From “land of the rising sun” to “land of the red soil": the territoriality of the japanese culture in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

Abstract

This paper discusses the Japanese immigration process in Brazil specifically regarding to the north of Paraná state, in Brazil. It highlights the difficulties of the immigrants to adapting to a new culture, the prejudice and discrimination they had faced until they became one of the most culturally representative ethnicities in Londrina, Paraná. Japanese settlement in the city has resulted in a historical legacy that is part of the local cultural heritage and is widely appreciated by the local population, thus constituting an important element of territorial identity not only for the Japanese colony itself, but also for subjects of different ethnicities. However, as the city emerged from the colonization of an English-owned company, public authorities carried out a series of urban interventions as a way to honor these colonizers who had had little contact with the local population and had left a cultural legacy not as so expressive as the Japanese's. The analysis is based on bibliographic and documentary research methods in addition to landscape observations and photographic records from fieldwork. As a result, we point out the main elements that constitute the (im)material heritage of the Japanese in Londrina and interrogate the construction of a territorial identity alien to the daily life of Londrina’s people.