the official song of the Tokyo Olympic Games, was released in early August and is performed by singers Sayuri Ishikawa, Yuzo Kayama and Pistol Takehara. The song's lyrics and choreography were recreated with the concept of Felicidade & Paz (“Happy & Peace”). Gorin ondo ( gorin means “Olympic” and ondo is a genre of Japanese …
From manga and games to caricature
Nov. 24, 2017 • Tatiana Maebuchi
Daniel Sato, 35 years old, Sansei, has a very common story among Brazilian Nikkei . He took a graphic design course for six months “because of dreams that our family put in our heads that working with computing would make us rich”. He also worked as a web designer, which he thought “would be great” for a year, but discovered that that wasn't what he wanted. And he decided to follow another path. Influence of manga and anime “I started …
Center for Japanese-Brazilian Studies keeps the history of the Nikkei community
Oct. 20, 2017 • Tatiana Maebuchi
In the Liberdade neighborhood, in São Paulo, there is a very rich collection involving people of Japanese descent that is available to the public, from books with academic research to a box full of waribashi (restaurant chopsticks ). This collection belongs to an institution that was created by some Japanese intellectuals shortly after the end of the Second World War. Since the beginning, it has had publishing activities and operates 100% in Japanese. The Center for Japanese-Brazilian Studies (CENB)—or Jinmonken …
An invitation to tradition and faith
Aug. 10, 2017 • Tatiana Maebuchi
My mother's family settled in the city that is now Álvares Machado, in the west of São Paulo. He bought land in the region and ended up giving part of the land to the construction of a school and the Japanese cemetery. Members of the Ogassawara family are buried at the site, which has hosted a traditional celebration for almost a century. Almost a century-old tradition The tradition of Shokonsai – which means “invitation to souls to mass” – arose …
Mind, spirit, physique and tradition in arts
May 24, 2017 • Tatiana Maebuchi
He discovered martial arts through his father who practiced judo and began training at the age of 10. He earned his black belt diploma in Brazil and had the incredible opportunity and experience of training, seminars and internships in Okinawa, where he received his teaching certificate from the Okinawa Association. Afterwards, he also received the 7th dan black belt diploma (senior teacher) and the title of shihan (master) in Okinawa. This is the trajectory of Flavio Vicente de Souza, 43 …
The Cotia Cooperative and its important role in agricultural expansion in Brazil
April 10, 2017 • Tatiana Maebuchi
At a time when history presented a favorable scenario, the growth of the city of São Paulo and the consequent change in the routine of São Paulo residents, the Cooperativa Agrícola de Cotia (CAC) emerged. One of the largest Brazilian cooperatives, CAC contributed to the cultivation of potatoes, soybeans, grapes, mangoes and coffee, in addition to the production of eggs and chicken. The emergence of agricultural cooperatives According to historian Célia Sakurai, “Japanese families came to Brazil and, after those …
The different Nikkei generations in my family
Jan. 26, 2017 • Tatiana Maebuchi
I stopped to think and compare the generations of my grandparents, my parents and mine and my sisters. In addition to the age difference, there are also cultural differences and adaptation to Japanese traditions. And all of this makes each generation very different from each other. Life and coexistence To begin with, my grandparents settled and made their lives in the country, where my parents grew up. But both my father and mother came to São Paulo to go to …
Black tea in Registro: the rescue of tradition
Nov. 4, 2016 • Tatiana Maebuchi
Registro, a city in the interior of São Paulo that plays an important role in the culture and history of Japanese immigrants in Brazil, was once known as the capital of black tea in the 1960s. Now, the city sees the old tradition resurfacing. Obaatian, the resurgence of tea Swan Yuki Hamasaki, 30, says that the story she hears from her grandmother, Elizabeth Umeko Shimada, 89, is that when she was five years old, her father – Kikuno Sugano – …
Yuba, a Nikkei school of life
Oct. 18, 2016 • Tatiana Maebuchi
Peculiar and interesting is the Yuba Community, in the city of Mirandópolis, in São Paulo. There are many stories to tell from those who lived there. One of them is from a family that emerged from the community. “The best school of my life” Silvia Sasaoka, 57 years old, from São Paulo, tells how she discovered Yuba and the reasons why she decided to live there. “I was studying Fine Arts at FAAP in the late 1970s and early 1980s …
