• Exchanges between Latin America and the Pacific Basin from California, Augusto Soto Alvarez
• Japanese in Brazil or Brazilians in Japan? The Course Followed by Identity in a Migration, Adriana Capuano de Oliveira

Growing political and business links between Latin America and Asian nations bordering the Pacific Basin lead to academic exchanges between both continents and generate a new channel, which will also have an effect on the relationship between both areas. This academic network is in its preliminary stages in our continent and it is backed by valuable projects. One of these is the project implemented by the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS), University of California-San Diego. San Diego is a U.S city that has become the model of a town open to technology and to the sphere of Asia Pacific in the context of the state of California. In other words, it is a major meeting point for the Anglo-American, Asian and Hispanic worlds.

Indeed, the notable presence on the West Coast of Asian students and U.S. students with an Asian background, the constant and considerable flow of immigrant workers from Mexico in an area with strong Hispanic roots are proof of the fact that studying and promoting their own contacts with the Pacific Basin is a priority that is not limited to Latin America. The San Diego initiative, i.e. the "Project on Latin America and the Pacific Basin" has been underway at CILAS for two years .

Members of the private sector and of important centers in the Americas and Asia have joined forces on this project. They include the Instituto Matías Romero (Mexico), the Universidad Estadual de Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil), the Centro de Estudios Peruanos (Lima, Peru), the newly created Centro de Estudios Asiáticos, Instituto de Estudios Internacionales at the Universidad de Chile, and representatives from the Latin American Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Sophia University (Japan), the Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) and U.S. organizations.

The first two-month meeting, held in February-March 1997, was dedicated to "Regional Integration in the Americas and in the Pacific Basin". In the second year, attention focused on "Cultural Meetings". These materialized in a series of measures, the first of which was a workshop dedicated to subjects such as the stereotypes that Latin American students are taught about Asia and vice versa in primary and secondary education textbooks. Specifically, work focused on what the textbooks explicitly stated or omitted on different regions, possible mutual prejudices were analyzed and potential measures were recommended to improve relations. In this context, each participant initiated research studies comparing relations between both continents, which should give rise to new lines of research. The author addressed the subject of the cultural implications of the economic exchanges between Chile and China . The participants also engaged in seminars where common social values were compared as were the literary images of the "other", the contents of films and TV, the rules and roles regarding gender and codes in the work place in companies that employ Latin Americans and Asians, in the context of the Latin America - Asia dialogue.

An empirical review of educational material showed that uniqueness is a significant feature of self-perception, a view shared by every Asian country. In other words, each nation views itself as a special case due to its current and even past circumstances. These views are reflected, for example, in the grandeur of Brazil in terms of its territory, population and resources, in the rich cultural past and the privileged geographical position that Mexico occupies between Latin America and North America; in the radiating centralism and in the proverbial dimensions of China; in the peculiar insularity and homogeneity of Japan; in the singular nature of Chile stemming from its geographical location and extended Pacific shoreline; in the independence of Thailand vis-à-vis Nineteenth Century colonial powers, among other self-perceptions. These are not always understood by neighboring countries and much less by remote people located far on each side of the Pacific Basin. Evidently, these perceptions, or in certain cases, the lack thereof, have a bearing on the incipient dialogue among nations and even on trade initiatives.

Despite widespread ignorance about Asia in our continent, it is clear that the Spanish-speaking member countries of APEC and mighty Brazil --whose specific weight also projects onto the Pacific-- have included a significant knowledge base in their primary and secondary education school curriculum. However, this knowledge base is not enough. It must be solidified in the media along three cultural lines: the country involved, the influence of the United States, and the reference to Europe. Despite having included Asia in the manuals, Asia does not form part of the mass media nor of mass culture, and it is also not part of top-level education. Not surprisingly so, considering that Asia involves remote and abstruse realities. However, the globalization of communications that burst out strongly with the onset of the nineties, changes the meaning of distance.

The project promoted by the University of California-San Diego and similar initiatives of different magnitude launched by Latin American countries of the Pacific Rim must be coordinated and produce a multiplier effect, especially now that the world-wide economic crisis is testing us through the recent strategic and economic alternative that Asian countries represent for us.

Thanks to the ideas shared at CILAS, this author is convinced of the need to adopt additional measures for Latin American countries to get closer to the East. Some proposals are offered below:

1. Consider changing part of the school curriculum. As a result of globalization the school system will --sooner rather than later-- have to address the issue of reinforcing education in the English language in primary and secondary school and include the main Asian languages in the university curriculum.

2. Create a space for Asia in the mass media. The dissemination of languages and cultures helps to bridge the gap that prevents understanding. The government and the private sector are the natural source of funding in this case. In the coming decade, Asian countries may find it interesting to support the idea.

3. Reinforce coverage of general and specialized news. In order to identify opportunities for Latin American countries, it would be advisable to establish a consortium of specialists from the region to provide services to the embassies of countries located on the Pacific Rim in the Americas and to MERCOSUR.

4. Urgently provide training in Asian matters to university students, and to members of the business and the diplomatic world, in view of the diversity and the probable opportunities offered by a region inhabited by over one fourth of the world's population.

5. Design a Latin American or MERCOSUR center for Asia, located in Shanghai. Such an organization is bound to become a training center and meeting point. It could be an institution that offers Master's Degrees for top level executives from state-owned companies, from joint ventures or from government services. Seminars could include regular meetings with government officials and executives from local and multinational companies. In this case, governments, the private sector and the Inter-American Development Bank are the natural source of funding.

6. Analyze the potential that Asians residents and Latin Americans of Asian origin represent in our continent. Only good can come out of including outstanding members of these groups in major institutions involved in bilateral relations.

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The following text is based on a sociological research study conducted as part of the Master's Degree course in Sociology at UNICAMP. Within the vast subject of international migration, the study analyzes recent migratory flows by Brazilian citizens to Japan (or, more precisely, by Nippo-Brazilians1, since only individuals of Japanese ancestry are granted immigration permits). In recent times, this migratory trend has been attracting attention from different sectors of Brazilian society due to the growing magnitude gradually acquired by this movement. It is described by some authors as the "dekassegui situation" (Ninomiya, 1992; Chigusa, 1994).

Dekassegui is a term that comes from a Japanese word which originally means "leaving home to work elsewhere". It was applied to Japanese people who left backward areas in the north and south of Japan seeking better employment and living standards in the more industrialized regions of central Japan, such as Tokyo and Osaka, in times of thinning (Kawamura, 1994:410). Assimilated into Portuguese and to Brazilian reality, this same word began to mean Nippo-Brazilians who leave Brazil in search of better working and living conditions in the land of their parents and grandparents. They therefore add a further feature to the de-territorialization of workers to the different international migratory flows which are underway at the end of the century and are giving rise to a new world scenario.

In this context, the identity of this population is worth reflecting upon. As the title to this study states, this population group is noted for being considered "Japanese" in Brazil. But once in Japan, they are characterized differently, i.e. "Brazilian" and, therefore, foreign. This assumption is based on certain factors which will be described briefly below2.

Japanese immigration to Brazil was different from other migratory flows in certain aspects such as timing (it took place later than others, such as, for example, German immigration); the major cultural differences between the two societies that came into contact --primarily in terms of the language; the extremely nationalistic spirit that Japanese immigrants who came to Brazil brought with them as a result of the Meiji reign in force in Japan at the time; the strong wish of immigrants to return to Japan, making Brazil merely a temporary dwelling place, among others. These matters had important and significant effects on the migrants' descendants. They marked the Japanese community in Brazil giving it a specific identity, which their descendants bear to this day.

Placing the issue on a more objective level, the study analyzes the actual and contemporary situation of the identity of these individuals --i.e. the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Japanese immigrants. Because their descendants physically resemble Japanese people --due to the isolation of the immigrant communities in Brazil which led to a considerable number of marriages "among equals"-- they are singled out, even now, as "Japanese". It is quite common in Brazilian society to perceive and call these individuals "Japanese" despite the fact that they speak Portuguese and, culturally speaking, they behave like Brazilians.

The cultural identify of these Brazilians of Japanese ancestry is, therefore, a relevant research problem in Brazil. However, this population group is currently emigrating to Japan, and once there, their contradictions in terms of identity become worse.

In addition to the specific circumstances under which Japanese migration to Brazil took place --as briefly described above-- another factor to be considered is how the so-called national identity of Brazilians is formed. This is based on the idea of a "union of three races", i.e. American Indians, white (Portuguese) colonizers and black slaves. To some extent, this was the model established as the founding milestone of the country, especially after the publication of "Casa Grande e Senzala", a famous book by Gilberto Freyre, in which he provides a romantic description of how the country was formed from colonial times onwards. His view is one of harmony and consolidation of a new people --the Brazilians-- who are different from the Portuguese, because this is a national group, resulting from the union of these three original peoples. For the purposes of this study, the fact worth emphasizing is that for this view of Brazil and Brazilians --which is quite widespread, even internationally-- the presence of a fourth race --Asians, represented primarily by the Japanese-- does not "fit in" with the idealized view of Brazilian national identity. Immigrants from regions other than Portugal who settled in Brazil were able to overcome without difficulty the barrier that this model presents. Immigrants --primarily from Italy, Spain, Germany and Arab countries-- were absorbed into the white population of Brazilian society. However, this alternative was not open to the Japanese.

The importance of phenotype in Brazilian social patterns needs to be taken into account. It is highly significant because racial characteristics are established on the basis of individual physical features. It does not apply to other features, as in other countries where this racial feature is expressed in terms of blood or culture (as in the classic case of the United States with regard to African Americans, for instance). In other words, individuals of Japanese ancestry born in Brazil, due to their Japanese features, continue to be called "Japanese", although culturally their lives are far removed from Japan. The mark imposed by physical appearance frequently prevails and these people are viewed in society, in general, as Japanese people living in Brazil, as were their grandparents and great-grandparents. Descendants of other migratory flows no longer go through this situation in the same manner because, once they have assimilated into Brazilian culture, they form part of the so-called founding races.

This is, therefore, one of the trends of the theme set forth above.

The incentive for isolation within the Japanese community itself is a different line. This is a recurring factor in a series of specifications originated by Japanese immigrants to Brazil, as briefly described above and it is the outcome of Japanese tradition itself.

When these Brazilians --locally considered Japanese-- go to Japan, they face the singular experience of being acknowledged as typically Brazilian, although they share identical physical features with the Japanese. Perception of this Brazilian identity is based not only on the fact that they are regularly singled out as Brazilians by the Japanese, but also because of cultural clashes when they encounter the closed Japanese society, with whom they do not share --in most cases-- customs, ideas and even that most basic of factors, language. Differences between generations should also be taken into account because of their significance. Depending on whether the individuals involved are second, third, or fourth generation, they are more adapted to the Brazilian lifestyle and cultural patterns and they are more distanced from the culture of their ancestors. The lifestyle of recent generations --called sansêis and yonsêis-- is mostly Brazilian in cultural terms, except for some cases in which the conditions of a closed community still persist, generally in rural areas. Thus, one of the peculiarities of the dekassegui movement, which up to now has not been analyzed sufficiently (most debates on this subject center on the economic features of the process), is that of cultural identity versus phenotypic conceptualization. These individuals realize this reality more emphatically when they find themselves among a population that looks like them and that makes them feel more foreign than ever before.

This fact is interesting if we realize that, at present, most Brazilians who emigrate to Japan are very young since Japan wants people in their productive prime to work there. This is in addition to the need for good physical fitness to be able to "take " whatever work is offered. In other words, in most cases, this involves third or fourth generation descendants who live according to the Brazilian lifestyle and not the Japanese one. The language itself is an expression of this reality. This becomes quite evident, for instance, in personal descriptions in letters3, in which the dekasseguis repeatedly reaffirm their Brazilian identity. Expressions of Brazilian patriotism in Japan, such as the use of "pins" and "buttons" of the Brazilian flag, going to shops that sell Brazilian products and to Brazilian restaurants, the search for Brazilian-style clothing, purchasing clothing (mainly jeans) at extremely high prices, are some of the behavior-related patterns that illustrate this reality. An additional and highly telling fact about these dekasseguis is that, for the most part, they coexist and relate solely to other Brazilians, frequently because of the language barrier, although this is not always the rule.

This self-affirmation of being Brazilian became evident during fieldwork4. It can sometimes be very painful for these individuals who considered themselves Japanese in Brazil to realize that Japanese society does not consider them as such. Some of the people interviewed described their frustration, and commented that they felt "stateless"5. Others, displeased with discrimination in Japan, emphatically reinforced their Brazilian features of acceptance and tolerance towards others, continually reaffirming their own Brazilian identity. This is why the return of 100% of the population who emigrates from Brazil is not permanent. One relevant fact is that all the people interviewed stated that they intended to live in Brazil in future because they believe that Brazil is their own country and they would like to die there. This aspect becomes even more intriguing if we observe that a good number of issêis (people born in Japan who live in Brazil) also express this same feeling. It goes without saying that, in the course of the interviews, the differences between the Brazilian dekasseguis and the Japanese came up, principally in terms of feelings and affections.

Currently in Japan there is a real Brazilian community, disseminating the Brazilian culture and way of being. It is interesting --and even ironic-- to see that those who are bringing this Brazil into Japan are the dekasseguis, the so-called "Japanese". This may prove to be a major incentive to revalidate these paradigms. It is interesting to observe the dekasseguis changing the relationship between Brazil and Japan. They provide much more than money to Brazil, and they take with them more than their ability to work in Japan. They also bring the acknowledgement of a native land and carry within them an entire country into such a homogeneous society. These are Japanese faces carrying Brazil inside.

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