The Japantown in Brazil

Exiting out of Libertade station on the São Paulo South-North subway line, one arrives in a neighborhood filled with extravagant restaurant billboards and supermarkets selling Japanese, Chinese, and Korea products and ingredients. This is the center of Bairro Oriental, Libertade Plaza (Photo 6-1). Galvão Bueno Street runs south from here and at night, the street is lit up with the neon signs of shops along with the red Suzuran lamps. Once known as the largest Japantown in the world, Bairro Oriental (“Oriental neighborhood”) is located roughly at the center of São Paulo city and is Libertade District’s main business and …

From January to February of 2007, I took a trip through Paraguay and the northern region of Paraná. Though the main goal of this series is to bring to light the history and current state of Japantowns in Brazil, in this auxiliary chapter, I would like to include my own impressions of the Nikkei colony of Yguazú from my visit.

Foz do Iguaçu, famous for the Iguazu falls, is connected to Paraguay by a single bridge over the Paraná River. Once across this “Bridge of Friendship,” one arrives in the Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay’s second largest city. The city is called …

Even after the Taishō Elementary School, Brazil’s first Nikkei schooling system, moved to San Joaquin Street, the Japantown of the Conde District continued to grow. It is believed that its most prosperous days were between the mid-1930s and around 1940. 

The Japanese community in São Paulo city at this time had risen out of the bleak years of 1914-15. The residents of Conde had “climbed up the hill,” reaching the height of the Conselheiro Furtado era, and advanced to Conde do Pinhal, Tabatingüera, and Irmã Simpliciana. (Handa, 1970, p.572).

It is estimated that around 1933, the Nikkei population of the Conde …

Because Japanese community groups and parent’s associations provided the foundation for the management of many of the Nikkei school systems before the war, it was natural for these schools to be established in areas with large Nikkei populations. Here, I would like to provide a general overview of the Taishō Elementary School which was established in the Conde District (Reference Map 2, 3, 4), the first Japantown in Brazil, and the circumstances of those days.

The Taishō Elementary School was founded as Brazil’s first Nikkei school and was located in the heart of the Conde District, on …

São Paulo is a city of hills. When walking around Centro, the downtown area, you may be overwhelmed by the numerous slopes and wonder why a town was built in an area with so many hills.

On January 25, 1554, Father José de Ancheta, along with 13 other Jesuit priests, established a town with Saint Paolo as its guardian angel on the Piratininga plateau (FAUSTO, 1994, p.93). The town was built at the top of the hill in order to protect against a feared Indian attack.

Since then, São Paulo expanded along the surrounding hills, centering around the town built …