Dekasegi

Dekasegi (Portuguese: decassegui, decasségui, [dekaseˈgi], [dekɐˈsɛgi]) is a term used in Brazil to refer to people who have migrated to Japan, having taken advantage of Japanese citizenship or nisei visa and immigration laws to escape economic instability in Brazil.

The original Japanese word dekasegi (出稼ぎ) roughly translates as "working away from home". This can cause annoyance to those of Japanese descent who were born abroad, but have come to regard Japan as their permanent home, and therefore object to being regarded by Japanese (in Japan) as gaijin or foreigners.

There are approximately 275,000 such people in Japan from Brazil alone.

Language

Some Brazilians are bilingual in Japanese and Portuguese, but many are monolingual in Portuguese alone when they first come to Japan and face additional challenges due to this language barrier.

Many code-switch Japanese when speaking Portuguese.^[1]

See also

• Ethnic issues in Japan
• Issei, Nisei, Sansei and Yonsei
• Japanese Brazilian
• Japanese people
• Language minority students in Japanese classrooms

References

1. Dekasseguês – the mix of Portuguese and Japanese spoken by the dekasegi – Isto é Japão!. Retrieved January 12, 2015.

External links

• Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): Future Policy Regarding Cooperation with Overseas Communities of Nikkei
• Portal for 100-20 years of immigration between Japan and Brazil, Rare pictures