Japan and Brazil build on a 130-year relationship

It was in 1908 that a small ship named the Kasato Maru transported the 781 people who became Japan’s first immigrants to Brazil. Today, Brazil has strong ties with Japan — and the largest community of ethnic Japanese outside of Japan, consisting of more than 2.5 million people.

2025 marks the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Brazil. At their summit in 2024, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida designated 2025 as the “Japan-Brazil Friendship Exchange Year.” They confirmed that the two countries would promote cooperation in culture, tourism and sports and would support Japanese-language education in Brazil and Portuguese-language education in Japan, a foundation for deeper exchanges in the future.

Octavio Henrique Dias Garcia Cortes, who as Brazil’s ambassador to Japan is committed to making those promises a reality, lives at the official residence in a quiet, upscale residential area near Yoyogi Park. The house was designed by the Japanese-Brazilian architect Ruy Ohtake (1938-2001), combining the prominent Brazilian modernist style with a Japanese touch. The first floor of the curving building has a reception room and other public spaces, with tastefully arranged furniture and a prominent terrace surrounded by a beautiful bamboo grove.

“With Japanese leaders having visited Brazil recently — including former Prime Minister Kishida in May 2024 and Prime Minister Ishiba in November for the G20 Rio de Janeiro summit — President Lula is now planning to visit Japan this year. As we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, this visit will be the biggest event of the year,” explained the ambassador. Japan and Brazil signed a “strategic global partnership” agreement in 2014. The two countries are working closely as important friends who are actively deepening cooperation in a range of areas, including international cooperation, global governance reform, trade and investment, defense, infrastructure, energy, and science and technology.

“Among these many areas of cooperation, we recognize that political dialogue and trade, as well as the fight against climate change, are of great importance to both countries,” Cortes said. “Brazil is a leader in clean, sustainable energy. The oil shocks of the 1970s triggered the development of biofuels based on ethanol, as a renewable substitute to fossil fuels. Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugar, and it is now also the world’s largest producer of bioethanol, which is made from sugarcane and corn. Most of the cars produced in Brazil are flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on either 100% gasoline or 100% ethanol, or a mixture of the two in any ratio. As a sustainable energy source for decarbonization, we would like to expand exports of Brazilian ethanol to Japan and work together to develop sustainable aviation fuel, helping Japan achieve its decarbonization goals.”

The COP30 climate conference will be hosted in Belem, in Brazil’s northern state of Para, this November. This will be the first time the conference will be held in the Amazon region. Cortes said he hopes to work with Japan to develop a strong agenda for the conference and to promote Brazil as a leader in sustainable energy and decarbonization under the guidance of Lula, who is passionate about environmental issues.

The ambassador’s current posting is his second to Japan; his first was as deputy chief of mission from 2008 to 2012. Shortly after his arrival, a Japanese Diet member with close ties to Brazil presented him with a daruma doll from Gunma Prefecture, which he liked so much that it has become a part of his collection.

“I was so impressed by the tradition of leaving one eye unpainted and drawing it in once a wish has been granted. In Brazil, in the state of Bahia, there is a custom that arose from the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim whereby a ribbon is wrapped around the wrist, and when the ribbon breaks the wish comes true. Gunma Prefecture is home to many Brazilians, and I sometimes receive daruma doll presents from them. I also buy daruma dolls myself and gift them to my relatives and friends in Brazil as souvenirs.”

Cortes’ father was also a diplomat and once came to Japan for a meeting. The ambassador still treasures a kimono his father gave him at the time — along with three others that he uses as loungewear. He also loves Japanese ceramics, even the inexpensive pieces, and he often buys things he finds while traveling.

“Japanese culture is so diverse and so deep that I cannot hope to know everything about it, but the more I learn, the more I want to know. Thanks to the many ethnic Japanese in Brazil, Japanese culture has taken root everywhere in the country. Japanese food is not even seen as particularly special, but is found on the tables of ordinary households on a daily basis. Thanks to deep human exchange over many years, Japanese culture has become a part of Brazilian society. In Japan I sometimes go to a supermarket and hear Brazilian bossa nova music playing in the background. It surprises me, but there is no doubt that these grassroots human connections, which transcend politics, have made the bond between Japan and Brazil as strong as it is,” he said.

2025年は日本・ブラジル外交関係樹立130周年を迎える節目の年。笠戸丸という船で日本人781人がブラジルに最初の移民として渡ったのは1908年。現在ブラジルには250万人以上の日系人が住み、日本国外として世界最大の日系人コミュニティがあるゆえ、日本との絆も深い。

「2024年5月の岸田元首相のブラジル訪問、11月の石破総理大臣のG20リオデジャネイロ・サミット参加など、日本の首脳訪問がありましたが、2025年度にはブラジルのルーラ大統領の訪日が計画されています。外交的にはこの大統領訪日が一番大きなイベントとなります」とガルシア・コルテス駐日大使は語る。

その実現に向け多忙なスケジュールをこなす大使の公邸は、代々木公園に近い閑静な住宅街にある。設計は日系ブラジル人の建築家ルイ・オオタケ。曲線を取り入れたインテリアや竹林に囲まれた大きなテラスが印象的だ。

コルテス大使の日本赴任は、2008年から2012年の次席公使に続き今回で2回目。群馬県高崎のダルマが大変気に入り、コレクションのひとつになっているという。

この記事の日本語記事を見る