Asian Brazilian
Brasileiro Oriental

Japanese family in Brazil
Total population
About 2,100,000 Around 1% of Brazilian population[1][2] May not include Asian Brazilians with Caucasian, Multiracial or African phenotypes
Regions with significant populations
Mainly in São Paulo and Paraná
Languages
Predominantly Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese dialects and Korean
Religion
Majority Christian[3]: 61.2% Roman Catholic, 13.3% Protestant, 12.5% non-religious, 0.8% other Christian beliefs[4] Minority Eastern religions: Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism[5]

An Asian Brazilian is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Asian ancestry, who remains culturally connected to Asia, or an Asian-born person permanently residing in Brazil. Brazil received many immigrants from Asia, both from Middle East and East Asia. The first Asian immigrants to arrive in Brazil were a small number of Chinese people (3,000) during the colonial period as coolie slaves. However, significant immigration from Asia to Brazil started in the late 19th century, when immigration from Lebanon and Syria became important. In Brazil, most of definitions of an Asian Brazilian usually do not refer to the community of West Asian origins such as Arabs, Turks and Armenians.

Most Asian Brazilians have roots in East Asia, most of them Japanese (Middle Easterners, most of them non-Muslim Levantine Arabs, easily integrated among the White Brazilian population, and as such there is even the perception that all Arabs are White people by the Brazilian society). The first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in 1908. Until the 1950s, more than 250 thousand Japanese immigrated to Brazil. Currently, the Japanese-Brazilian population is estimated at 3.0 million people. It is, by far, the largest ethnic Japanese population outside Japan. Other East Asian groups are also significant in Brazil. The Korean Brazilian population is estimated to be 50,000, and the Chinese Brazilian population around 160,000. Over 70% of Asian Brazilians are concentrated in the state of São Paulo. There are significant populations in Paraná, Pará, Mato Grosso do Sul and other parts of Brazil.

Japanese immigration to Brazil[link]

In 1907, the Government of the State of São Paulo authorized Japan's Imperial Immigration Company to transfer, annually, a certain amount of emigrants to Brazil. On June 18, 1908, arrived at Santos' harbor the Japanese vessel Kasato Maru with the first group of immigrants composed of 165 families, a total of 786 people. From the harbor they went to coffee farms, in the Mogiana region, State of São Paulo, to work as "colonists". There they started a new life in a foreign country with different climate, culture and language. Other quotas followed them and almost all of them went to live in coffee farms.

A poster used in Japan to attract immigrants to Brazil.

Asian Neighborhood in São Paulo City.

Between 1910 and 1914 approximately 14,200 immigrants arrived from Japan, who, after ending their labor contract in the coffee farms, went to the interior of the State, to the coast near the Santos Juquiá railway or to the suburbs of São Paulo, in order to get their independence. During the 1910s they established several immigration centers in the region of the North West railway as well as alongside the banks of Ribeira River in Iguape. From 1925 to 1935 these centers spread statewide and became localities. By this time was recorded the arrival in Brazil of approximately 140,000 immigrants including those who went directly to the North of the Country.

The immigration influx was interrupted for 10 years because of World War II. In 1959 it started again but the quotas were smaller, especially those that arrived from 1961 on, date of the beginning of Japan's economical recuperation. Up to the present arrived in Brazil approximately 260,000 immigrants.

The biggest concentration of immigrants are:

Japanese immigration

The others are living countrywide.^{[citation needed]}

Their labor force is employed as follows: Agriculture (50%); Commerce (35%), Industry (15%). The industry has grown quickly in view of the establishment in Brazil of Japanese enterprises during the 60's. We believe that 800,000 people compose the Japanese community in Brazil, which is already in its 4th generation. The descendants of the immigrants perform all kind of activity within the cultural and economic sectors. In the past two decades we have had two State Ministers in the Brazilian Government.^{[citation needed]}

Following their 80-year-old path immigrants and their descendants who have already close ties with Brazil take part and contribute with love and dedication to the construction of a better and developed country. This year, on June 18, they will celebrate with great rejoicing the beginning of the Japanese immigration into Brazil, since this day symbolizes a landmark of a history started 80 years ago.^{[citation needed]}

Brazilians in Japan[link]

Liberdade, São Paulo.

The migration continued through the 1970s, despite the interruption of World War II, with a total of 250,000 people crossing the seas. Not only farmers, but also politicians, engineers and entrepreneurs among Japanese-Brazilians appeared one after another. A reversal of that flow, and a swift increase of migrant workers in Japan, was triggered by the 1990 revisions to the immigration control law. At the request of the business community, second- and third-generation Japanese from Brazil were granted residence status without employment restrictions.^{[citation needed]}

Director Yamasaki visited Japan in the late 1990s to film a sequel to her first work. Her goal was to explore why recent immigrants, despite being accepted into Japan under a so-called national policy, were treated as gaijin (aliens). She focused on the lifestyles of the Japanese-Brazilians, tracking the plights of their fourth-generation children, many of whom dropped out of school after being unable to adapt to Japan's educational system.^{[citation needed]}

These Japanese-Brazilians are now 310,000 strong, exceeding the number of Japanese who originally moved to Brazil. While more of them have permanent residency, how to educate their children has become a particularly acute problem. There is no shortage of cases in which such children stop attending school due to the language barrier and descend into delinquency. Even when they stay in school, many can form no tangible ambitions for the future. While it is natural to expect parents to take responsibility for their children's education, the success of such efforts depends upon adequate support in the classroom.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Japanese-Brazilian
• Chinese Brazilian
• Korean Brazilian

References[link]

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Alejandro "Alex" Padilla (born March 22, 1973) is a California State Senator. He was elected as the state senator for California's 20th State Senate district in November 2006 and was inaugurated in early December. Prior to serving in the Senate he served 7½ years on the Los Angeles City Council representing the 7th District. First elected in 1999, he was elected council president in July 2001 and remained president through December 31, 2005.

Biography[link]

Padilla is one of three children of Santos and Lupe Padilla, both of whom emigrated from Mexico before meeting and marrying in Los Angeles.^[1]

Padilla grew up in the community of Pacoima in Los Angeles and is a graduate of San Fernando High School in the northeast San Fernando Valley.^[2] He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.^[3] After graduation, he moved back to Pacoima and briefly worked as an engineer for Hughes Aircraft, where he wrote software for satellite systems.^[4][5][6]

He has served as president of the League of California Cities and was both its youngest-ever president and the first Latino to lead the league. He currently serves as chair of the Los Angeles Leadership Council for the American Diabetes Association. Padilla previously was a staff member to United States Senator Dianne Feinstein and California State Assembly member Tony Cardenas.

Padilla was named one of America's "100 Most Influential Hispanics" by Hispanic Business magazine.

City Council service[link]

Padilla was elected to the Los Angeles City Council on June 8, 1999, at the age of 26.^[7] Two years later he was elected council president.^[8] As president he served as acting mayor of Los Angeles during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the days immediately following when mayor James Hahn was stranded in Washington, D.C.^[9]

State Senate service[link]

On December 4, 2006 Alex Padilla was sworn in as a member of the California State Senate representing the 20th District. His first two years, Padilla served on the Senate Rules Committee which confirms gubernatorial appointments and refers all bills in the Senate. In December 2008, Senator Padilla was named Chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.

In addition to chairing the Energy Committee, Senator Padilla serves on the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee; the Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Revenues and the Economy; the Education Committee; the Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee; the Natural Resources and Water Committee; the Public Employment and Retirement Committee; the Revenue and Taxation Committee; and the Government Organization Committee. He also Chairs the Select Committee on Obesity & Diabetes and the Select Committee on College and University Admissions and Outreach.

Gavin Newsom's Gubernatorial Campaign[link]

On Wednesday July 15, 2009, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that he had chosen Padilla as the chairman for his 2010 California gubernatorial campaign.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official State Senate site
• State Senate campaign website
• Padilla profile at JoinCalifornia.com
• Senator Padilla's official YouTube channel

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