SYSTEMIC FACTORS BEHIND MIGRANT IDENTITY: The Case of The Japanese Brazilian
Background
After Mexico(1880) and Peru(1899), an agreement signed between the state of Sao Paulo and one of the private emigration corporations in Japan, the Kokoku Shokumin Kaisha, set the precedent for enabling sustained immigration of rural Japanese workers to Brazil, which began in 1908 with the arrival of the first ship, the Kasato-maru.
The Japanese Government established a strictly centralized, paternalistic and rationalized management system of emigration to Brazil. During the seclusion of the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), no emigration had been allowed. After the Meiji Restoration, from 187I to 1886, there was a short period of freedom in migration, officially
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This fact also seems to justify the self percieved uniqueness of the Brazilian identity that enables it to amalgamate and accomodate different races; though prejudice cannot be completely eliminated.
The permanent Japanese immigration to Brazil led to the birth of many second generation Japanese Brazilians. The categories of the issei( first generation), nessei(second generation) and the tessei(third generation) emerged. During the Second World War, as suspicion towards Japan rose (which even resulted in Japenese internment in United States), the diaspora in Brazil became fragmented between the nationalist and the moderates. Brazil formally entered the war as an ally of United States in
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However this action by the Brazilian Congress did not subject the Japanese to any social or economic discrimination and relatively few Japanese in Brazil suffered any real hardship as a result of the war (Tigner,1961). Despite domestic security, secret societies like the Black Dragon and Shindo Remmei , founded covertly in 1944, led to the creation of the myth of Japanese victories over the Allied Forces. While many were passive especially among the nessei, most first generation issei still held loyalty towards the 'spirit of old Japan' and the Emperor (Tigner,1961). There were rumours and subsequent expectations of Japanese occupation of Brazil while the Shindo Remmei encouraged return to the homeland. However the results of the war dismantled this