Perigo amarelo: a construção do imaginário japonês perante a imigração nipônica nos anos 90 e a formação da Shindo Renmei

Abstract

This paper has the objective to present the Japanese immigration with a critical slant regarding the formation of the Brazilian national body in contrast to the arrival of the Japanese considered an insoluble “sulfur”. Thus, by means of data analysis, the first part of the paper will address the path of the Japanese settlers since their first arrival in 1908 and over the 90s. Focusing on immigration and racial issues, it shows the foundation of the discourses and ideas which served as obstacles for these “exotic” immigrants, thus providing an extremely irregular movement. Subsequently, an analysis of the discourses referred to the Japanese will be made, performed by two specific groups. The first one being the Anti-Japanese, which carried an extremely racist approach regarding the east Asian people. Besides portraying the yellow race as an inferior race, they formulated the idea of the “yellow peril” in Brazilian lands. The second group, the “filonipônicos”, praised the coming of the Japanese, emphasizing the quality of their work. In conclusion, highlighting two remarkable periods of this process, the current paper will approach the formation of the Shindo Renmei, the underground Japanese association in Brazil, which during the Dictatorial Period and the World War ll, caused a tumultuous movement through the colonies from the state of São Paulo. This analysis shows how the cultural identity of the Japanese marked the entire process. In the meantime, how the racist mindset from the Brazilian people developed the obstacles for the Japanese arrival, as the creation of the Shindo can be translated as a response of a group that sought to react to the oppressions they experienced every day