Japanese Festival

On a recent Brazilian holiday I went to lunch with some friends and they took me with them to the local Japanese Festival. I haven’t talked a whole lot about the Japanese culture here, but it is an influence that I’m glad to be experiencing. I have had some great Japanese food with a bit of a Brazilian twist!

On our first visit to Maringá we learned that the largest population of people of Japanese decent (outside of Japan) resides right here in Brazil. While attending the festival I learned some more interesting information.

First let’s talk about the festival. I was expecting a feira – food and maybe some crafts. As we walked up to the campus of the events we entered the baseball stadium. Yep, there is a Japanese club/cultural group and they play baseball. Inside the stadium, I realized this wasn’t a feira at all. This is what I saw:



There were huge groups of people, all of Japanese decent in one way or another, playing traditional games. The ages ranged from around 5 to 75. Teams were cheering with about 3 events going on at different places around the field. They included barrel rolling and sack races to name a few. All that physical activity for people of all ages! It was great!

I learned more interesting things. The games were traditionally played on the Emperor’s birthday in Japan, but they are played in Maringá on what can be translated as Work Day in May. Similar to our Labor Day, I’m assuming.

In addition many people were wearing blue and white shirts that had a big '100' on the back. This is because this year is the 100 year anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil. Apparently, a large amount of these immigrants settled in the northern part of Paraná (the state where Maringá is located).

There should be a celebration at some point this year although I don’t have any details on it. One was held for the 80 year anniversary and the Emperor of Japan attended. This is supposed to be open to the public so hopefully we can attend and see what it is like.