Children

Children raised in Japan

Nikkei-Brazilian children raised in Japan have adapted well to Japanese culture due to their language skills. These children are fluent in both Japanese and Portuguese allowing them to embrace bicultural lives. They spend their days at school learning and socializing with Japanese and their evenings with their parents communicating in Portuguese. They have both Japanese and Brazilian friends, and are able to converse in both languages with ease. These children, in many cases, are more Japanese than Brazilian, loving Japanese food and behaving like Japanese children. I interviewed a 6- year old girl, who I will call Marcia, in this situation. She answered all the questions I ask about Japan, positively. Marcia is completely assimilated to Japanese culture, with Japanese friends and enjoying school because she loves to speak Japanese. However, the story of the Nikkei-Brazilian children's identity became more complicated when our group spent a night at ATR Bar . It is a karaoke bar / disco that is a hot spot for Nikkei-Brazilians and is owned by Marcia's parents. There she demonstrated her Brazilian side by teaching our group how to dance all the latest samba routines. The lives of the Nikkei- Brazilian children, being so polarized, should evict a sense of admiration and awe for their acceptance of the Japanese culture and the recreation of Brazilian culture in Japan. Nikkei- Brazilian children raised in Japan are in a unique situation of being bicultural because they are bilingual. They accept Japanese culture because they have the linguistic ability to comprehend it. Their parents do not have the opportunity to accept the culture because they do not understand the language. These children regardless of their place of birth hold Brazilian passports and cannot obtain Japanese passports due to strict Japanese naturalization laws.

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Creating a place for the Nikkei Brazilian children

Children raised in Brazil

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