Chants of “Nippon!” broke out in a Japanese-Brazilian cultural center in Sao Paulo as 300 fans cheered on the Asian team in their World Cup game against Ivory Coast.
For the large community of Brazilians of Japanese descent, it was time to put on the Blue Samurai jersey for one night before switching back to Brazil’s yellow and green.
“I am rooting for a Brazil-Japan final,” said Ivo Tobioka, a 29-year-old massage therapist who was wearing a T-shirt bearing the picture of Japanese playmaker Keisuke Honda.
However, make no mistake. If his dream final in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium comes true, he would not hesitate: “I would cheer for Brazil.”
Just as Brazil’s Selecao is a symbol of national identity, supporting the Blue Samurai is a way for Brazilians of Japanese descent to reconnect with their ancestral homeland.
The crowd at the cultural center watched the game on a big screen in a room decorated with paper lanterns in the colors of Brazil and Japan.
They roared and jumped from their chairs when Honda opened the score against Ivory Coast in late Saturday’s game in the northeastern city of Recife.
They screeched in horror as the African team came back to win it 2-1, but they applauded the Japanese team after the final whistle in their first cup game.
Brazil is home to the world’s largest Japanese community outside Japan, with about 1.8 million people of Japanese descent. About 60 percent live in Sao Paulo state.
The first wave of Japanese migrants came to Brazil in 1907 to flee poverty in their country and work in coffee plantations under an agreement between the two governments.
The cultural center is located in a Sao Paulo district called Liberdade, a neighborhood lined with red Japanese-style street lights, restaurants serving tempura and shops selling anime videos.
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