Japanese immigration to Brazil

On June 18 1908, the first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil, aboard the Kasato Maru.
The trip from Kobe to the Santos port, in São Paulo State, lasted 52 days.

Japan was facing many economic problems and the Brazilian governmemt offered them prosperity by working in the coffee plantations. So Japanese immigrants intended to work a few years in Brazil, make some money, and go home. However, they soon discovered that those promises were false.
They received very low salaries, worked very long hours in poor conditions, suffered physical violence, lived in bare wooden sheds, slept on dirt floors... Many of them committed suicide or escaped.
Over the years, many Japanese managed to buy their own land and became small farmers.

Today, Brazil is home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, with over 1.4 million people.

On 18th June 2008, the 100 year anniversary of Japanese immigration was celebrated in Liberdade,
the Japanese district in São Paulo.