Japanese Immigration To Brazil Research Paper

Jairo Burgos
AP World History
Migration: Italy to Argentina & Japan to Brazil Foreigners and Immigrants throughout history have determined the future for most of today's countries; specially Brazil and Argentina. From the late 1800s to the present, immigrants from Japan and from Italy have shaped today's Brazil and Argentina. The causes and effects of migration from both of these countries weren't that different from each other; migrants from Japan and Italy were in a search for a better life, and these migrants built Argentina's and Brazil's present. Even though migration from Japan and Italy to Brazil and Argentina were very similar, they still had a significant difference; the location of the migrants settlements. As the agricultural depression in Italy took place in the late 1870s, Italians started looking for new opportunities to make money. After analyzing their options they decided it was best for some to migrate to Argentina in search for a better future. Before the agricultural depression there were approximately 100,000 migrants from Italy to Argentina; while after and during this depression there
were over 640,000 migrants. In the early 1900s cities in Japan were starting to overpopulate; therefore jobs were getting scarce, and most of the population was unemployed. Just like Italians, Japanese decided that it was best for some to migrate to Brazil. In the 1910s in Japan, cities were not overpopulated and most people had jobs so there were as little as 15,000 migrants to Brazil, but later in the 1920s when cities started to grow and jobs became scarce over 89,000 Japanese people migrated to Brazil. Migration in both, Argentina and Brazil, was heavily influenced by the poor conditions in Italy and Japan. Also, the people of Japan and Italy were in search for a sort of "American Dream" in Brazil and Argentina, but they soon realized that was going to be very hard to achieve. Japanese and Italians migrated to Brazil and Argentina with one same goal; get rich quick and go back home. This was merely possible due to their low salaries and exhausting hours of work. Since most of the migrants from Japan and Italy didn’t reach their goal of get rich quick and go back home, they decided to stay in either Brazil or Argentina. This turned out to determine what each of these countries are today. On one side, Argentina became an Italian-like country in which agriculture primed as the nation's biggest work force. On the other hand, Brazil became pretty much like Japan today; overpopulated in its biggest cities. Brazil's biggest city, Sao Paulo, has approximately 18,690 people per square mile; while Japan's biggest city, Tokyo, has approximately 15,610 people per square mile. Both of these cities are very similar because they are the main cities of Brazil and Japan. Observing these statistics, it is obvious that migrants from Japan and Italy built Brazil and Argentina; which both of these are, in the present, very similar to their migrant's homeland. While the migration from Japan to Brazil and from Italy to Argentina was very similar and had similar effects, there was still a big difference between the two; migrants settlements.
In Brazil, migrants from Japan chose to settle near the Amazon, while migrants from Italy in Argentina chose to settle in the big cities, specially Buenos Aires. The reason for this is that while most Italians in Argentina became industry workers, most Japanese in Brazil became cotton field workers. It is obvious that industries are located in the biggest cities of any country, while cotton fields are located where the land is fertile, and this land turned out to be near the Amazon. This turned out to become very significant in the present because without Japanese choosing to settle near the Amazon, then this land would be even more precarious than what it is
today. In conclusion, foreigners and immigrants from Italy and Japan, in the late 1800s to the present shaped today's Argentina and Brazil. The causes for migration in both countries were very similar; poor condition in their home countries. But they also had a big difference; migrants settlement location.