An office worker at administration department of Japan International Food for the Hungry
To Brazil at last!
May 19, 1996. Team leader Ohishi and we four team members arrived in Sao Paulo Brazil. Along with feelings of relief at arriving safely, I remember being completely exhausted from the long, tiring journey. We were in the air for about 28 hours on our way, passing through Los Angeles and Miami before finally arriving in Sao Paulo, and even I, though I usually enjoy flying, had had enough!
Brazil, a country I had never visited before. In Japan, apart from hearing that a large number of Japanese-Brazilians are living and working in Japan, we hear almost no news at all about Brazil. Also, I felt that most of the TV shows about Brazil deal with the Amazon region, and show very little about life in Brazil or about the cities in Brazil. Therefore, it was with basically no information about Brazil at all that I left for Brazil filled with both expectation and uneasiness.
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
Since it was my first trip to Brazil, everything I saw was new and fresh. Every time I visit a country I know nothing about, I have this aim or intention: that as long as I am in that country, I will strive to learn and understand all I possibly can about its culture and customs. But I forgot one important thing on this trip. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." This was the most important thing I learned during my trip to Brazil.
For example, regarding the feeling toward "time" in Brazil. In Japan, if we say that we are going to meet somewhere at __:__ , almost everyone will be there on time. But in Brazil, that isn't how things work. What really surprised me was that the large majority of those having a plan to meet somewhere at a certain time will very nonchalantly arrive at least 30 minutes late.
Another example is that here in Japan, many people set up a time schedule for most of the things they do, and they basically do things according to that schedule. But during our time in Brazil, there were many times that it seemed like things were not going according to schedule. In the worst cases, while we were in the van between places, our team leader would look at us and say, "I wonder just where we're going now...?
During our first two weeks in Brazil, every time this kind of thing happened, I got really upset. And as you would expect, because of my irritation at this, after going all the way to Brazil, I was unable to enjoy my time there. However, through this experience I was made to rethink things, realizing that when we were in a different culture than our own, it wasn't our position to judge what was good and what was bad. Rather, what is most important is that we accept things as they are.
It is only natural that there are differences in Japanese and Brazilian culture and the way we think about things. As long as one is comparing their country with another one, saying "In Japan, we...", it is impossible to understand the other country's culture and to enjoy your time there. Because I was able to think during my last two weeks, "This is Brazil!", I was truly able to enjoy my time there. And whether it is a good thing or a bad thing I'm not sure, but I became perfectly comfortable with the relaxed, carefree way of life in Brazil that it took me a while before I was able to feel accustomed to Japan's fast paced lifestyle after I returned home.
Brazil and Japanese-Brazilians
One thing that surprised all of us was how very numerous Japanese-Brazilians are in the Sao Paulo region. Out of the approximately 1.3 million Japanese-Brazilians living in Brazil, 40% are living in this region, which makes it the largest single community of Japanese emigrants in the world. There is a large Japantown section in downtown Sao Paulo called Liberdade, and you are aware of its Japanese roots the moment you enter it. On both sides of the street you see street lamps in the shape of red lilies, rows of stores with Japanese signboards and selling all kinds of things, from jewelry and Buddhist family altars to "futons" and Japanese pottery welcoming cats. As I looked around me, I couldn't help thinking, "Eeeh, they even sell these!" The Japanese-owned Palace Hotel where we often gathered to meet people is in Liberdade. It was a rather confusing place to be with Japanese-Brazilians walking down the street and a feeling very much like Japan.
Well, why are there so many Japanese-Brazilians living in Brazil anyway? My gaining some knowledge about the history of Japan and Brazil in relation to the immigration of Japanese was a very important learning experience for me.
Emigration from Japan to Brazil began in 1908, and was the result of a lack of workers in the coffee fields of the Sao Paulo region. It was at this time that exchange between the governments of Japan and Brazil began, and it was decided that Japanese workers could come to live and work on Brazilian coffee plantations. So, at that time, many poor Japanese farmers arrived in Brazil on the "Kasado -Maru" with dreams and hope in their hearts. But when they got to Brazil, reality was considerably different than the dreams they had painted in their minds.
The first wave of immigrants went there to replace the slave labor that had existed up until that time, and they worked on the plantations cutting grass, harvesting the coffee beans, and doing other manual labor. However, many immigrants later obtained their own land, and started to develop their own independent coffee farms. As a result, the Japanese immigrants played a very important role in helping to develop the agricultural industry in Brazil.
In Brazil, the Japanese-Brazilians are trusted and highly respected for their sobriety and hard work. These Japanese-Brazilians are Brazilian in their nationality, but I think they still strongly retain a Japanese element as well. Getting to know and relate to these people, who are Japanese in some ways and un-Japanese in other ways, was a bit confusing and hard to handle at first, but I was finally able to understand a little better what "Japanese-Brazilians" are like.
Of course, the GSE program includes vocational study, and I was able to learn about things related to my own work on the days set aside for such study trips.
I am presently work for a civilian aid organization (Japan International Food for the Hungry) that is assisting developing countries with their hunger and famine problems by providing emergency aid and education, and helping these countries to become more independent. For my first study trip, I was given the opportunity to visit a Brazilian slum, or "favela", and an orphanage. In any country one goes to, I think you can see a luxurious and prosperous side as well as another darker, poorer side. In Sao Paulo this is particularly evident. In the shadows of skyscrapers stand the "favela", creating a very clear picture of the "difference between the haves and have nots." Most of the residents of Brazil's "favela" have moved to the city from the north, coming to Sao Paulo from the poor northern region searching for a better life. These new arrivals put up a simple wooden shanty in one night, and before you know it, others do the same and you end up with an illegal shanty town.
I felt that the solution to this problem is one of the main social problems facing Brazil as a country.
On the day we left Sao Paulo, a large group of Rotarians (those who had hosted us and taken care of us during our trip) came to see us off at the airport, and I'm sure the other passengers and people at the airport where probably thinking, "What organization is this?!" My heart was overflowing with gratitude to all the warm hearted Brazilians we met.
Looking back on it now, my time in Brazil felt long at times and short at times, and it was a time of constant change. I am so happy for all of the precious, brand new experiences I gained, and for the cultural exchange I was able to have.
To be sure, the political and social situation in Brazil is not very stable. But, it goes without saying that one should not judge a country merely by these things. Brazil has a wonderful culture, and many wonderful people. They are a people who laugh a lot and cry a lot. I saw big, strong men crying in front of others. I discovered people who cry when they are sad, who cry when they are happy, and who naturally and simply let their emotions show. And I think that they are a people who do not fit into any one mold, and who live unfettered, free lives. I saw a goodness in Brazil that does not exist here in Japan, and I a consider myself blessed to know that goodness.
I am very grateful to everyone in the Rotary Clubs here in Japan who gave me this opportunity to participate in the GSE program, and to all the Rotarians in Brazil who welcomed us so warmly. Muito obrigado! (Thank you very much!)
