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In Brazil, a World Cup clash pits homeland against home for vast Japanese community

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SAO PAULO, June 29 : Alan Saito decided to wear both his Brazil and Japan jerseys to watch the World Cup showdown on Monday between the country where his grandparents came from and his own. The Japan jersey came on top, but he had yellow-and-green face paint, too.

“Our hearts are divided,” said Saito, a 47-year-old advertising digital influencer, as he watched the match at a family-owned restaurant that is popular among Sao Paulo’s Japanese community.

“If Japan wins, that’s fine. If Brazil wins, that’s fine too,” he added, before predicting a 2-1 victory for Brazil.

There are some 2 million people of Japanese descent living in Brazil, over half of them in Sao Paulo, where many families settled in the early 1900s to meet labor shortages on coffee plantations. Sao Paulo’s sprawling Japanese community is the largest outside Japan. 

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Many from the local Okinawan community live in the Vila Ema neighborhood, site of Monday’s watch party at the restaurant.

Decorated with both Brazilian and Japanese flags, it welcomed around 30 supporters spanning three generations.

Most wore Brazil’s iconic yellow jerseys, hoping for the country’s sixth World Cup title, and ate “pastel,” a deep-fried pastry filled with meat, cheese, or vegetables that is a favorite in Japanese-Brazilian bar cuisine.

EMOTIONALLY COMPLICATED

Sitting at the restaurant, Andresa Yumi Tacacura, 33, and her partner Rafael Miyasato, 35, agreed that the match was more emotionally complicated than most.

Both were third-generation Japanese-Brazilians who had lived in Japan for six years before returning to Brazil.

“We’re 70 per cent behind Brazil and 30 per cent behind Japan,” Miyasato said in Portuguese, holding their three-month-old son.  

The chants for “Go Brazil” and “Go Nipo,” a common Brazilian term for people of Japanese descent, mixed in the air once the ball got rolling.

Very soon, a surprise: Japan scored first.

The restaurant fell silent, indicating that perhaps allegiances weren’t split that evenly, though a handful of fans in blue Japan jerseys let out brief cheers.

Satika Yonamine, a 73-year-old Okinawan who has lived in Brazil for five decades, was among them.

“I’m cheering for Japan only because my daughter is supporting Brazil,” she explained, jokingly.

ALL PART OF THE GAME

A few miles away, in Sao Paulo’s Liberdade neighborhood, known in the city as the center of the Japanese diaspora, Japanese lanterns shared the sidewalk with dozens of Brazil flags.

Local bars were packed with fans wearing both Brazil and Japan jerseys.

Sitting at a bar, retiree Yushi Tokimatsu, 65, wore a Brazil-themed floral shirt over a Japan jersey. 

As the second half of the match started with the Brazilian team picking up its pace and then equalizing, Tokimatsu said part of him hoped Japan would win, since he felt the Brazilian team would not go very far this time around.

“I’d rather they go out now and try again next time,” he said. 

But then, deep in stoppage time, Brazil scored again, and secured their victory. 

Tokimatsu got on his feet and celebrated with everyone else, grinning as he posed for a photo with Brazilian fans holding the national flag. 

“I’m not upset,” he said. “That’s part of the game.”

(Reporting and writing by Victoria Pacheco; Editing by Manuela Andreoni)

Source: Reuters

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