A government official, Osaka City Bureau of Economics
Brazilian Cars and Roads
We arrived at Sao Paulo's Cumbica Airport after a long 28-hour flight and a bonus landing in Rio de Janeiro due to inclement weather. After greeting members from District-4430 at the airport, the team members separated into different cars and headed off to their respective homestays.
It took about 30 minutes to reach the center of Sao Paulo, and the drive on the highway was fast and comfortable. One thing I noticed as we drove along was the people walking along right next to the car. There were absolutely no guardrails or sidewalks, to say nothing of walls, along the highway.
The pedestrians walk along the highway right next to where cars are zooming past them. Brazil is a vast country with a rather small population (22 times larger than Japan with a population 125% that of Japan), so the area along the highway wasn't crowded with buildings packed tightly together like in Japan. Instead, there were grass fields along the highway. To someone like myself, who knows only of Japanese highways, it was rather unnerving to be driving at 150 kph past pedestrians, people on bicycles and children playing soccer. I was worried that we might hit someone.
In Brazil, there are almost no sidewalks except for certain parts of the cities. Fortunately, we didn't have any accidents while we were in Brazil, and we didn't see any either, but I felt that there are probably many accidents. We were driving on roads that were a bit narrower than the national roads in Japan (with no center lines painted on them!), and when both the oncoming cars and our car were going over 100 kph, it made me break out in a cold sweat.
The differences between Japan, with its road-related equipment and facilities and detailed traffic regulations, and Brazil, with its unregulated traffic and driver judgment-based driving, can be seen in Brazil's traffic conditions.
While Sao Paulo has public transportation (2 subways, a national railway and buses), it is inadequate for handling the number of people who need to travel. Automobiles are the main means of transportation, so the roads are wide with many lanes. Still, traffic jams occur frequently, and the morning and evening rush hours are no different than what we have here in Japan.
The cars are not well-equipped, and there is a growing problem with air pollution caused by automobile exhaust. This problem needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.
In the suburbs, cars are forced to slow down due to the fact that there are convex bumps here and there in the road. From a traffic safety viewpoint, this is an effective method. However, in the case of an emergency that requires high-speed driving, it is not possible to use the same approach here in Japan. One place it clearly works well in, however, is Brazil.
As I saw how fast the cars moved through the streets, I thought to myself that it was no wonder Brazil produced so many F-1 race drivers. Of course, the driving I saw in the cities has nothing compared to F-1 race driving, but I thought that there surely is some connection.
Being Mistaken for a Brazilian-Japanese
I was asked many times during my stay in Brazil, "Are you really Japanese?" This was something that was, to me, very unexpected. Usually, when I told someone I was Japanese, they would ask me that question. I got so worried about it that I looked in the mirror, but I thought to myself, "Yes, there's no doubt I'm Japanese."
At first, I didn't really mind, but after being asked this question several times, but it soon caused me to think a little bit about "my existence" and what it means to be "a Japanese."
In the city of Sao Paulo, there is an organization called the Japan/Brazil Cultural Association in the Asian district of Bairro da Liberdade, and within that organization there is the "Cultural Research Center." We had the opportunity to hear a talk there about trends in the Japanese-Brazilian community, which was very interesting.
The Cultural Research Center has been calculating the percentage of Japanese Brazilians who marry non-Japanese for each respective generation, and it was found that only 6% of the first-generation emigrants married non-Japanese while 45% did so in the second generation. Compared to immigrants from other nations (such as Germany and Italy), the percentage is higher among Japanese-Brazilians.
Moreover, unlike those who emigrated to the United States individually, those who came to Brazil did so in groups as contract agricultural laborers. Many of them planned to return to Japan after making a lot of money. When one considers how these first emigrants did not allow themselves to be assimilated into Brazilian society, you can see how rapidly the rate of mixed marriages increased.
At the research center, I received the following explanation. "It's that the core of the Japanese spirit is not very deep in regard to the nation or nationality, and that, historically, the Japanese simply didn't have many opportunities to come in contact with foreigners and they weren't used to them. If the Japanese grow accustomed to foreigners, the only thing that remains is the spirit of being Japanese, and this is not strong enough to prevent the rapid assimilation of their culture. This is happening not only in the countries to which the Japanese emigrated, but it is also possible that the same thing will occur in Japan."
It was also pointed out that one of the characteristics of the Japanese language is its ability to adopt foreign words just as they are into the Japanese language by using existing Japanese characters to more or less represent the foreign word's original pronunciation.
In general, Europeans and Americans are said to be frank and open. They have a long history of receiving immigrants, and many of these immigrants shared the same culture and religion as the country to which they emigrated. The Italian and German communities in Brazil, though, have been able to preserve their ethnic communities better than the Japanese.
It obviously isn't a question of right or wrong, and it isn't a problem with a solution. In the end, it is up to each individual to judge for himself or herself what is best, and since I have never actually been in their position, it is hard for me to know what to say about it. It isn't something one can explain based upon reason, so one cannot predict what will happen in the long run.
It might be kind of like the racial problems and regional disputes taking place around the world. They are far-removed from us, and don't really affect us on a deep emotional level. The problem might be one of their not having a deep sense of the Japanese spirit or identity.
Unfortunately, I was unable to investigate this matter thoroughly, and I felt a bit envious of the Italian and German immigrants who have a sense of national identity. Also, it is a fact that when I saw second generation Japanese fathers struggling over what to do regarding the marriage of their daughters, I came to have a better understanding of what they are feeling.
The number of Japanese-Brazilians able to read Japanese is plummeting, and I heard that Japanese newspaper companies are going through some difficult times.
Many of the Japanese-Brazilians who hosted us were quite proficient at Japanese, and at times I forgot that I was in Brazil. But, when they said, "When you write to us, please right using the romanized alphabet instead of Chinese characters," I was shocked.
Perhaps more and more of the younger generation will marry non-Japanese, and the Japanese-Brazilian community will disappear. Thinking about this caused me to reflect anew on what it means to me to be a Japanese.
Employment
I heard people say, "If I had to work for someone else, Japan would be best. But if I could have my own business, I would prefer to live in Brazil." Brazil is a developing nation, and it has an abundant supply of resources and business potential. In addition, Japanese-Brazilians can learn a lot by looking at how things are done in Japan and other Asian countries. There are many chances for them to become independent and start their own businesses.
Starting business in Brazil is, perhaps, easier in Brazil than in Japan. And the more independent one can become, the freer he will become to live and do as he pleases.
In Japan, it is possible to enjoy one's life even if your job responsibilities are no greater than that of a chief clerk. But once you are promoted higher, even if you are company president, I have doubts about whether it is possible for you to truly live a fulfilling life.There are many cases where people find that their time becomes more and more restricted.
Of course, to succeed in business, one has to work doubly hard, and there are probably many unspoken hardships that they will go through. It is a fact that many of the Japanese-Brazilians we met were successful businessmen, but I think there were also some who were going through difficult times. Here in Japan, it would be quite difficult for a salaried worker to become so successful that he could own a large second home and have the time to go there every weekend to relax. Even if we earn many times more money in Japan, can we truly spend our time in a way that brings us satisfaction and contentment?
In this regard also, what I heard in Brazil really made me think about my reason to live in Japan. I can still remember one company president's words, when he said, "If I had to work for someone else, Japan would be best."
Experiencing Brazilian culture
The level of education among Japanese-Brazilians is usually quite high. Many of the first generation were farmers, but the third and fourth generation has many doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists. There are just a few factory owners.
I thought that it would be hard to establish a company in Brazil, employ a large number of Brazilians, and be able to stay in business. It seems like it would be hard, with the level of education in general being as low as it is, to effectively make the most of everyone's strengths collectively because of the difference in ability between workers.
Also, workers' rights are very strong in Brazil, in reaction to the former system of slavery, and it appears that one could not expect workers to perform at a higher level than what is decided by the unions.
However, the trend seems to be that people are looking for the kind of work in which it is possible to succeed on the basis of one's individual efforts.
Deep emotion, tears and applause
The hall echoes with the sounds of Ms. Kishi (one of our team members) as she sings "Sakura" and "Ave Maria." When we visited a Rotary Club, we always had her sing after we had given our self-introductions. No matter how many times I heard her sing, it was always wonderful. I felt a sense of peace as she started to sing, followed by feelings of calm. Her voice always resonated loud and clear through the air and in my ears. People reacted to her singing in various ways, with some sitting and listening intently, and others humming along. But the atmosphere always felt the same. Some even cried. Brazilians are such that when they are deeply moved by something, they cry, whether male or female, even in the presence of others. When she was done singing, at first one, two or three people would stand to their feet to applaud, but by the end everyone was applauding. And they continued to applaud. I was among them. And sometimes, since we had both come from Japan and were wearing the same yellow jackets, I would mistakenly feel like some of the applause was being directed toward me as I continued to applaud her. I was really moved when I saw how people continued to applaud my good friend. I was given the chance to see a real "standing ovation" when she sang.
Seeing the world, and being thankful
I traveled to the other side of the world 20,000 km away and experienced life there. There, one can also see mothers preparing the evening meal, children lifting their voices in song, and there are people bouncing along in buses on their way to work. It is only natural, and nothing is amazing about that. But, it was a feeling I never experienced on any of my previous trips abroad for sightseeing. I was able to actually feel that there are people living all over the world, with families, and living their daily lives. This realization, I think, was the greatest thing I gleaned from my trip to Brazil.
I am grateful to the Rotary Club for giving me this wonderful opportunity to go to Brazil, and to those in Brazil who welcomed us there. And, I also would like to express my gratitude for all the efforts they poured into the GSE program, and to our team leader and my three team members.
