June is the month in which the day of Japanese immigration is celebrated in Brazil, a country that has the largest Japanese colony outside Japan, with more than 2 million people, Japanese or descendants. Since the 20th century, Japanese families immigrated to Brazilian rural regions, forming a solid colony in the interior of states like São Paulo, influencing many aspects of the local culture.
On June 18, 1908, the first ship arrived in Brazil bringing Japanese families looking for better opportunities while their country was in an overwhelming economic and political crisis between the wars. Mass immigration lasted until the mid-1970s, and most of the families that landed in Brazil were poor peasants from the southern and northern provinces of Japan. Upon arriving in Brazil, they settled in regions of the rural interior of São Paulo, where over time they had more exchanges with Brazilians and other immigrants until they consolidated themselves as a strong colony, influencing the food, habits and even the architecture of the region.
