Brazilians and visiting governors of Japanese prefectures from which many immigrants originated celebrated the 50th anniversary Saturday of the postwar resumption of migration from Japan to Brazil.
Around 1,000 people attended a ceremony at the assembly hall of Sao Paulo state. Those in attendance included Gov. Geraldo Alckmin; governors from Hiroshima, Iwate, Kochi and Miyagi prefectures; and vice governors from Fukuoka and Hyogo prefectures.
In an address to the gathering, Japanese Ambassador to Brazil Tadashi Ikeda praised the migrants for spearheading Japan's internationalization.
Japanese migration to Brazil began in 1908 and resumed in 1953 after being suspended during World War II. Brazil has the world's largest community of Japanese immigrants, with an estimated population of 1.3 million. Some 50,000 Japanese relocated to Brazil in the past 50 years.