Torii (鳥居, a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine) in Liberdade, São Paulo. Liberdade is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan in the world. *Photo from Wikipedia
September 7 is Independence day, celebrates the independence of Brazil from Portugal in 1822.
The first European to colonize Brazil was Pedro Álvares Cabral on April 22, 1500 under the sponsorship of the Kingdom of Portugal. From the 16th to the early 19th century, Brazil was a colony and a part of the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. In 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the “United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves”.
On September 7, 1822, the country declared its independence from Portugal and became Empire of Brazil.
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the world’s fifth-largest country by both area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language–and the only one in the Americas.
We filmed the festival held by Japanese-Brazilians living in the town called Oizumi in Gunma Pref in July 2011. Enjoy the clip!
*Reference: Wikipedia
