Week 7 Blog- MV

The Chapter,"From Japanese to Nikkei and Back," by Jeffrey Lesser demonstrated a national identity revolving around the Japanese in Brazil. During the early 1900's up to the 1940's, it was known that approximately 200,000 Japanese immigrated to Brazil to create a diaspora community, as well as building an economic and commercial relations. Japanese in Brazil has allowed Brazil to be the top export in rice.
In this chapter, I was fascinated by how Lesser mentioned that there was no hyphenated identity. Lesser went on to say that the third generation of Brazilian-Japanese do not identified themselves as Brazilian, but rather as just Japanese. He transitioned this type of national and ethnic identity by explaining why they see themselves in this way. Japanese are known to be productive, strong, powerful, militarily competent, honest, and hard working. By sticking to the identity of Japanese, it builds a stronger connection with the working industry in Brazil. In addition to this, Japanese has made themselves whiter by engaging in interracial marriages with white people. The results would be that the Japanese associates themselves as elites who attract the high class. Using ethnicity as a strategy, Lesser explores whether Nikkei is included as a Brazilian national identity as they have participated in much of the production made in Brazil.
Although Lesser has provided much information on Japanese in Brazil, I have not fully grasped the purpose of this chapter.

Question: Why is it not widely known that Japanese is a part of Brazil?

By: Mai Vang

Lesser, Jeffrey. "From JApanese to Nikkei and Back: Integration strategies of Japanese Immigrants and Their Descendents in Brazil." Discplacements and Diasporas: Asians in the Americas. Ed. Wanni w. Anderson and Robert G. Lee. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2005. 23-38. Print