Living on The Earth of Brazil
－ A Life of Tomi Watanabe －
Translated
From The Japanese
By
Taeko Kondo
Original Title : Living on The Earth of Brazil
－A life of Tomi Watanabe－
Writer: Yasuo Fujisaki（Rewrite: Taeko Kondo）
Picture: Huyuji Yamanaka
Published by Kumon Publishing Company
Forward
In pre-war Japan, people were suffering from poverty and many went to Brazil as emigrants.
Nowadays, the situation is quite the opposite. A lot of Brazilians work in Japan as immigrants.
Especially, in Oizumi city, Gunma prefecture, fifteen per cent (6,400) of the city population is
composed of Brazilian workers. Most of them send money to their homeland, Brazil.
Following defeat in the war, Japan overcame the various hardships and succeeded in becoming a
prosperous democratic country. Now, the Japanese-Brazilians work under the modern good
conditions and enjoy their humanistic lives in Japan.
About 90 years ago, an eleven-year-old girl from Makurazaki, Kagosima Prefecture, went to Brazil as an emigrant. The girl was Tomi Watanabe, who later devoted her life to rescuing Japanese emigrants in Brazil and people still refer to her as the “Mother of Japanese Emigrants”. In April 1908, the first emigrants left Kobe for Brazil on board the "Kasatomaru". It was four years later, in April 1912, that Tomi went to Brazil.
Everybody believed the dreamy propaganda of the government and they put much hope in the new world of Brazil. But the fact was that, quite contrary to their descriptions, conditions were
dreadful. However hard they worked, they lacked even their daily bread and they were forced to
pay debt. To make matters worse, they suffered from terribly endemic diseases such as malaria
and typhoid.
More than 90 % of the emigrants were the poorest lease-farmers, but Tomi was the exception. She had a comfortable and happy city life with a lucky meeting. Her greatness was that she was not satisfied with her happy circumstances. She shared the pains the majority of the emigrants and devoted her life to rescuing them. All through the turbulent times of the pre-war, the war and the defeat of the war, Tomi’s devotion tells us how the emigrants confronted the difficulties and overcame them.
Early autumn, 2006
Taeko Kondo
Living on The
Earth of Brazil
－ A life of Tomi Watanabe －
About 90 years ago, an eleven-year-old girl went to Brazil as an emigrant from Japan. The girl
was Tomi Watanabe, who later devoted her life to aiding poor Japanese emigrants in Brazil.
Tomi was born in 1900, in Makurazaki, Kagosima Prefecture, the daughter of the owner of fishing company. But her father’s company went bankrupt when Tomi was nine years old. When Tomi was ten years old, her mother passed away because of illness, leaving her four small children.
Tomi was taken charge of by her mothers’ hometown and worked from morning until night to help her family. However, her hard working was useless. She was always scolded and complained of by her aunt. At night, when Tomi looked at the stars sparkling, tears welled up in her eyes.
It was at this time that Tomi heard the news about her neighbors going to Brazil as emigrants. She decided to go there with them. Her uncle and aunt, Tunenori and Tuyo lived in Brazil.
They went to Brazil with the group of the first emigrants in 1908. Tomi would become their
adopted daughter.
On March10, 1912, the ship boarded 1,419 emigrants, including Tomi, and set sail from Kobe port. After 47 days’ voyage, the ship came into Santos port in Brazil. It was a long trip, about
25,000km. For a week, Tomi lived in accommodation for Japanese emigrants in Sao Paulo. Most
of them were assigned from there to the coffee plantations as lease-farmers. Tomi was taken
charge of by her uncle and aunt, who lived in the center of Sao Paulo.
She was surprised to find their miserable standard of living. Tomi asked her aunt, “How about
Coffee Plantation? Can’t you get much money?” “No, never. We were easily taken in by the
skillful propaganda,” answered her aunt.
Japanese emigrants were allotted to coffee plantations far from Sao Paulo and worked from early
morning until dark. No matter how hard they worked, their living conditions remained miserable
and never improved. Far from saving money, they suffered from the debt. To make matters
worse, the dreadful diseases such as malaria, dysentery, tuberculosis and typhoid threatened them.
According to the advertisement for emigrants to Brazil, “If three persons in a family work, they
can save ￥100 a month.” (In those days, a primary school teacher’s monthly salary was about
￥10.) They realized that they were cheated by the skilful propaganda and some decided to
ran away from the plantations. Tunezo and Tuyo were among them. The couple ran away to
the city of Sao Paulo. Luckily, Tunezo got the job of a carpenter and Tuyo became a housekeeper.
It has been one and a half months since Tomi came to Brazil. She was in the service of the Blue
family, which moved from France. The Blue family was prestigious in the medical world of Sao
Paulo. Dr. Paul was kind enough to teach Tomi Portuguese every morning. Mrs. Sevatiana was
a pious Catholic and devoted herself to charity. Their son, Dr. Serestino opened a charity
hospital. Tomi was very happy to be favored by the Blue family. Tomi learned much about the
Portuguese language, cooking, cleaning and manners suitable for a lady.
Thirteen years have passed since Tomi came to Brazil. Thanks to the Blue family, Tomi returned to Japan for a short while. When she looked at Mt. Fuji on the deck of the ship, she was filled with a deep love for home. The ship stopped at Yokohama before finally docking at Kobe.
After one year’s stay in Japan, Tomi returned to Brazil. The Blue family welcomed Tomi as if she were their own daughter.
Many Japanese lived in the area named “Conde Street” of Sao Paulo city. At the recommendation
of Mrs. Sevatiana, Tomi became the teacher of Sunday School there for the Japanese children.
Tomi’s Marriage
In March, 1927, a financial panic attacked Japan. After World War I, Japanese export decreased
because European industry had revived and Japanese finances were stranded on a reef. Make
matters worse, in September 1923, a big earthquake attacked Kanto area. Japanese people
were forced to live in the dreadful circumstances and social unrest. To divert people’s
dissatisfaction, Japanese government recommended the emigration to Brazil to the people.
In1927, about 9,000 Japanese emigrants came to Brazil. “Japanese society” and the “Japanese
school” had been established as the number of Japanese emigrants grew bigger and bigger.
Both in January and February 1929, five
ships full of Japanese emigrants came in at Santos port. Before World WarⅡ, 180,000 Japanese came to Brazil in total. In Brazil, the Japanese got a reputation for being an industrious
people. Some of them cleared waste
land and planted cotton, rice, potatoes and various kinds of
vegetables. But they were always sufferin
from endemic diseases such as malaria and dysentery.
Tomi was comfortable, surrounded with the warm-hearted Blue family. When she was 27 years
old, she married Gihei Watanabe, the first Japanese C.P.A in Brazil.
During World War Ⅱ
In 1929, the New York stock market crashed and a depression took over the world. In September
1931, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria in search of natural resources. This action
triggered worldwide reproach. People in Brazil showed their allergic reaction to the Japanese.
The newspapers reported a full account of the event and the banning of the immigrants from
Japan.
In December 1937, Brazil was under a military dictatorship. Publications written in other than
Portuguese were banned and forced the teachers at schools to teach Portuguese. Most of the
Japanese living in Brazil wanted never to lose their pride as Japanese and continued to teach
Japanese to their children in secret.
In December 1941, the Japanese army made a surprise attack on the navy base at Pearl Harbor in America and Japan declared war against the USA and England. The war in the Pacific involved all the world and developed into World War Ⅱ. The Brazilian government treated the Japanese, the Germans and Italians as an enemy and prohibited them from using their own languages, as well as forcing their removal from Brazil.
In January 1942, the Japanese Embassy in Rio de Janeiro and all Japanese consulates in Brazil were closed. The following year, diplomatic relations between Japan and Brazil were broken off.
The Japanese living in the suburb of Sao-Paulo were driven out of their own cultivated land.
They felt deep regrets and were vexed at the expel order, as they cultivated the waste land with
unbearable hardships. The 1,500 Japanese living in the Conde Street area of Sao-Paulo city were
also ordered to leave. They were perplexed at the abrupt order for removal. They had no means
of communication from Japan other than listening to the radio on a short-wave in secret.
Many Japanese were arrested on suspicion of spying or because they were speaking a little
Japanese language on the road. The detention house was full of the arrested Japanese, who were
then taken to the emigrant accommodations.
“Assembly of Aiding
Japanese”
Chibata Miyakosi, a former diplomat, took charge of money from the Japanese Ambassador to
Brazil, who left the following message and went back to Japan: “Use this money for the Japanese
emigrants in time of need.” About 200 Japanese were detained in the emigrant accommodation in Sao Paulo. It was terribly cold in the accommodation. Miyakosi desired to send in sweaters to them, but he was Japanese and an enemy. It was prohibited for Japanese to approach the accommodation. It hit him that Tomi was just the person for the job.
Tomi accepted the job. She knew well it dangerous and difficult but she remembered the word of
Mrs. Sebastiana : “Try to do what is right. Don’t forsake your friends in need.” Tomi got as
many sweaters as possible from the knitting factory and visited the accommodation. There were many Catholic in Brazil and they devoted themselves to charities. Tomi gave the Catholic
Women’s Association’s name and could send sweaters to the detained Japanese.
Tomi thought that most of them should be released from the accommodation instantly, as there
were no reason for them to be detained. Tomi consulted with Miyakosi about how to rescue the
innocent detained Japanese.
In June 1942, the “Assembly of Aiding Japanese” under Catholic protection was established by
four members, including Tomi. Twice a week, the daily commodities were sent to the
accommodation. Dr. Serestino continued to practice charity medical care to the poor Japanese.
Miyakosi was arrested for being a dangerous person. Tomi’s worries were endless. The
malnourished Japanese got disease, especially tuberculosis, one after another. In July, 1943, all
the Germans, Italians and Japanese were ordered to leave the area of Sao Paulo coast.
There lived many Japanese in the area who had established merchant ship companies, trading
companies fishing companies and vegetables firms. In a week, about 6,500 expelled people were
detained to the accommodation in Sao Paulo. The care work for the sick, the poor and the orphans upset Tomi. She was too busy to relax even for a moment.
Japanese Surrender and
Confusion
On August 15, 1945, Japanese people in Brazil listened to the overseas broadcast from Japan by
Emperor Hirohito. They were flustered to find that Japan had surrendered unconditionally.
They cried each other, “Incredible!” “It can’t be true!”
Short-wave broadcasting from Japan was disturbed by noises. So they could hardly catch a word.
A few days later, a demagogy of Japan’s victory ran through the area of Sao Paulo and the farther
regions. Everyone voiced in his own way, “We can’t be defeated, because Japan is Almighty.”
They were afraid of Japan’s defeat and did not want to believe Japan’s surrender. It was their
patriotism that supported them in such unbearable situations in Brazil.
Tomi and her husband, Gihei accepted the fact as it was. They insisted, “We have to admit the
bare fact and think how to cope with it”. For the time being, there continued an argument between the “kachi-gumi” (defeat group) and the “make-gumi” (defeated group).
March, 1947, “The Organization of Rescue Japan” was established in Sao Paulo city by 18
members, including Tomi and Miyakosi. The Community Chest and various commodities like
wheat flour, corn flour, sugar and medical supplies were sent to Japan. It was called “Rara”
supplies.
The Japanese surrender gradually changed the emigrants’ mind. “There is no home but Brazil.”
They gave up hope of returning to Japan and decided to settle down in Brazil permanently.
In September 1951, Japan became independent of America. The following year, diplomatic
relations with Brazil were established again. Japan faced serious problems to solve after the
confusion of the war; notably, a shortage of food and an unemployment problem were the top
priorities. The Japanese government tried getting over some of its difficulties by recommending
the people emigrate to Brazil again.
During January 1953, the first Japanese emigrants after the war arrived at Santos port, followed
the next month with the second group emigrants for Amazon reaching Rio de Janeiro. Among
them, there were war orphans. Tomi was extremely busy with taking care of the poor, the sick, the aged and the orphans.
“Public Organization of
Aiding Japanese”
In March 1953, the organization known as the “Assembly of Aiding Japanese” developed into the
official “Organization of Aiding Japanese”. The working principals were as follows: 1. Pure
non-governmental welfare facility for Japanese; 2. No relation to religions; 3. No relation to
politics; 4. Collecting a fund.
Tomi was eager for founding a sanatorium for tuberculosis and visited the Japanese communities
from Sao Paulo city to the inland of Sao Paulo in order to collect funds. Four years later, thanks
to the noble charitable Catholic Association, Tomi’s eagerness was realized. Tomi and the
members of the Organization also offered the beds, blankets and medical supplies.
“ Home for Elderly
People”
The Organization of Aiding Japanese had about 50 elderly Japanese who had no relatives. They
were looked after in some catholic homes with Brazilians. As they could not understand
Portuguese, they always felt isolated.
Tomi always thought, “Someday I want to offer a happy home for the elderly Japanese emigrants,
as they had worked bitterly hard and got old. The rest of their lives should be restful and happy.”
Members of the Organization shared her feeling. The problem was funding. Despite the lack of
money, Tomi was searching for the land for building a home.
Thanks to the kind donation of Sent Francisco’s president, Tomi got a surprise present. It had 24
ha of land with facilities like a cathedral, a hostel, a pasture and a chicken house attached. She
was beside herself with joy. Japanese-Brazilians cooperated with Tomi and her long-cherished
dream came true in the end.
In May 1958, the home named “Ikoi-no-Sono”(Rest Garden) opened. It stood on a hill surrounded
with trees. The birds were singing and the wind was rustling. It was more than 25km from Sao
Paulo city. Tomi described her idea, “This home is comfortable, friendly and familiar. Every
elderly person carries on their happy lives here.”
In 1967, the home was enlarged in response to more applicants. The original 40 bets expanded to 100 bets. From year to year, the home was enriched. In 1976, a ward was completed and the sick
elderly were taken care of by the kind doctors and nurses. Tomi was much busier than before.
In 1990, the house added 60 bets for the bedridden aged persons who need special protection.
Tomi was 90 years old and still she was well enough to work.
Now, the home has facilities for both the healthy elderly and for the bedridden aged persons,
where a few hundred people enjoy the rest of their lives and more than 70 staffs work. Many
Japanese visitors drop in at the home and picnic around. The home is crowded with the young
and old when a bazaar is held.
People call Tomi the “Mother of Japanese emigrants” as she devoted her life to the welfare work for the Japanese emigrants.
Afterward
Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to save the poorest Hindus, mentioned that her rescue work
deserved a drop of water in the Ocean, but it consists of a drop of water. Her modest words
represent her greatness. I find the same greatness in Tomi Wtanabe’s life.