HAMAMATSU CITY

A Brazilian shop in Hamamatsu

The ties between Hamamatsu and the Japanese-Brazilian community can be traced back to this period and, in particular, to the efforts of Unpei Hirano, one of the forefathers of the Japanese-Brazilian community who left Tenryu (Northern Hamamatsu) for present-day Sao Paolo. Hirano, who was born in Kakegawa and married into a family from Tenryu Ward, travelled to Brazil as an interpreter in charge of twenty three Japanese families. Despite the harsh conditions on their plantation, Hirano fought tirelessly to improve the workers’ treatment and by 1914 their numbers had expanded to three thousand. Before his death due to ill health at the age of thirty two, Hirano instigated the clearing of an untouched forest in Cafelăndia which after his death was named the “Hirano Colony” in his honour.

However, in the 1970s the number of Japanese immigrants to Brazil began to decline as the Japanese economy boomed. By the 1980s a growing number of first- and second-generation immigrants travelled back to Japan as dekasegi, or ethnic Japanese who had left Brazil to find work in Japan. Following changes to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act in 1990, it became possible for second and third-generation Japanese-Brazilians and their spouses to enter Japan on permanent residency or spousal visas, with the result that the dekasegi phenomenon exploded, with 310,000 Brazilian nationals living in Japan today.

Municipal notices in both Japanese and Portuguese can be seen throughout the city

Over the past twenty years the Brazilian population in Hamamatsu has swelled to nearly 20,000, with Brazilians accounting for approximately two thirds of the city’s foreign residents. Since 1989 Japanese-Brazilians, attracted by the city’s thriving industries, notably factories producing transportation machinery, have flocked to the city. In addition to the many job opportunities available in this area, the growing Brazilian community has in turn attracted more migrants to the area, drawn by the Brazilian schools, banks and restaurants in Hamamatsu.

Hamamatsu’s large population of non-Japanese residents has played a vital role in the city’s development over the past two decades. Hamamatsu was the founding member of the Committee for Localities with a Concentrated Foreigner Population and in 2001 the city also established a Foreign Residents’ Assembly (now known as the Hamamatsu Foreign Residents’ Council for Integration) to create a forum for dialogue between the city administration and foreign residents. Furthermore, the Hamamatsu Foundation for International Communications and Exchange serves as a bridge between the municipal government and the city’s foreign residents, providing language classes and other exchange opportunities.

Samba Parade at the Hamamatsu Festival 2008

This year the city’s residents have had special cause for celebration as 2008 marks the one hundredth anniversary of Japanese emigration to Brazil. Hamamatsu, as home to the country’s largest Brazilian community, has staged a range of events to mark this significant milestone. Special events such as a karaoke contest Arigatō Nippon (Thank you Japan), an evening of samba dancing courtesy of Rio Carnival performers, and an exhibition of Brazilian musical instruments at the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments. These events have brought the city’s Japanese and Brazilian residents together in a celebration of Hamamatsu’s cultural diversity. This year’s Hamamatsu Kite Festival also had a distinctly Brazilian flavour with a special Japan-Brazil Year of Exchange 2008 kite flown by city officials and a samba performance through the streets ahead of the traditional wooden float parade. Cultures merged seamlessly in the streets as the echoes of steel drums gave way to the flutes and drums of the ohayashi onboard the festival floats.

The kite fliers and commemorative kite in Rio de Janeiro

Hamamatsu’s large Japanese-Brazilian community has changed the face of the city over the past twenty years. As well as playing an important role in the regional economy, the city’s Brazilian, and other non-Japanese, residents have added their own unique flavours to the region, endowing the city with a rich and diverse culture. The city administration is continually introducing new policies in an effort to promote multiculturalism and the integration of foreign residents. It is hoped that the 2008 Japan-Brazil Year of Exchange and associated events will serve to further promote cultural interchange between the city’s different communities.