Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Popolito.
Those who ventured in Sao Paulo have noticed: Brazil is a nest of Japanese chicks with a lovely Portuguese accent. Karina is 26, and was elected Miss Centennial Brazil- Japan on May 17. Karina is a Nikkei, a Brazilian of Japanese descent. The Nikkei are 1.4 million in Brazil, or 1% of the population, the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. Brazil celebrates in 2008, the centennial of their immigration.
It all started on June 18 1908, when the steamship Kosatu-Maru anchored in the Santos harbor with 781 immigrants, thanks to the Meiji era, which opened Japan to the rest of the world. Japan and Brazil signed a treaty, as Japan was too crowded and was running out of land to cultivate, and Brazil needed labor to work vast coffee field, since slavery was abolished in 1888. The first 50 years proved very challenging to Japanese immigrants, who received very harsh treatment from Brazilians, especially during WWII when Brazil was allied to the US. Today, the community is thriving, especially in Sao Paulo: 3 Nikkei out of 4 are catholic and 1 out of 2 marry non Japanese ethnics. This is the new promised land, I tell you!
Contest homepage
More picture of mixed blood Japanese contestants
More information on Nikkei
One Nikkei famous in Japan: Bossa Nova singer Lisa Ono, who performed with Tom Jobim and with João Donato in Brazil:
