Japan's Hidden South American Colonies (Nipo-Brasileiros and Peruano-Japonés) 

I'm Brazilian but not of Japanese descent. I lived two years in Japan working for a Brazilian bank that provides services for the Brazilian community in Japan. It's really amazing to go to an ATM and find instructions in Portuguese or to do a driving examination written in Portuguese. Nobody knows anything about baseball in Brazil, but our junior team won the world champioship some years ago. If you look at the photo of that team, every player was of japanese descent from the hinterland of Paraná state.

Brazilian jiu jitsu!

Ah, South America....the most underrated and underappreciated continent.

"Hot and humid climate like South America" That's not true. It's a huge continent, it depends on what area and country you live.

my boyfriend is nikkei(japanese heritage) He is 3rd generation born in Peru. When he goes to Japan he feels more peruvian although he totally looks japanese. Even Japanese people treat him different as foreign. The japanese comunity here in Peru is really united, they even have their own club and schools. it is just amazing. Also, this year the nikkei comunity have celebrated a huge matsuri fro there 100 aniversary.. anyway, sorry for my writing I am still learning english.

Hidden? Not at all! My hometown city in Sao Paulo State in Brazil have about 20% of its population with Japanese ascendancy and is pretty common to hear Japanese around here.

Anyhow, Brazil is a truly immigrant country, in the sense that immigrants to Brazil really helped shape the brazilian identity and became fully Brazilian (unlike in the US where the groups cohabit but don't blend as much).

Brazilians have amazing jiu jitsu/judo/karate because of this

I was wondering when you would make a video about Japanese people in Brazil.

I live in the most Japanese district of Peru: I can see the Japanese embassy, the Japanese Clinic and the Japanese Cultural Centre from my window, just few blocks away.

Shit.. I'm half Japanese and half Ukrainian born in Japan and living in Brazil.

As someone who is learning Portuguese and Japanese languages simultaneously I appreciate this video. Big fan of this channel.

Japanese imigration was great for Brazil

I am brazilian living in Japan. My grand parents were japanese. Now I am learning japanese. All my grand parents already passed away and I never had a good conversation with them. Most of sansei don't know the name of their grandparents!

So, I'm part of an hidden colony in Brazil? Never knew that... lol. At least, considering how many Nipo-Brasileiros you find in the states of São Paulo and Paraná, cant say it's "hidden". Well, maybe it's the outsiders (North Americans in particular) perceptions of this fact. Its probably related to the lack of historical-geographical knowledge (or lack of interest) of international migration and demographic aspects that constitutes the Southern American countries. The label of "Latin" America, while not exactly wrong, often contributes to these kind of misperceptions. So I'll give a brief and generalized view of how complex is Brazil. The "traditional average brazilian" that is commonly sold is the origin of the demographic formation of Brazil while being a colony of Portugal (1500- ~1850). The 3 basic groups are the Portuguese, Africans and Amerindians (often a mix between the three). They compose the vast majorities and are the traditional population (in the Modern Era) of the States in the North, Northeast and East. The share/proportion of each group of the three vary according to each region. The "immigrant with non-portuguese roots brazilian" that is often unspoken grew after the first waves of immigrants during the XIX century until mid-XX. I cant mention all the groups, cause it's extremely diverse, but the main groups of immigrants were Northern Italians (specially from Veneto and Toscany regions), Germans, Spaniards, Arabs (specially Lebanese and Assyrians), Eastern Europeans (in particular Poles, Ukranians and Lithuanians) and Japanese. They went primarily to the Southern States. The main common factor of the Southern States is that the biggest ethnic group in each one of them are the Northern Italians. The São Paulo State is probably the most complex case. Due to the fact that it's the economical powerhouse of Brazil. It attracted every group mentioned and more, and is greatly influenced by migration of population from other States. But we can say that the distinctive aspect of São Paulo is that half of the Italians, Lebanese and Japanese that came to Brazil went to São Paulo. Some distinctive traditional minority colonies of São Paulo are the Lithuanians (the second biggest Lithuanian colony after Chicago,IL), the Confederate Americans and the Armenians. The Parana State was, as the distinctive aspect of its formation, the main destination for Poles and Ukrainians and the second destination for the Japanese. The Santa Catarina State have the biggest German colony in terms of proportion. Actually, around 1/3 of the population has German background. The Rio Grande do Sul State is characterized too by it's high proportion of population with German heritage (around 20-25%), while having considerable minorities of Azorean Portuguese people. The population of the Center-West States result, mainly, by migration of people from other States in the early 70's. Until this period, it was basically an demographic vacuum. The most recent wave of immigrants (70's to today) are composed by people from other South American countries (especially Bolivians, Peruvians, Argentinians, Paraguayans and Venezuelans), Asians (in particular South Koreans and Chinese), Haitians and Senegalese. Mostly went to the southern states, with the exception of the Venezuelans that went (and is still going) to Roraima (in the North).

Brazil is the biggest Japanese 🏯 people out of Japan 🗾 in the world 🌍

There's a heavy Chinese/Japanese influence on Peruvian food. You can find arroz chaufa (fried rice) and lomo saltado (stir fry of beef, potato and veggies served with rice) on almost every menu in Peru and "Chifa" restaurants are everywhere

The Brazil-Japan flag looks so cool!

Brazil 1º Greater Colony of Portuguese in the world 2º st Largest Italian Colony in the world 2º st largest germanic colony in the world 1º st Largest Japanese Colony in the world 1º st largest colony Lebanese and Syrians all Catholics in the world 3º st largest colony of Spanish in the world large number of Ducth, Poles, Ukrainians and Russians to the south of the country

Nipo-Brasileiro here. Thank you for the flag design and for talking about us! :D Everything you said was spot on.

The japanese colony in Brazil is not hidden. It is a touristic attraction actually.

I met a Japanese Brazilian American when I was in Okinawa he did not want to be identified as Japanese in that setting. Interesting

I live in one of the areas with japanese descents here in Brazil, and I think it's so great to have those people here, just so amazing to get to know their culture

so is sao paulo the latin american version of nyc with all its ethnic diversity from not just Japanese, but also arab, italian, african, amerindian, german and other parts

I'm are a Brazilian Japanese mixed! Are there a lot people like me here!

One small correction: Although the japanese community suffered various forms of discrimination during WWII , there were never internment camps here.

I live a bit outside Nagoya. So while throughout Japan the second language on signs is English, in Nagoya where there are English signs, there's also Portuguese as well. And while this isn't the case at my school, many of my teacher friends have students who are half Brazilian, some of whom don't speak Japanese. Also, in the largest cities in Japan, I've noticed you can often find Peruvian flute players giving street performances near stations, parks, or shopping areas. Although I knew Japan and Peru had large Japanese populations, I didn't expect the opposite to be true before I came here.

Shoutout to Lyoto Machida.

I'm from north Brazil, from Pará and here you see japanese descendents at every big urban center and in a rural city like Igarapé-Miri. I live in Barcarena and that's a lot of japanese descendents in my school. But I can tell you they don't do the japanese steryotype... They're horrible in mathematycs hahahaha

This video was amazing and very eye opening.. thank you so much for putting this video together for us

Im Ecuadorian and I ate in Japanese restaurant once three times it was so good

1:39 the boy on the left is pure gold. xd

Japanese Brazilian here🤗

Loved this one. Wonderful selection of photos to go with your usual excellent research and smooth narration. Well done.

Thank you for making this video, i am from the third generation, i do not speak japanese, but i love japan very much

Mason you are fantastic. I had learnt so much from your posts. I'm Singaporean of Portuguese, Singaporean and Chinese descent. It's nice to know about human migration.

i love it how in Brazil we literally don't have a stereotype...like when you say "Brazilian" that person can be white, black, asian, native and a bunch more things or a mix of all those things...and i think that's absolutely amazing but with 1 condition that even with whatever decent you may have you're always Brazilian first.

Finally the video I was waiting for! Thanks for taking the time to do such an extensive research. And letting people know how wonderful South America is!

I'm Brazilian living in São paulo and actually fascinated by the Japanese language, I'm looking for someone that can teach me some or help me with it. I hope the country recognize it as an official second language one day, even if it's in the next 100 years, just like Italians they deserve to be highlighted.

We're still waiting for a video about ALL the main ethnic ancestries of Brazil (portuguese, germans, italians, polish, spanish, lebanese, etc)

A japanese ambassador in Brazil once said that the main problem with brazilians imigration to Japan is that Japan only allow single citizenship, and, at least for him, there would be no problem from them to allow dual citizenship.

Brazil and United States are the most multiracial and multicultural countries in the world.

The Fujimori's clan is hardly an example of the hardworking japanese community in Peru. Currently Fujimori's party Fuerza Popular is being investigated (as we speak) for money laundering!!

Thank You for the information about Japanese in Latin America. I didn't know much of the history but it was very good insight. Thanks again. Thumbs UP!

*The Japanese were actually INVITED to live in Brazil...and develop the agriculture...they also participated in a sort of internship programs with local large land owners in order to get acquainted to the brasilian culture and language...so they could move on to properties PURCHASED BY THE JAPANESE...from the brasilian government...totally the contrary to common knowledge..."that they JUST" immigrated...were treated like slave...and were giving land by Brazil(Not quite true...because lots of corruption took place by the local politicians.)But the initiative generally was a success...because the Japanese...Brazil could achieve great development in agriculture...industry...logistic...and infrastructure...in which the cooperation last to the present days...*

Interesting video mase. Do you think you could do one on Arabs in Latin America?

My mom is actually Japanese-Brazilian, so this was cool to see a video on. Usually when I explain where she’s from people are surprised, but it does make sense when you look at the history.

Most interesting. In my town in Mexico, there are several people of Japanese descent. At one time, they even had their own school. Many of these folks also were sent to internment camps during WWII.

I'm brazilian and having lived in half of this huge nation I can say that the city I was born in the frontier with bolivia is full of lebanese and other arabs, I lived in São Paulo in a City founded by japanese, damn, the are a huge number of japanese there and here in northeast Brazil, Spanish, portuguese and even dutch are around

When people bring a new culture, a new point of view, it's almost always great to the country. Japanese brought a lot of great things to Brazil, They are know for their education, respect and hard-working traits. In general Japanese are seen as examples to others. Also there are examples like Shunji Nishimura, who did a lot of great thing to Brazil, i own my college degree and my first job to him and his family.

I met a new friend in September, and what made her so interesting is that she was Japanese and Brazilian. It came to a shock to me at first, but after watching this video, it makes a whole lot of sense now. She even spent her childhood in São Paulo, which makes EVEN MORE sense!

Amazing research , the best video about this subject, that I ever have watched !

There is a big difference between Peruvian and Brazilian Japanese. Most Japanese-Peruvians are descendant from Okinawa and sometimes 1st gen (issei) and 2nd gen (nisei) knows Uchinanchu (Okinawan dialect) unlike Japanese-Brazilians.

I remember studying about this and learned a little more now. Great video Mason

You mentioned that Japan and Portugal have long ties. Some examples: -Egg threads is a traditional portuguese sweet and is made in Japan as a traditional regional Wagashi (sweets for tea) -The japanese word for letter/card (Karuta) comes from the portuguese word Carta -Deepfrying and the technique for dishes like Tempura were introduced by the Portuguese

The statistics on the amount of Japanese in Brazil is amazing. You documentary fascinates me

I am Japanese and Peruvian 🤘🏼

I'm one of those Japanese-Brazilians and I think your video was quite accurate, thank you! P.S.: For the weather girls down there, I live in Curitiba, Paraná State, and I must assume we have an undoubtedly subtropical (a.k.a. temperate) climate here, "Cfb" (Köppen's classification) to be more precise, the same you find in Western Europe and in the British Isles, for example (and it's not that bad lol).

Do a video about the lebanese in Latin America

Its stuff like this that has made you one of my favorite channels

Do a video about the Black Americans (Americo- Liberians) who settle in Liberia 🇱🇷🇺🇸

Incredibly informative. Thank you.

Good research and good video :) I lived in Brazil for a few years and met quite a few people of Asian descent.

Now that's a very accurate and informative video, keep up that good work. Kudos from São Paulo state, Brazil.

In my opinion the largest contribution that Japanese immigration to Brazil made to the world is Brazilian Jiu Jutsu. One of those immigrants, a Jiu Jutsu instructor, had Gracie brothers as students. They developed it further creating BJJ.

Great video! Visiting Liberadade in Brasil was a really strange experience. Suddenly you felt like you were in Japan! Really recommend a visit.

You should make a video about the immigrating history in Brazil. Even the president of Brazil is Lebanese descendant (Temer), and the ex-president is Estonian (Rousseff) It's pretty interesting that one country can be the 2° most polish outside Poland, 5° most German, the most Japanese and Lebanese, one of the most Italian, the 3rd most white at the same time that is one of the most black, etc. There are cities that still speaking German, Italian and Japanese. It would be a great video

There's also an important Japanese community in the Eastern departments of Bolivia. Congrats for your video!

10:28 You mentioned my city! There are so many Brasilians because the Aichi region has many factories. Infact, Toyota city is right near Nagoya!

Thank you for this video! It was very interesting and informative 😊👏🏻

Here in Brazil, the japanese people are always doctors, lawyers or business people. The hard working asian culture that they brought to our country is very positive. That's why brazilians like japanese descendents so much.

Well done!!! I have told this to many other Americans and they are totally clueless...totally!

there's also japanese colonies in Paraguay and Argentina

The best thing of Brazil is the mix of cultures we have here. You guys are always welcome to come! :)

The Portuguese gave the Japanese panko/tempura.

In Brazil, one day is the feast of the Italian colony, the other day is the feast of the German colony and in another date is the feast of the Japanese colony, all Brazil is a large colony of many peoples.

The Portuguese were actually the 1st Europeans to reach Japan

Fantastic video Masaman. I've been curious about this for a long time, especially given Brazilian and Japanese cultures are almost polar opposites.

Did you know Lyoto Machida is also a Nipo-Brasilero? That's how BJJ got started. Anyway, that one Nipo-Brasilera is triple-fine ^_^ ; I'm thinking you will eventually get to Macau. I remember when I was there, I didn't need to know all Cantonese--their signs were in Portuguese and since I can read Spanish, when I sound out the signs, I can figure what they mean.

I absolutely love your videos, great work!!

Is not until you visit Brazil that you realize how much of a presence the Japanese people have there. In Peru they stick out more but in Brazil they blended so well that I would say they are their own unique distinctive brand of Japanese people as different from those in mainland Japan as the ones from Sakhalin and Vladivostok back in Russia.

Wow! I've always wanted to know all that, thank you, your presentation is great as it always is. Now I know that there is at least some diaspora I feel I could at least vindicate a visit to Japan.

l respect japanese culture.

This was impressive, I learn a lot, keep the good work.

Brazil didn't have concentration camp for Japanese like the USA.

please do a vid on- hawaii and it’s diversity brazil and it diversity the philippines and perhaps the spanish influences/immigration the metís afro-mexicans siddis the mennonites the native siberians and lastly the native taiwanese if you could do any of these that’d be so cool man! love your vids! i’m greatly interested and intrigued by ethnicity, race and religion of anywhere, and your vids definitely give lots of knowledge to my 14 year old brain lol. thanks for the vids keep it up man!

Masaman, Please do a video on Malta (the people, origin, where they came from, culture, DNA, etc.)

Thank you so much for the effort you put into your research

You should do a video on the Filipinos in South America majority are in Mexico and has a big long history to Colonial South American and the Mexican Revolution.

Oh man. This is great video!

Nipo-brazilians are notable at sports, like karate, table tenis, jiu-jitsu, MMA, they're also notable in politics. I think the most well-knowed nipo-brazilian in the world is Lyoto Machida a MMA fighter, he is from my City, Belém hahaha. I met his Sensei one time.

I recently discovered this channel. Keep up the great work!

Another informative video :).. You always find pictures of fine young women to put in your videos .. what a tedious task that must be .. ;-)

I stumbled upon this channel. Very good analysis, really appreciate your effort!

My wife is Bolivian and there was a Japanese colony close to the village where she grew up in the east of the country. I know there's one called Okinawa, so I assume they must have come from Okinawa.

Carlos Toshiki,Is One Of The Most-Notable Japanese-Brazilian Was An Vocalist Of The Japanese Pop-Rock Band In 80s Omega Tribe Along With His Jamaican Musician Joy Mccoy Who Was A Member Of The Band.He And His Group Appeared In Many Famed Japanese TVs Such As Nippon-TV Fuji-TV,NHK.

Very cool design for that flag. Can you do one for Peru? I ask because my mother is half Peruvian

I'm from a city called Araucaria in Brazil and my father had the first grocery shop in the city. We had a lot of japanese customers obviously because of the huge japanese community in the city. I can't count for how many japanese weddings my father had been the best man and as a kid I loved to go to those weddings. Japanese people have a special place in my heart for being such hard working, honest and disciplined individuals. Wherever they go places improve and grow!

Do a video on german brazilians

you should do a video about the Basque migration to Chile and Argentina, it's not a well known subject and it's really interesting, mostly because in Chile arount 10% to 30% of the population has Basque ancestors, including myself, recently with my mom we discovered that my grandmother was actually Basque, it was a surprise and after that I started reading about this interesting subject!!!