Key History of the Japanese in Brazil

[A History of Japanese Development in Brazil (two volumes)] Burajiru ni okeru nihonjin hattenshi

[Brazil] Aoyagi, Ikutaro

Notes: A two-volume history of the Japanese in Brazil by a one-time California resident who helped open Brazil for the Japanese. The first Japanese immigrants settled in Brazil in 1908, not coincidentally the year after the Gentleman's Agreement restricted immigration to the United States. The new arrivals mostly pursued coffee cultivation around Sao Paulo.

The first volume covers the diplomatic agreements and legal framework for Japanese immigrants in Brazil. The second volume describes the various colonies established, successful businesses, and offers biographies of some pioneers. These volumes were published to coincide with the 2600th anniversary of Japan, a milestone used to stoke the flames of nationalism in the early 1940s. These books were reprinted in the 1950s, when Japanese immigration to Brazil boomed again, and then again in the 1990s.

Aoyagi was a major proponent of Japanese emigration and for the establishment of colonies in the Americas. He arrived in California in the 1890s, was the first Japanese to visit Peru, and then led the push for agricultural colonies in Brazil, negotiating the agreements to allow settlements and agricultural exports. Aoyagi was also instrumental in negotiating for Japanese government funds to buy land in Brazil for immigrant farmers. See Azuma, In Search of Our Frontier, pp. 110ff for more on Aoyagi's efforts in Brazil.

"A general history of Japanese emigration to Brazil and the economic achievements of Japanese immigrants from 1908 to 1939. Includes the role of Japanese steamship companies as principal promoters of emigration and statistical data on Japanese agriculture."—A Buried Past, 1438 (vol. 1 only).

Vol. I: 16, 424; vol. II: 9, 636 pages. Plus a few leaves of plates and charts and a handful of in-text halftone photographs.

OCLC: Many single and two-volume listings.

Edition + Condition: First editions of both volumes. Both very good or better in the publisher's gray-blue cloth. In cracked and browned, but intact, publisher's slipcases.

Publication: Tokyo: Burajiru ni Okeru Nihonjin Hattenshi Kanko Iinkai [Publication Committee for the History of Japanese Development in Brazil], 1941–1942 (Showa 16–17).

Item No: #361083

Price: $1,250