zeynep’s Reviews > Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland > Status Update

recounting how the nikkeijin almost universally believe the japanese think brazil is just amazon, indios, favelas, e crime; meanwhile the japanese interviewed by the author only have vague impressions of BR: of soccer, coffee, tropical fruit, music, Rio de Janeiro, and racial mixture

following on prev quote about Japanese discarding perfectly good items: "In fact, it seems that Americans are equally wasteful, according to Brazilian immigrants in the United States, some of whom have literally furnished their entire apartment with what they call American “garbage decor”"
lmaooooooo

"A few noted how the Japanese simply throw things out without bothering to fix them and dispose of new cars after two years. Indeed, it is quite remarkable what some resourceful Japanese Brazilians can salvage from piles of Japanese “garbage”[...] I have seen Japanese Brazilians bring home functional TVs, vacuums, fans, space heaters, portable boom boxes, and bicycles, all of which had been discarded by the Japanese"

"...samba parades that are organized in areas with high nikkeijin concentrations. Although most Japanese Brazilians never bothered to participate in samba in Brazil (and a few even scorned it as a lowly Brazilian activity), they suddenly find themselves dancing samba in Japan as bona-fide “Brazilians” for the first time in their lives—and actually finding it a lot of fun." another lmaooooooo

"the Japanese Brazilians frequently find Japanese cuisine bland, “weak,” and cold in contrast to Brazilian cuisine, which is stronger and tastier (that is, very high in sodium, sugar, red meat, oil, and unsaturated fat)." IM LMAO

on the topic of how the japanese brazilians walk and carry themselves differently, & are thus immediately distinguished from native japanese - "some nikkeijin ethnic business owners, who greet Japanese Brazilian customers in Portuguese with a bom dia or boa tarde but say “irasshaimase” when a rare Japanese customer appears."

"Most Japanese workers (such as those moving forklifts and carts) apologized when they got in the way of the Japanese Brazilians and passed by with a “tan kyu” (thank you) when the nikkeijin made way for them..."

damn, not even an obrigado

"'I think it is unavoidable that the number of foreigners who do not look Japanese and are not of Japanese blood will increase. [...] Even with Chinese and Koreans who look the same as Japanese, if they mix even 30 percent with the Japanese populace, it would be very disagreeable. It would be even more revolting if it happened within my own family.'" me quoting every random racist ass quote frm this book bc it funny