Japan and Brazil linked by soccer, baseball and immigration

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer

OIZUMI, Japan (AP) — Brazilians will feel at home when Brazil plays Japan next week in Tokyo in a soccer game between their national teams. Brazil and Japan are connected by more than 100 years of immigration. Brazil has about 2 million residents who claim ties to Japan, and several hundred thousand of those Japanese Brazilians have returned to Japan for jobs. Japanese and others were recruited to work on the coffee plantations in southern Brazil after slavery was abolished in 1888. It was an attempt by the government to “whiten” the country. This was part of a well-known eugenics movement in the early 20th century in Brazil.