Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 18 june 1908
- The Japanese who came to Brazil were highly resistant to interracial relationships because they mostly married among themselves. It was not until the second half of the 20th century that marriages with non-Japanese persons became more frequent.
On this day in 1908, the first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in greater numbers.
It is interesting that today Brazil has the largest population of Japanese descent than any other country outside of Japan. In total, their number in Brazil is estimated at 1.5 to 2.5 million. Most people of Japanese descent are living in the Brazilian states of São Paulo and Paraná.
The immigrants who arrived on this day sailed aboard the Kasato Maru. It was a significant number of about 790 people. The ship Kasato Maru sailed from the Japanese port of Kobe and travelled across the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa to reach Brazil. Upon they arrival in Brazil, many Japanese were working on coffee plantations, especially around São Paulo.
The Japanese who came to Brazil were highly resistant to interracial relationships because they mostly married among themselves. It was not until the second half of the 20th century that marriages with non-Japanese persons became more frequent.
It is interesting that most of the descendants of Japanese immigrants in Brazil are today Catholics. In the meantime, a number of Japanese descendants returned to Japan creating a specific group of return immigrants there. On this day in 2008, the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito, son of the reigning emperor, stayed in Brazil on the 100th anniversary of the arrival of these first Japanese immigrants.
