Amazonian East, horizon of perseverance: japanese immigration in Pará turns 92 years old

When the first 43 families, with 189 Japanese immigrants, arrived in the land that today belongs to the municipality of Tomé-Açu, on September 22, 1929, they had the objective of building a new life, driven by great perseverance. However, these pioneers had no idea that, nearly a century later, the prosperity they and their descendants had brought to the Rio Acará Valley would take deep roots - and flourish far beyond the village that became home to the third largest Japanese colony in Brazil, the largest in the Amazon, and a center of oriental culture in the region.

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Before the hard work had caused this community from the land of the Rising Sun to flourish under the Sun of the Equator, the seed had to be planted a little earlier. More precisely, in 1923, when the governor of Pará, Antônio Emiliano de Sousa Castro, sent a petition to the Japanese ambassador to Brazil, Shichita Tatsuke, requesting Japanese immigration to Pará.

The initial offer was the transfer of 500,000 hectares of land in the Rio Capim region. After studying the options, a commission of experts from Japan chose the area -which only years later would become the municipality of Tomé-Açu- to establish the Asian colony. The fertility of that area, which until then was a little explored land, and still belonged to the municipality of Acará, had great influence on the choice. As they already had the land, the next job was to get people to occupy it.

ACTA (Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

And so it was done. As an attraction for the recruitment of Japanese people living in a country marked by the economic crisis, those in charge of promoting immigration aired films about the production of cocoa, the main product at the time, and exhibited samples of rice, beans and various types of wood. Today, almost a hundred years later, the guardians of these stories, the arrival of the Issei and the difficulties of the first years in the Amazon, are the members of the Cultural Association and Agricultural Development of Tomé-Açu (ACTA), an institution whose tradition is blended with that of the County. The Japanese Immigration Historical Museum, located in the association's building, tells a lot about this process of the Japanese exodus, with images and objects of the pathfinders.

An oriental tradition: cooperation

“Two years after the Japanese arrived here, the pioneers already founded the first agricultural cooperative, in 1931, so you can see the cooperative sense that our pioneers had”, says Silvio Shibata, president of ACTA, an institution based in the district of Quatro-Bocas and that helped shape the city. “We deal not only with the social, cultural and education part, but also with agricultural development, due to the potential of our municipality”.

Walking through the streets of Tomé-Açu, you can see the Asian influence in architecture and customs. “It was our pioneers who created the infrastructure for the foundation of a village. They built schools, hospitals and the church of St. Francis Xavier, even though most Japanese were Buddhists”, boasts Silvio Shibata. And just as it was for its ancestors, the city's business model is still based on cooperation today, where one helps the other to prosper. “So, the Japanese community, as a whole, has always contributed a lot, both to the municipality and to the State”.

Silvio Shibata (Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

The president of ACTA remembers that the community always has a lot of help from the Japanese government, both from the consulate, the embassy, and the Jica agency (the Japan International Cooperation Agency). Shibata emphasizes that the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency has been extremely important, especially in the projects of the Mixed Agricultural Cooperative of Tomé-Açu (Camta). The company is the beacon of agricultural production in the entire region. In recent years, it has focused especially on the processing of fruit pulp, produced by local farmers. Many of these workers are of Japanese descent.

Historically, Camta and Tomé-Açu are recognized for planting black pepper, as the municipality became the world's largest exporter of this spice. However, the fascination for the cultivation of the “Amazonian black diamond” came at a price. The plantations were decimated by fusariosis, a disease caused by a fungus, in the 1970s. Since then, once again the persistence and creativity of the eastern saved the local economy. From monoculture, they started to invest in diversity.

Japanese Unveiled Secrets of Cultivation of Amazonian Land

With intensive research, producers in the region created the Agroforestry Systems of Tomé-Açu (Safta). The technique innovated by investing in fruit and forestry agricultural crops in the same area. Farmers observed that the riverside dwellers of the Acará River made their living from a small area, from which they obtained products such as açaí, manioc and cupuaçu, mixing several species at the same time.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

It was this observation of the region's natural potential that led to the praised cultivation process being developed. “There are several species of plants in the same area, and one helps the other, just like you can see in nature. And you, as a farmer, manage to have income all year long. For example: the açaí harvest ends, and the cocoa harvest begins. Researchers say that the most correct way to practice agriculture in the Amazon is through the Saftas”, says Silvio Shibata.

Once again, the ACTA representative emphasizes that all this is only possible with cooperation. "Here we have Camta, and this makes it a different municipality from the rest of Pará, because what the farmer produces, the cooperative absorbs, benefits and negotiates", celebrates Shibata, proud of the union of his community.

Alberto Opatta, president of Camta, details that in the dry sector, the highlight continues to be black pepper and cocoa. “But there are also pulps. We work with 14 types and among them, the flagship is açaí, followed by acerola and cupuaçu”, explains Opatta, detailing the success of the variety of agricultural crops.

(Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

“Black pepper supports our members to change their lives, but today, our focus is on diversifying their production. Black pepper can be stored. So, the cooperative member manages to survive by exporting passion fruit, cocoa, açaí and palm oil, while pepper is kept, as it is a product of speculation”, he ponders.

Camta currently exports 400 tonnes of black pepper a year to countries like Japan, Germany, the United States and Argentina. In addition, about 30% of açaí and 60% of cocoa also go outside Brazil, details Opatta.

Cocoa from Tomé-Açu was the first product from Pará to receive the registration of Geographical Indication, a seal that refers to products or services that have a specific origin, conferring the certification of good reputation and quality to the local product. Today, Tomé-Açu exports the so-called “fine cocoa” to Japan, which meets all the necessary specifications to be incorporated into the Asian country's chocolate industry.

Owner of a 130,000-hectare farm on the PA-451 highway, Alyson Inada started to manage his family's land after the death of his father. And it was following the Safta model that he saw the business, which started with his great-grandfather, prosper more and more. "I plant a little of everything. My flagship now is pitaya, but we are focusing on increasing black pepper, cocoa and açaí, which are the basis of the system", celebrates the producer. “The cooperative helps a lot, both making the pulp and sending the pitaya in natura, mainly to São Paulo. With Camta, you plant without fear, as they help to flow”.

Alyson Inada, da Fazenda Inada (Sidney Oliveira / O Liberal)

For Alyson, however, the secret of prosperity is also tradition, respecting those who came before him, and caring about what will be left for the next generations.

“I can never say that this is mine, as it belongs to the family. It went from my great-grandfather to my grandfather, from him to my father, and now to me. I want to leave it to my children and grandchildren. We are passing through here, and those who manage at a time have to leave the business better to their successors”, teaches the current head of the Inada family.

Consul says Japanese trust Pará

For Hiroaki Aizawa, the consul of Japan in Belém, what made the Japanese prosper in the exploration of the Amazon was perseverance. Aizawa recalls the difficulties of the first years in Tomé-Açu, and points out that Herculean work was done to make it possible to practice agriculture in the middle of the forest. “At that time, they also suffered a lot from malaria. Many people died. But the Japanese don't give up. They work and continue. From the first Japanese who arrived in Tomé-Açu, we are now in the entire state, both Japanese and descendants. At that time, immigrants contributed to agriculture in the State of Pará, but now, their descendants have contributed in several areas”, observes the consul.

The care for the land was what gave rise to the presence of immigrants in the Amazon, but the consul highlights the many other contributions of the Japanese to the local culture, with an emphasis on cooking, martial arts and language teaching. Throughout the year, the consulate promotes several events, focusing mainly on education. The work ranges from origami workshops, through Japanese courses in schools, to applications for undergraduate courses in Japan, with vacancies that can be claimed even by those who are not of descent.

Just as the pioneers who landed in Tomé-Açu did, these projects are seeds that help preserve the culture and strengthen Pará's ties with Japan, contributing to more partnerships.

“The community of immigrants and descendants is like a bridge between Japan and Brazil. This year, we completed 113 years of Japanese immigration in Brazil, so whenever the government or a company from Japan wants to open a project here in the country, it is much easier, as there are many descendants and immigrants here. There's a lot of trust,” celebrates Hiroaki Aizawa.

Hiroaki Aizawa (Akira Onuma / O Liberal)

For the Japanese representative, what makes Pará special is the rooting of everyday Japanese culture - something he had not seen in any other region of Brazil. “I'm in Belém now, but I worked at the consulates in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Manaus. Now, I'm feeling the strength of the Japanese colony and seeing how we have roots in Pará”, he asserts.

“The person from Pará is very friendly and respects the Japanese a lot. For example, I was walking down the street and a Brazilian lady stopped me and asked: 'where is this hospital?' I was born in Japan, but she looked at me and thought: ‘he must be of Japanese descent, so he’s from Pará’. That means we are part of society. In other states, this is not the case. I'm feeling very good here in Pará", confesses consul Hiroaki Aizawa, happy to be able to feel at home, despite being 16 thousand kilometers from the land where he was born.

Japanese consortium invests in aluminum produced in the Amazon

If the strong relations between the Amazon and Japan are also reflected in economic effects, an example of this is the largest producer of primary aluminum in Brazil, Albras, which since 1985 has supplied the domestic and foreign markets with high purity ingots. Hydro is the company's main shareholder, with 51% of the shares in this joint venture. And another shareholder is NAAC - Nippon Amazon Aluminum Co. Ltd., formed by a consortium of Japanese companies, trading companies, consumers and manufacturers of aluminum products. An investment that, as pointed out by the consul of Japan in Belém, Hiroaki Aizawa, is the result of trust and proximity between the two countries, especially with the Japanese community in Pará.

(Led Produções)

Located in Barcarena, in the northeast of Pará, Albras has an installed production capacity of 460 thousand tons per year. In 2020, the company produced 378,918 tons of liquid aluminum, 293,562 of which for the production of primary aluminum ingots and 84,700 of primary metal in liquid form. The company has around 1,200 employees and 1,100 outsourced.

Aluminum, still in liquid form, is supplied to Barcarena customers, who use it in the production of cables, ensuring the verticalization of the metal in Pará. Aluminum ingots are 99.7% pure and destined for the domestic and foreign market, especially the industrial, cable and automotive.

Born in Yokohama, a Japanese city south of Tokyo, Hajime Tonoki has been at Albras for two and a half years and is vice-president director. He built a 40-year career at Mitsui, a Japanese export, import and investment company, working in businesses in Brazil, in the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Albras was his first job opportunity in the Amazon region, representing NAAC., Hydro's partner in the aluminum plant.

Hajime Tonoki (Divulgação / Hydro)

The aluminum factory, points out Tonoki, is a project well known by the Japanese, as a successful Japanese-Brazilian project. “Japanese companies founded a consortium to invest in the implementation of Albras, with the support of the Japanese government, a relationship mediated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA. The Japanese have always had a strong feeling that Albras represents a symbol of this Japanese-Brazilian partnership”, he says.

The vice-president and director of Albras identified similarities in Japanese culture adapted to the organization of the factory, which facilitated its adaptation. “Japan is a country of industry and technology, with well-applied methodologies and philosophies that I also saw at the factory, even though it is a Brazilian company with its own systems”. 

When Tonoki came to Pará and met Albras, Tonoki had several positive feelings about the aluminum factory's operation. “First, I was honestly very impressed by the dedication of the employees and contractors, because the operation is large. I also had an excellent reception. Notably, the dedication and commitment to the work impressed me a lot, which brought me back to the style in which the Nikei people work, whether in agriculture or industry,” he adds.

Exchange of cultural experiences is rich, says sensei Machida

Yoshizo Machida (Tarso Sarraf / O Liberal)

When he arrived in Pará, in 1968, Yoshizo Machida, the master representative of Karate Machida, had already passed through São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. He stopped in Pará and then didn't want to know about another place.

"It's because I like everything on Amazon. This river is first world, isn't it? When I say where I live, everyone knows where it is. It's like 'Wow! Amazon.' Of course, it's a beautiful place," he says , who for 44 years has been the sensei who has trained the most paraenses of Karate in the world of all times. There were so many that he lost count. "And I didn't get tired of teaching. I want to teach forever. Anyone who sees my body doesn't say I'm 75 years old," he smiles.

Born in metropolitan Tokyo, Yoshizo came to Brazil at age 22 as a personal challenge. It was a 40-day trip by ship. Almost as an involuntary representation of the long journey of the first Japanese immigrants. At 26 years old, he already had dozens of students throughout Salvador (BA).

For sensei, the Amazon is a land of opportunity. "All of Brazil is very good, but here, in the Amazon, you have a better chance of building a life. The Japanese really enjoyed being here in Pará, because it's tropical here and all the fruits are as good for growing as for earning money. Here, you can work seriously with ease," he says.

Who sees Machida sensei teaching movements to the students, checking their posture at every step, can't imagine, but he also took a risk in the field of cultivation and commerce, as well as many compatriots who settled in Pará.

"The thing is that I like it here [Belém]. It's very good here, but the land is a little weak. You can't cultivate it, which is what I wanted. That's why I started playing karate here. Before, I tried it. try the cocoa farm, but then [the result was] bankruptcy. Back in Tomé-Açú it was different. Santarém was very good too. And I'm still here today," he says, joking.

Opposites in union

For the sensei, in addition to the region's natural wealth, another factor contributed to the Japanese colony lasting for so many decades in Pará. According to Yoshizo, the children and grandchildren of Japanese who were born and raised in Pará absorbed many qualities of the Pará way of being that he admires.

(Tarso Sarraf / O Liberal)

"I think one of the things that made the friendship between Japanese and Amazonians work so well is the fact that the Amazonian is very open. Japanese people are closed. It's very difficult for them to show themselves to be happy. Not from Pará. he's kidding, he already invites me to have one there. That's why I like it here. Here, deep friendships are cultivated. In Japan, many people are suspicious. The focus on work is very high there, which generates a lot of competition."

Between the samurai and the forest

Yoshizo Machida's legacy is as strong as the Japanese culture in Pará. Of the four children, three pursued a career in martial arts. Lyoto became champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2009, in the light heavyweight division. Chinzo runs the Machida academy branch in Southern California, United States, while Take runs the operations of the academies in Belém. "And the other [Kenzo] became a reporter just like you," says sensei, joking with the integrated newsroom team of The Liberal.

For him, far beyond the family business, the Machida karate legacy represents a bond between his children, born in Brazil, and Japan.

"The cultural contribution of karate is, for me, education. It embodies many Japanese values that the boys and I teach here. Discipline first. Never swear, never do violence, master self-control. My kind of education, with my children, I brought them from Japan. My parents, who have passed away, raised me as a samurai. I later bought the book they read to learn. I taught my children the same discipline, just like. This is strong in Japan. children are starting to crawl, we have already focused on transmitting our culture. In addition, we have to show ourselves as an example. Karate is that", he concludes.