Reading Journal

180 Carmem Silvia Rial

_"A Globaliza<;ao publicitaria: 0 exeI11plo dos fast-fi]ods" na Revisla Brasjiejra de Comuniear;ao - Intercom v.XVI n.2,juVdez 1993.

_Fast-Food: Tbe taste ofImages paper apresentado em Bielefeld, XIII Congresso IvIundial de Sociologia, 1994 (fotoc6pia).

SCH'VARZ, Roberto "As ideias fora do lugar" in Ao Vellecdor as Balalas.S. P. DUClS Cidades, 1977.

SILVA, Luis Martins da Silva Ag/obalizar;ao dos fast foods e eeonolJJia do tempo, fotoc6pia, 1993.

SP ITZER, Gerard "Habitudes aliIllenqaires, du reve a la rcalite" elll Neo-Restauration n.158,janeiro 1986.

VIRILIO, P. 0 espar;o errtko - Rio de Janeiro. 34 Literatura, 1993.

N()l'IQ THIS MA1IIIA1 MAY IE

PROTECTED IY COPVRlGHT tAW {TIJII: ,., U;.I.. ~i

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"BRAZIL DISPLAC£D: R£SJAURANJ 51 IN NAGOYA, JAPAN II* Daniel T. Linger Department ofAnthropology University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz-USA

ReslImo: Este artigo eXc1mil1a a formarao de idel1tidade enlre brasileiros, cuja maioria sao desceJldelltes de jafJollcses atualmclltc residentes 110 japao. Focalizo 0 Restaurante 51, um restallrante brasiJeiro em iVagoya, argumentando que esse reSlauranre cultiFa, .1SSUlll ida mcnte.. ull1a ielel1tidade brasileira deslocada de seu paf<;. 0 Restauranle 51 oferece comida caseira brasileira .. mldia e sociabilidade.. ao mesmo tempo que confirma.. implicitamente.. solidao.. distancia e deslocamenlO. Eu enfalizo que a identidade hrasileira deslocada que e cOl1strufda e reforrada em reSlaUraJUes brasileiros ramo 051, onde a diferenra flJJica e fortemente trarada em oposirao :1 um solo estrangeiro.. diverge substaIlcialmenle de uma identidade brasileira no local, encorajada por um "restaurante no Brasil".

Abstract: This paper examines identity-making among Brazilians, mostly ofjapanese descent.. who currcJJ{~Y reside ill japan. 1 focus on Restaurante 51, a "restaurante brasileiro" in iVagoya, arguing thar 51 forthrightly cultivates a displaced Brazilian identit)'. RestauraJ1((' 51 offers Brazilians familiar food, media, alJd sociabili(v, at the same lime implicitl)' confirming feelings of loneliness, distance, and dislocation. I emphasize that the displaced BraziliaIl identit), bUIlt and reinforced in "restaurantes brasileiros" such as 51, where ethnic difference is strongly profiled against a foreign ground. diverges substantiall)' from a Brazilian identity-in-place that mighl be encouraged at home by a "restaurante 110 Brasil. "

t Acknowledgments: This research was funded by grants from the Jap;11l Foundation and the Social Sciences Division of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Thanks to Flavia Bespalhok for her kind assistance.

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182 Daniel T. Linger

Se oriente, rapaz Pc/a cOllstclafao do Cruzeiro do SuI. ..

- Gilberto Gil, ('OrielJte"

~ rose is not always a rose]

Every credible theory of meaning - structural, interpretive, cognitive, psychoanalytic - emphasizes that significance depends upon COIllext. Gregory Bateson (1972 f1955J) explains the contingency of symbols in terms of cognitive "frames." Let me offer an example. ,\ wild rose evokes a certain meaning; the same rose, cut and placed in a vase 011 the dining-room table, evokes another. Framed by what \\'C think o[ as "nature," the rose may convey ideas of harmony, sponulIleous beauty, the wonder and integrity ofthe Ilonhuman world. Framed by the interior of a house, the rose's dissonant color, form, and origins stand out as deliberate accents in a humanly designed habitat. Our attention is thereby dra"wn to the interplay of wildne'is and domesticity rather than the searnlessness of flower, vegetation, earth, and sky. Figured against a new ground, the rose means SOlllcthing else.

This essay compares Dona Lica's, a "restaurante no Brasil," with 51, a "rescaurante brasileiro" in Nagoya, Japan. 2 Both serve types of fi)(xJ widely consumed and appreciated by Bra7i1ians. TIle similarity ends there, [or symbolically speaking, the two establishments are distinct. Consequently, 1 shall argue, they engender different fonlls of Brazilian identity.

The earliest studies of migration distinguished between what we lllight call identities-in-place and identities dhplaced. Clyde Mitchell's classic ethnography (195G) of Eisa migrants to Luanshya, a

The allusion is to Gertrude Stein's well-known "rose is a rose is a rose~ line. Gertrude Stein was an American in Paris. An American (in France) is nOl an American (in the U.S.). More on this below.

2 51 is the real name of this restaurant. I have also used the real names of DolLl Lica and Flavia Bespalhok. who works the counter at 51; all other personal nalllt"S are pseudonyms. I conducted fieldwork in Nagoya and vicinity during the summer of 199'1 and from July 1995 to July 1996. I made about two dozen visits to :11.

, Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan l~n mining town in the Zambian Copperbelt, emphasized that the coIltrastive identity Bisa-in-tm\'n, intentionally cultivated in (1 milieu of ethnic diversity, diverged fundameIllally from the traditional Bisa identity formed in the Illonoethnic countryside. Bisa-irHm'ln (1ncl Bisa­ in-the-countryside were both authentically Bisa, but they were differently Bisa. The central argument, restated and elaborated in countless works (e.g., Barth 1969, Oliven 1m)2, Hannerz ]992), is that identities are both changeable and situational. Thc same auto­ designation - "Bisa" - is no guarantee that the meaning of "Bisa" is stable, for the content of" Eisa" idcnl it.)' depcnds, among 01 her things, on t.he cont.ext ill which it is lived. Nor, then, should we expect "Brazilian" identity to have t.he same value in Brazil and in a foreign land. That is, a "brasileiro no Brasil" likely has a different sense of self froIll a "brasileiro no exterior."

,

Restaurants are key sites of identity-making and identity confirmation. By definition they are places of cornmensality, and commensalil.y tends to map people into groups - family, caste, gender, c1l'lss, community of believers. Eating together reinforces sentimellts ofsameness, even distinction, as people share a table and incorporate common substances into the body. koreovcr, foods themselves arc powerfully evocative. They can signify well-being or sickness, security or danger; they conjure up times, places, whole scenes from the past or, perhaps, visions of the future. finally, eatiIlg in a restaurant is a practice requiring knowledge ofa cultural script. That is, jointly with

l others one produces a culturally SF ecific social event. Hence a ~ f restaurant provides important symbolic resources for building an ! identity. The subdued diffusion of BrazilianlJess at. Dona Lic(1's f "restaurante no Bra~il" contrasts sharply with the conspicuous

propagation of Brazilianness at ResLaurante 51, the "restaurante brasileiro" that is the focus of this paper. 1fDona Lica's restaurant-in­ place quiet.ly reinforces a Brazilian identity-in-place, the displaced Restaurante 51 forthrightly cultivates a displaced Brazilian identit y.

,I Dona lica's: a "restaurante no Brasi I" ~

M Durin g our 1991 stay in Sao LUIS do lvfaranhao, my family (inc! :(

I llsed to cat at Dona Lica's, a no-name cafe a few steps from our hOll~(, .~

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184 Daniel T. Linger

in the bairro Madre Deus. At the time, occupied as 1 was with more dramatic, less pleasant topics, Don;t Lica's was of no particular ethnographic interest to me; I have n~collectionsof it , agreeably tinged with saudade, rather than detailed fieldnotes. The cafe occupied a placid intersection animated only by neighborhood residents goiIlg about their daily chores, a passing peddler or carro~a, the occasional procession heading to the nearby cemetery, or a rare car jolting up from the Avenida Beira-Mar. You could miss Dona Lica's ifyou weren't paying attentioll. The nondescript building was like most in the bairro: plaster walls, tile roof, wooden-shuttered windows, of indeterminate.' age. Inside the cramped, sultry dining room were two or three w(x>delJ tables, languidly circled by flies. Out-of-date calendars served as decor. ATV was always blaring from a shelf. The menu, which bore a variable relationship to the actual oITerings, was painted on the wall. A huge rubber tree arched overhead, partially shading a narrow cement patio; we often ate outside, seeking relief from the heat. But thili was, after all, Sao Luis: at midday the city's air went still and even in the shadows the rays of the equatorial sun glanced up from the broken cobbles. Later all, Illen drifted in, gathering on this same patio. Bottles of Cerma beer, each arriving, frigid, in a white styrofoam case, slowly amassed on the tables, as stars began to show through the tree's heavy leaves. Conversation and laughter flO',\'ed as easily as the evening breeze ofTthe bay.

The cafe was a family operation. Dona Lica herself cooked the meals - usually fried fish, chicken, or beef, with rice, beans, farillha. noodles. and slices of fresh tomato, cucumber, and onion. H.er food was hearty and plentiful, made with straightforward ingredients aIld ullusual care. Dona Lica's cheerful children wiped tables and served the patrons, most ofwhom lived or worked in the neighborhood. Few came frolll elsewhere 10 eat here, for the cafe was not chic and did not serve the arroz de cuxa and camaroada of the famously "typical" maranhense restaurants. Dona Lica's did not appear in tourist brochures, nor was it an underground sensation. It was exceptional olll y within its unpretentious genre of neighborhood diner.

Eating at Dona Lica's was something like eating at home. The fooel was uncomplicated, familiar, served without affectation. Dona Lica alld her children treated us well. We exchanged jokes and slllall talk. They knew our names, and we knew theirs. After a while, we felt obligated to eat at Dona Lica's with a certain frequency - it would be a

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1l):) Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan

betrayal not to do so. For me, the anthropologist, eating there fed the welcome illusion that, camouflaged by the cafe, I had melted into the background. I think eating and drinking at Dona Uca's had a a>lnparcible, if less conscious, effed on the local residents, who Thereby reallinlled, with no ado whatsoever, their sense of secure connection to the neighlx)rho()d and to the Brazilian universe extending infinitely around it.

For Dona Lica's restaurant. blended effi>rtJessly and naturally into Madre Deus, and lvfadre Deus rested comfortably in a series of collceptually nested social units: cit.y, state, region, nalion. 1)0IIa Lica's was implicitly sao-Iuisense, maranhense. nordestino, brasileiro. It is hard to picture Dona lk.a's outside its modest :>airro. But imagining a relocated version of DOlla Liell's makes for an interesting thought experiment. If the cafe were in the south, would it be a n leeting-place for northeaslemers~ Surely that would change its character. And could it be located overseas? What. would it be then? Such a queslion is a litrle mind-boggling. The restaurant couldn't exist in t.he same form; no doubt entirely nove! meanings and practices would be forced upon it. Even if DOlla Lica served up the same food, the significance of the beans and farinha, the fish and meat, t.he kind attention, would alter radically.

Restaurante 51 is haIfa world a\',:ay from Dona Uca's, in Nagoya, Japan, a First \Vorld inrlust.rial city ofabout two million. 51 is a combinatIon of lanchonete, churrascaria, and k~ja de produws brasilciros. Although the cooks at. 51 serve up food familiar to Brazilians, 51 bears lillie resemblance to Dona Lica's, where restaurant is of a piece '\-'ith setting and llrazilianness is unmarked, a non-issue. Unlike Dona Lic.a's, 51 is a place of conscious, and paradoxical, connection. It invites expalriate Brazilians to feel at home, offering a multistrandecl symbolic link to Brazil. But ifSl were home, it would not be so overtly, incongruously Brazilian. Framed by a Japanese city, 5] simultaneously accentuate') Brazilianllcss and alienness. In contrast to the matter-of-fact Brazilian identity inadvertently fostered at Dona Li(:a's, a complex, explicit, dislocated

Brazilian identity is thrown into reliefat Restaurante 51.

51: a '!restaurante brasileiro II in Japan

Currently].5 million Brazilians live in foreign countries. "Brazucas" residing in the U.S., most without documents, form the

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186 Daniel T. Linger

largest contingent, their numbers now estimated at more than half ~ million. Among First vVorlcl countries, Japan comes next, housing (as of 1996) more than t70,000 Brazilian nationals, almost all legal residents attracted by a 1990 change inJapan's immigration law. 3 The ne\,,' law, prompted by shortages of unskilled labor for dirty and dangerous industrial jobs, permits descendants ofJapanese (njkkcis·) and their spouses alld children to live in Japan for renewable periods ranging from one to three years.!>

Hence almost all of the adult Brazilians in Japan come as migrant workers, or dekassegujs.6 Aichi prefecture, an auto- and auto­ parts manufacturing center whose largest city is Nagoya, has over 30,000 Brazilian residents, more than any other Japanese province. Intent 011 saving money, men earn upwards of 1200 yen (¥1200, about RS12) per hour and women about a third less, with 25% extra for overtime. \Vorkdays are long and holidays few. Most Braziliam, including nikkeis, speak only halting, limited Japanese and many find Japanese food and forms of recreation strange or unexciting. Their frustration finds expression in the persistent complaint that "aqui nao lem nada pra fazer," or "em termos de lazer, 0 Japao e atrasac\o." Restaurantes brasileiros are therefore important centers of recreatioll for dekasseguis.

3 An ltamaraty census released in March 1996 shows one and a halfmillion Brazilians living overseas, over 600,000 of them in the U.S. (Klintowitz 1996:26-27). The reliability of the figures, which attempt to take illegal workers into account, varies by country. In Japan, however, undocumented Brazilians are few. The JapanesC' lvlinistry of Justice, Department of Immigration, reports 168,662 Brazilians resident in Japan as of June 1995 (International Press, 1995:1-C). This figure does not include approximately 20,000 Brazilians of dual nationality (Klimo..... i!l 1996:28). See Margolis (1994) for an ethnographic survey of Brazilians living in the U.S., focusing on residents of the New York area.

4 Japanese words, and Japanese words adopted into the Portuguese spoken in Japan, are italicized the fIrst time they appear in the text. Singular and plural forms of nouns in Japanese usually do not differ, but when Japanese nouns are taken into Portuguese (e.g., "nikkei"), plural forms generally add an "s" ("nikkeis").

5 On Japanese immigration policy, see Yamanaka (1993) and Oka (1994). 6 This is the Portuguese rendition of the plural of the Japanese word usually

rOlll3l1ized dekasegj.

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lRi Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan

51 is perhaps the best-known of Nagoya's many restaurarJles br{\sileiros. Its lively neighhorhood, called Osu, is· an earthy, but not tawdry, zone of Japanese shjraJJ1r1chi ("downtown," or popular c.it y) culture. Osu lies just south of Sakae, Nagoya's chief entertainment ;l11d commercial district, on the other side ofa highway overpass. The shops in Osu, smaller, more specialized, less formal than Sakae's great department stores, display their wares along t.he sidewalk, a11l1oUlKillg their discount prices with hanel-lettered signs. At the orange-trimmed Osu Kannon Temple, probably the most visit.ed Buddhist temple ill \"agoya, people light incense, deliver short prayers, and feed the pigeons. Then they head into the adjacent arcade to shop. This arcade, like the temple an Osu landmark, is home to 51, which rubs elbo\,"s with noodle shops, octopus-dumpling stalls, sake bars, pinball parlors, dry-goods stores, hair-cutting salons, discount electronics and camera dealers, and vendors of used American clothing. Many Japanese slow with curiosity when passing the Brazilian restaurant, but few have the courage or inclination to take a seat alongside t.he foreign dekasseguis.

Above t.he tables of the ground-floor lanchonete, a Brazilian nag and the pentagram logo ofCacha<;a 51 adorn a bright plastic greefl­ and-yellow sign. It reads, "Churra:;caria Restallrante A<;Ollgue Padaria produtos Brasileiros Internat.ional Foods Forum Zoomp Fitas de Vfdeo." Thejumble ofwords in roman script means as little to Japanese passers-by as does the surrounding forest of ideographs to the Brazilians. The Japanese and the Brazilians are, almost withoUI except.ion, complementarily illiterate. For the most part, t.hey are also culturally distant and communicclte with difficulty. This disheveled sidewalk cafe is a distinct anomaly. Nagoya has few open-air eateries, and no other that features guarana, empadinhas de palmito, and ~/Iarias moles.

Up a narrow stairway to the right of the tables is the churrascaria, in a t.emperature-controlled room decorated wi th Brazilian travel posters and furnished with sturdy tables and high­ backed chairs. Just around the corm r is 51's boutique, selling clothes, CDs, chinelos, greeting cards, perfumes, cosmetics, and Brazilian souvenirs and trinkets. Forumjeans, Zorba underpants, and Fico and HD casual wear are big sellers, for many dekasseguis think Japanese clothes are cut to disguise, rat.her th,1I1 flatter, body lines. Next door, under separate management, is a food shop selling packaged. frozen,

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188 Daniel T. Linger

and canned goods, imported mainly from Brazil but also from southea~ Asia and Peru. One can buy feijoada, goiabada, manioc root, COCOlWI milk, quinoa, Thai curries, palm hearts, and dark-roasted coffee.

But the center of activity at 51 is the lanchonete. Freezing in winter, torrid in summer, it nevertheless attracts a clientele year-round. A counter faces outward toward the foot traffic of the mall, dividinK the area in two. Reading materials and videos of popular Brazilian TV programs occupy Illuch of the rear space. 7 51 sells Brazilian periodicals, bilingual dictionaries, and road atlases ofJapan, but Iht: most popular publications are the Portuguese-language expatriate weeklies: lornal Tudo Bem, Folha Mundial, Nova Visfio, and the !n{ernalional Press, which also publishes a Spanish (but, despite the name, no English) edition. A long refrigerator holding cheap Australian beef, Brazilian sausage, and carbonated beverages runs across a back wall.

In front of the counter, rickety wooden tables ringed by rickety metal stools spill into the arcade walkway. The arrangement, tacky bur congenial, is unique to the mall and perhaps to Nagoya. Ashtrays arid squeeze l:x>ttles ofcondiments top the plastic tablecloths. Alongside the tables a rack bulges with advertising propaganda from Brazilian banks and Japanese long-distance phone companies, big businesses com peting for de kassegui moncy. One of these companies, the giant KDD. has mounted an international pay phone on the opposite wall, near the grease-encrusted chicken rotisserie.

Standing at the counter, Flavia Bespalhok, a Brazilian frolll Londrina, Parana, dispenses salgados and doces, beer and guarana, meat, videos, newspapers, sympathy, and advice. Bracketing the cash register in front of her sit a thermos of luke''''arm sweetened cofTee and a slllall murky aquarium with bubbling water and glcx)my goldfish. OfT to onc side, risolis, espetinhos, coxinhas, and empadinhas slowly desiccat.e under heat lamps. Below them, a misty refrigerated case displays queijadinhas, cocada, and quindins. Available drinks include Anranica beer, guarana Brahma, and of course pinga, cacha~a 51.

In early 1996,51 moved its videos and reading materials to the boutique dunng a fit of remcxkling.

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18Sl Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan

Despite its haphazard inelegance, 51 is cosy, inviting. i111 arresting contrast to the too-shiny, too-hygienic Japanese noodle-and­ dumpling place across the arcade. Around 51 's tables gather mostly Brazilians, with a sprinkling of other Latin Americans, Japanese, and sundry gaijin (foreigners).8 They peruse newspapers, rent videos, purchase meat, cakes, pastries, and bel1cos (marmitas). On wcekcnds, chickens turn and crisp in the roaster: at Christmas, when the weat.her turns frigid and tinsel dangles above the counter, tiny and very expensive turkeys take their place. People come and go. A proper, carefully coifIed senhora buys a bottle of cachac;a. A young man Oil a bicycle returns four videos, and takes four more. Customers sit down with an Antartica, talk about work, ask about. mutual acquaintances, complain about the weather, reminisc.e about Brazil. Fragments of collvcrsation circulate. "What happened to Lucinha?" A musician recalls that a dozen years ago the Varig crews used to smuggle in CArne seca, Nowadays you could be in Brazil; Ve:ja arrives beforc the cover date. Peruvians drink Inka Kola and buy charcoal. An Indian Illatl with an amused smile silently nurses a beer. AJapancse couple warily inspect the cases and opt fc)r a rocambole de chocolate. An Australian missionary rails in English about "Clinton's plan to stick a computcr chip inside everybody's head." 1 ask the man llexl to me: "(':rOsta do

]apao?" He shrugs. "C-osto nao. Me aclaptci." There are regulars. Kawada, a nikkei man, and his wife :\'eusrJ.,

a "brasileira,"9 both paulistas in their 50s, work at a nearby love hotel, a popular trysting place. Kawada was a metalworker in Sao Paulo, hut in Japan they told him he was too old for t.he factory. Neusa describes their work as secure and not too heavy. The two work wgether. They can change a room in five minutes - the faster the better, because the hotel makes more money wit h a quick turnover. They gel lIO \'(leal iOllS

B The word gaijin ("foreign person") uttered by Japanese sometimes has a derisive' edge. Brazilians, like other foreigners in Japan, often describe themselves ironically as "gaijin" (or "gaijins"; either plural form is used), alluding to their margillalil:'.

9 Nikkeis commonly refer to Brazilians who are not of Japanese descent as "brasileiros" and "brasileiras," or simply "nao-descendentes.'· (I Jl Brazil, nikkeis sometimes refer to non-descendents as "gaijin," a word they find applied to themselves in Japan.) Depending on the context, nikkeis maY of course also refer

to themselves as "brasi1eiros.··

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190 Daniel T. Unzu

except for New Year's Day, an unpaid holiday, and one dayofrest ptr week. Every Friday, their assigned day off, they come to 51 to eitl.) bema. Takashi, a Japanese traffic worker, comes often. He snack-i. exchang-es Japanese lessons for Portuguese, struggles through j\!anchefe, and dreams of the tropics and a Brazilian girlfriend. ~Iakik(). another Japanese, works as a cook in a primary school. She like\ caipirinhas and has learned to make them. Saclao, a nikkei in his 'H~ most recently of Minas, comes almost every day, drinking chopps ill slow succession. All accountant in Brazil, here he is a solderer. ()IIC clay he announces he is moving to Osaka. He has taken a job ill it sewer-pipe f<ictory there; his brasileira wife and two children will fillally join him, ending his four years of solitude in Japan. Those ill the laIlchonete hoist their glasses and wish him well.

The view from the counter

PerhClps the best way for me to convey the atmosphere of:l I is through the eyes of Flavia Bespalhok, the woman who has presided amiably over the lunch-counter since it opened for business in early ] ~J9.-L \ Vc met after work one cold evening in January 1996. Lightly edired excerpts from rhe interview follow. 1(' I have capitalized words Fl;'tviC'l cmphC'lsizcd and have bracketed clarifications, glosses of JajJallese, and SOllle phrases in the original Portuguese.

*

Ba'iically, our clientele is Brazilian. I'd say between 90 and ~):) fJn cellL A lot of people come frolll elsewhere, lIot only from NClgO)'Cl, [but also froml Toyota, Gifu, HClmamatsu.[J There are two types of BraziliallS, quite different. There are those who COllie, buy their magazine or newspaper, buy their salgadinho, and leave right away. I know thelll, joke around with them, and talk to them, but they just buy C'll1d go C'lway, ~ow, there are also those who come every week.

10 The excerpts presented below are translated from Portuguese. 11 Locations with relatively large Brazilian populations, within an hour or two of

:--iagoya hy train.

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191 Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan

buy something, read, or else come and stay hours and hours sitting

there, talking, making friends. \Ve'vc got three or four groupS [turmasl that come every

\,'cekencI, to drink, talk, and hang around for hours. There's a group of six or so, who we call the Tunna do Barlllho, you can imagine why. They live in different places, they come and meet here. They're all IllCIL In the beginning each had a Filipina girlfriend. They used to come to the [upstairs} restaurClIll. in a group of 15, 16. These days they hang out more in the lanchonete. The last time they were here the)' drank three cases ofbeer and there were six people. Three times

~i ... There ,,,'as a a guy who used to bring his guitar, he sings badly, out of tune, just between us (laughs), and every weekend Ihe and some others] used to come, and play music. So it turned into a real Brazilian bar. TheJapanese would stop and look, it was really great. I'd improvise cllacoalhos. I'd ask for beans or rice and a can of guarana, and then seal it and give it to them, and they'd play sambas. One of them hrought a surc!o once, and so they'd make a roda and would sing sambas.

It's funny how the Japanese let themselves go I<it 511· Because it's a vcry Brazilian atmosphere, right. They start to talk loudly, like the Brazilians. Several of them have told me, "This is reCllly good, next Sunday we're coming back," and the next Sunday, there they ,,'ere

I t:l

again. This happened with two couples, who were drinking and eating together with the Brazilians, and saying, ",",Vow, this is rcally guml,"

they LET 1'1 fEMSELVES GO. 'There are lotherl custOlllcrs who come evcry weekcIld. There'"

\

r I. I

a chubby mall who comes every week, he buys all the papers. tile (HI} [expatriate I papers, ane! then he goes up to the restaurant, he cats, he comes down, buys meat, buys la roasted] chicken, and 'iits dOWIl. ,\1 the table. He starts to read the paper and starts to chirchat. And so he's already made two or three friends, he's always there, every week he comes. 1think he doesn't even reac!. It's more like an excuse. There's another man named Saclao, he comes almost EVERY DAY. It occu rs to me that he doesn't have anywhere to go. It's always the same thing, first he asks for a chopp, then a 51, and he buys a newspaper. fIe starts 10 read the paper, but he's not much for talking. Then he drinks flve or six chopps. And aftenvards he buys allother magazine and re(lcls. SOllletimes he buys two or three magazines and says to me: "\Vould

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192 Daniel T. Lin~C"f

you hold these for me? I'll be back tomorrow. It's just that if I keep them on the rabIe, I'll read them today, and tomorrow I won't hart' <1nything to reaci. \Vould you hold them for me and give them to nH' tomorrow~" I hold them for him.

There are some customers who just come to get videotapes. There's onc guy, Alberto, ,,,'ho is the guy who rents the most videos. B.is rental record is eight pages long, he rents three, four videos a chi)'. He says this is the only diversion he has here in japan. He doesn't re<1d or spenkJapanese. He works in a pachinko [pinball] parlor, and he almost ncver eats anything, he practically never drinks anything'. I Ie doesn't bu y newspapers, he's a video client. And meat too, he buy, a lot ofl1leal. Alberto rents the Fantastico,jornal Nacional, Aqui Agor<l, DOIIlingao do Faustao, the Sflvio Santos show... He never rents lIny [program of]J6 Soares, who he doesn't like, he never rents sports, and not evell novelas. I've even said to him, "But you have to go out. you and your wife." He says, "(',{) out where, we don't speak japanese. wc've been renlly discriminated against." 1don't know if he's a 1JJ:'i.'i{.'P~" [second-generationJapanese descendant] or sansei[third-generationJ, hut he's got a Japanese face. He says. "They make fun of us whell we call't speak." So they don't leave the house, they don't go out, and the only recreation they have is to watch videos. They watch a lot of videos.

A lor of people come wir h a neecl to converse [com a carencia de conversnr], you wouldn't believe it. A lot of people come up to me and say that they have no contact with Brazilians, or they work in a plnce where there are few Brazilians. One time there was a person who really made an impression on me. He never came back. I don't know why. He went up to eat dinner, it was already late, about 9:20, we close at ten, but he ate quickly and he came clown. He stood there, looking at magazines ane! so on, and tben he came up to me, began to [a] k. and then he said, "I don't have anyone to talk to. I'm suffering a lor i)cG:luse I don't have anyone to talk to." I said, "!jsten, come here anytime. ~here are always a lot of Brazilians." But he was really depressed...

\Vhen I started working, I worked about three months upstairs] in the restaurant. Now, in the restaurant it's hard to make

12 The usual Japanese romanization is nisei, the "s" is doubled in Portuguese, for phonetic reasons.

:-Ionzontes Antropol6gicos, Porto Alegre, ana 3, n. 5, p. 181-203. julho de 1997

I l~n

Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in NaRoya, Japan

friends, you're always eating at sepa{ate tables. There was a link guy

I

who later went back to Brazil. I called him Xoror6. since he looked a lot like one of that pair [who sing Illlisica serlaneja]. lIe came in, he piled his plate high, and he started to eat, very fast, he was the only olle in the restaurant, and then he stopped eating, it seemed like he was feeling sick from eating his food so fast, but he only wantecl to lalk with me. And he never stopped. And you could see his need, that he needed to converse. he needed to talk. He told his whole story. ("rom the time he arrived inJapan, how 11lllch he cllrncd, he told everythillg. He stopped eating, he ate half the plate he had made, he paid no IIlore attention to the food, and he kept talking the whole time. Telling about his job, that he worked by a furnace, that it was very dangerous, that it was very hot, and so on, and he came back several times. Tile last time he came he had injured his eye and had almost been blinded. It was his last day ofwork, it spurted, I don't know \vhat he ,vas workillg with ... It was something that burned at a very high temperature and hc was near the furnace, it spurted, except that he mallageclto close his eye, but it was very ugly here [gesturing around the eye], he was wearing dark glasses. He was going to Brazil, this was before Christmas in 1994, he was going to spend Christ.mas with his girlfriend. He also

never came back.

I I went to spend a month in Brazil in April oflast year. I"When

I I returned to 5 I] everyone came up to me asking the same thing: "HOW IS IT THERE? IS IT OK TO GO BACK?" So I would say, "Listen, my advice is, this is not t.he lime to go back." There are a 101 of people who go [to Brazil] and later return, go and relurn. And lllany people here say they're going once and for all, never to return.

J Alld in three, four months ... they're back again. I even give them t advice. People come and say, "I'm not going \0 gel. a reentry visa. I

~ huh-uh, because I don't want to come back here." 1 say, "Look, it doesn't cost anything for you to go t.here [to the Immigration Office], you'll spend just an hour, you'll pay ¥3000, you don't know what's going to happen, what you're going to find in Brazil." And a lot of people to whom I've given this advice (laughs), afterwards needed the

visa and returned. People [come to 51] who don't [yet] understand the money.

People who've just. arrived, who are still looking for work. Because ",e're Brazilians, and the restaurant is Brazilian, they [cornel looking

Horizontes Antropo16gicos, Porto Alegre, ana 3, n. 5, p. 181-203. julho de 1997I

]94 Daniel T. Lill~cr

for help. There was the case ofa man who had just arrived two weeks earlier, and he ... when he came here it wasn't the job they had promised him, the work conditions were really a\'dul and he wanted to leave. Bur because he was leaving ther were going to assess a fine, anel lhey threatened to keep his passport, and he didn't know what he was goiIl~ to cIo. He told me the story, and said, "'tVhat should 1 do, ll1o<;ai' \Vhere should I go?" So r said, "Look, go to the Consulate, go to t!le Association of Nikkeis" Ian office that coullseis nikkeis with work-relatcd problemsJ. He came back the next day and said, ''I'm not eveII goillK to try to collect the money [they O\ve mel. But I'm going to get my pCJssporr." He must have got it because he never came back. J rCI1lember a case ofa guy who came Ito 51], he had wrecked the car... Two of his friends were in the car, they \"ere in the hospital, and Ille employment broker [empreiteira] was threatening to fire him, because he had wrecked [the broker's] car. He didn't know what to do. Once when the consul came to the restaurant. right after they opened [he consulate lin NagoyaJ, I had him make a map for me, showing ho\\" [ll get to the consulate, 1 asked for all the information, telephone number and everything, and I posted it. So I gave this to Ithe guy who had wrecked the car] and said, "Either they will solve the problem there or send you somewhere else."

Another thing that struck me here is the world of the WOlllCll of the night. For example, during the week, 1110st of our clients art' these \,'ornen. [-'10st of them are hostesses [in night c1ubsl. But I kn()\,' of some who are prostitutes. According to what they say, some \,'ert' prostitutes on the Rua Augusta in Sao Paulo. were deluxe prostitu(('~ who Gillie here and want to keep on being so.

There's a group of women, they work in a hospital. They're older women of 50 or 60, except that they don't sit down. Norrllalh they buy chicken, on Saturdays. [Sometimes] whole families [COllie]. Not just mother, father and child but mother father son UIlele aU1l1 brother-in-law ... The musicians of the [Clube Noval Urbana [also comeJ.I~ Every six mont.hs, those bars change their group ofmusiciam. This group that's here now, just two of them come, to rent viclem.

13 The Nova Urbana is a Brazilian nightclub in Nagoya's Sakae district. It cllIplo1-. Brazilian bands on a rotating basis and has organized its own samba school.

Horizontes Antropo16gicos, Porto Alegre, ana 3, n. 5, p, 181-203. julho de IY9;

Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan I ~J:)

Olle of them said to me that it's the only recreation they have here ill Jrtpan. He just rents videos and sometimes he buys bent6s,

, And Takashi, laJapanese man] who comes [\,'0 or three till1CS

a \,·eek. He serves as a guide for those Japanese [who don't know Ihe food], anel he always asks me things. Sometimes he fixes on a headline from the newspaper, he says, "This right here r understancl, but this [ dOll't understand." So 1 try to explain to hinl. And he Iries [0 lel-lrIl Portuguese. Hc buys two or three newspapers a \reek, he IllIYS magazines, and he buys comic books, and rents videos, but he o11ly rellts cartoons, because he says the other things he can't understand. f Ie says the Fantastico is very hard for him. But cartoons, OK. Alld Xuxa's program, he's a Xllxa fanatic. vVhen 1 said that Xuxa was coming to Tokyo, he went crazy. "BUT, SHE'S COML'\G TO NAGOYA?" 1 said. "No, she's only going to Tokyo. Arc you going there?" He said, "I'm going to try." He's (1, •• FAN of Xuxa. Any magazine that has Xuxa on the cover, he buys. And there are other Jli}J;mese also, t.here are two men, rather old, one already has been to Brazil, he stayed five years in the serrao, and the other works in the., i/llIlligration office. They're learning Portuguese, so every week they buy newspapers.

t ~ : Takashi knows the food well because he frequents lot or(-l

Brazilian restaurants, not just here. He goes to another shop \dlere , f the guarana is really cheap, but it's far a\\'ay. There was one clay \dll'1J

he nrrived here and asked only for two coxinhas. I said, "AIle! the guarana?" "Today I've already drunk fin~." (Laughs.) "I 'fellt 10 (l ~hop where they were ¥80." So he drank five guaralltls, call you helieve it. He wants a Brazilian girlfriend, his dream is to live in Brazil. I Ie \\'alllS to go to Carnival too, he adores samba, he plays in the Si-lIIl!Ja school of the rClube No\'a] Urbana.

There was a LJapanese] boy. He only bought coxinhas, he loved coxinhas. He had a fascination for Brazil on account ofsocccr. He stance)

A

~ [0 learn Portuguese, he learned how to make coxinhas, he \\'as working

i hcre with us. Only that later he finished [high school] and he had to find if a steady job, And his mother arranged a job in a ramen [Chinese-styleI noodle soup] place. Then he stopped working with us. He had to \\'ork 1 ill a suit and tie and he was washing dishes. One day he stopped by in a'J oS i suit and 1 didn't know where he was working. 1said, "Ah, today you look

£ g

!J;m<1some, you've gat a date with some girl, right?" He said, "0.~O, Ihis is :i ;!. !I0 \\' I work, I hate it." ~~

Horizontes AntropoI6gicos, Porto Alegre, ana ~, n, 5, p. IH1-~03, julho de 1~1~)7

196 Daniel T. u.r

The majority of the customers know me by name, bcC'auw I'm always here. It's something I've noted, that they have mc a, 1 friend and a point of reference. So they come up like this, "Listen. I'm leaving, many thanks for the treatment you've given me." Evcn a flLUJ last week, he was always here, "I'm leaving, thanks for the atteJltion. thanks for the kindness." I said, "Ah, good luck to you, I hope ~oo never need to return." He said, "That's what. I want, l:JOd will inK 111 never return, I'm leaving for good." They come up calling you ~ your name. It's not a relationship of I'm from the restaurant and ~'ou'rr my customer, no, it's a relationship offrienc1ship.

But my boss doesn't like this. He wants me to say to everyolk' h'ho comcs up, "Jrass!Jalinase" la formal Japanese welcome]. Butl\~ been around a long time, currently I'm the most veteran emploYt"t'. So there are people to whom I don't say" Irasshaimase," I say. "Hi. everything OK, how are you doing?" ["Oi, tudo born, como eque \'air-' A Brazilian never wants to be treated like a Japanese. "Hey, hcy, he~·. I'm a Brazilian, what's this." (Laughs.)

hlo, 016 brosill?iro

Brazilians in Japan often feel isolated. Their loneliness h;h both materirl! and cultural roots. Most obviously, they are separated from loved ones in Brazil by an enonnous distance. Although lh(~ telephone provides a slender thread of contact, it is expensive - over RSS? per minute - and unidimensional. The occasional sound of (i voice substitutcs inadequately for what had been a constant, full physical presence. Even within Japan, mallY Brazilians have only fleeting alld unsatisfactory contact with others, whether compatriots or Japancse. \Vorkcrs spend long hours in silent labor, amidst a din ofmachincry. snatching bits ofconversation with colleagues on the way to the factory. during t.he break, at lunch. Dealings with superiors are limited, usually one-way, and can be unpleasant. Friends and family members often work different shifts, or are too exhausted to converse much whclI they finally get home. The crushing work routine of the typical dekassegui therefore discourages the cultivation ofdeep and extellSi\,c social ties and can even subvert existing bonds of blood and affection.

HYi' ansi! displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan

One might think that outside the workplace the city would offer ~ good deal of casual human contact. but this is not necessarily the case for Brazilians. Japanese cities lack the familiar culturfil institutions ofthe botequim and the pra<;a. Japanese men often gather il1Ste~ci in closed settings, in small bars and clubs, behind opaque sliding doors. For a Brazilian, such places can seem uninviting, even forbidding. At my apartment complex near Nagoya, and in ncighborhoods elsewhere,Japanese women meet at pIa ygroullds while mpervising their children, or sometimes join one other for daytime outings. Most Brazilian women work during the day, and in any case few know enough Japanese to converse readily. Because they cannot understand what others are saying. Brazilian women do not participfltc in local organizations such as the P.T.A., another act.ivity popular among .,';omen. Japanese rarely invite casual acquaintances into their homes, nor do they chat. through open windows or drop in unexpectedly. rile simplest exchange of pleasantries between a Brazilian and a Japanese can be awkward, owing to linguistic confusion. social clumsiness. or outright incomprehension. Hence the easy neighborhood sociability that is so much a part of daily life in Brazil, so taken for granted, simply does not exist for most. Brazilians in Japan.

1-Joreover, the undeniable movimento of urban Japan can be deceptive. As 5irnmel once wrote, "One nowhere feels as lonely and lost as in the metropolitan crowd," for "the bodily proximity andt narrowness of space makes the mental distance only the more visihle"! (1950 11903]). 1-lis observation holds with added force for RrflziliaI\s f

~ illJapancse cities. Brazilian city-dwellers have contradictory attitudes.~ ~ They have grown up cautious and street-Sll1flrt, with good rCflSOll, hut

Ihey neverthelcss value spontaneity among strangers and a certain unpredictability in human affairs. Japanese street life, though busy, lends to be peaceful and routine. it appeals t.o Brnzilians' desire for

i public safety but frustrates their desire for agreeable novelty and i informal dealings that soften urban anonymity. On the subways, for

I example, commut.ers sleep, or feign sleep, or read, or gaze blankly into the air. 14 Public space in Japan can be intensely private; pcople

14 A nikkei friend once advised me, in all seriousness, to kill time on the train b)' I observing the surprising variety of noses, since there was no hope of a canversa lion t or amusing event. ¥;

Horizontes Antropo16gicos, Porto Alegre, ana 3, n. 5, p. 181-~03. julho de 1~)07Horizontes Antropo16gicos, Porto Alegre, ana 3, n. 5, p. 181-203. julho de 199i

198 Daniel T. ungc-r

build i/Jvisible barriers, discouraging the verbal entrance of ol!H'r\. This rcticcncc, ,.... hiclJ permits one to mflintain a shell ofdesired solil udc jn p(icked public places, reads (is coldness to many Brazili(iIlS,jusl it\ rrl(jIl~' .J(Jpan<:se, witncssing effusivc gestures and raucous woru plit\ aIIlong Brazilians, re(Jd loudness and extravagance into Braziliiill

presefltations of self. Brilzilians complain that when Japanese do eugage them ill

("()rJvc[S(fri()lI, rfJCY show linle curiosity af>out Brazil and ()f1(~r o"h S((JIIc!r1rc! greetings find banfil questioIlS. DiHerences in interact iO/litl ctiquctrc produce much of this Brazilian irritation. Japanese courl('\\ cJismur(Jg<~s direct. persoTl(j1 illCjuiries, unless one knows the other \\'CIL Brazilians take pcrsonal inquiries as evidence of interest and de~ir(' [elr approxiUlaliol1. Wh(jt Inay I)e respect from aJapanesc perspecli\('

keh like f(~jccri(Jll I() f:I Brazilif:lII. TfJcs(~ Cull urf:llly b(ised JIlisperceptions tend to driv<: Ihe '\1'(1

groups ap(jrt. Brf:lziJi(-JIl frustratio!lS give risc toa rOlllaIlticcelelJri1ciuli of', (j1lc1longing for, "calor humano," a quality supposedly !;.-\ckillg ill Jrlp(iIlCSC, Stereotypcs ofBr(lziliam (IS "\\'arrll" anel Japanese as "euld~ u!Jvious!y djs('ouri-:lg<~ Br(izili(jI! alt.Clllpts at (Olllnet. Alld f(Jf.JnP;'i!)('\('· apprchcflSio!lS thar Brazilians {jrc erratic, boisterous, or thrc<:IlcII;llg

Ill<lke avoidance seem prudent. However, Brazilian perceptions may be accurate ill O!le'

important respect: most Japanese do not seem especiaUy c{iger 10 iI!clucJc Brazilians among their foreign acquaintances, Takctshi, \\'110 Wallts to emigrate to Brazil, and the other .Japanese who drop ill occasionally 3t51 are unusual. Brazilians feel that Japanese vie\\' t!JCIII as second~class foreigners (after North Americans, especjalh CaucasicUls, and Eu ropeans), and it is hard to argue the point. TI)(" gaijin hierarch y evidences itselfin the Japanese fetishization of certaill "American" consumer goods and cultural icons (McDonald\ hamburgers, the Carpenters, James Dean), in the common l{ick (If knowledge about cOUlltries outside the industrialized North, and ill the calibration of demeanor according to a foreigner's national slalll\.

.\Jy 0\\'11 experience as a first-class gaijin has been instfucti\,('. Though Japanese have complex and not always positive alliludn Io\\'ard Americans, everyone at least knoV\o"s something about the (' ,S, \!oreover, Americans, simply by virtue of their nationality, are vichnl as people to be reckoned with. Sometimes they receive embarrassillKh

] 9~) Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 ill :-<ag-O\a, Japan

deferential treatment. In contrast, Brazilians, who come fTom <'l f;.-lr{i\\';w lropical Jand, rarely speak fluent English (the "international language"), illld usually do lllanual labor in .lapan, COIllIll<'lnd little ;.-lttentioll or respect. III SOllIe \\'aY5, the situation call be even worse for Ilikkei Brfizilians, who are treated {is secoIld-c1ass (or defecti\'e) .l;1panesc ;.-lS

f \I'cll as second-class gaijill. As a light-skinned :\ortb r\lIwrican. I reccirc inordillate praise for Illy nbility TO spcClk rudilllCIIIrlry .lClprlllese : nikkeis

I

;irc frequently censured for millor linguistic illlperkcliollS. ;' The discrilllin<:llioll GHI he so illtillli(btillg {i-; to Gluse SOI1IC. such as the Jlikkei couple \dlO do Ilot speak the l<lIlguag-e <1t all, 10 rerretll (llnJOsl ('Illirel)' into n world of Iheir (Mn, circuIllscribed by the \I';-dls of the house and enlivened only by imported videos. Hence \\'ork conditions, di')crepancies in interaction styles, and the differential treatment of foreigners all exacerbatc many Brazilians' feelings of distance and

f l

;llicll(i1 jon. Even Icisurc activities do not llecessarily lead to l1lcanillgful

COllllectior!S with others. For O)]C tllillg, dek{isseguis have little spare lilJle in \\'hich to cultivate relationships. Brazilians COIl1J1l<)J1ly "'ork

t t

('rl (Jr twclve-hour shifts <'Inc! have just olle day {i \\'cck ofT. Rarely do tlley !l{iVC the luxury or n !lolidny. FurthcrIllOrC , ulll~llIilirJrity \\'ith liipCinese language and cullLIre Ill<'lkes 11lnlly 1)rnzili{i[\s disinclilled to participate in gregarious pursuits \\'idely enjoyed by Japanese ­ cOJ]versing ill inlimate pubs, soaking in hot springs. particilJating ill ~t'{\s()I1al excursions, or taking up traditional handicrafts, [or example, One GHI, of course, frequent the ubiquitous pillbnll P<lrlOf.'i and coffee \hops, \\'hich arc cheap and readily <'lccessible to fc)reigncrs, but like the subway, these are places where people rub shoulders \\'ithot!1 ,peaking 10 one another. Shopping, a major pastime, is another activit y

! I

t

ill\'olving lllinilnal COllllllunication. Finally, in Japan abstT(ict links \I'itb the outside world ~ through print, film, electronic media - are severed. Brazilians become instantly illiterate. Even those who speak !apalleS

e fairly well have trouble understancling TV, and the programs

~

i l ~ l ~

;:,. 1:1 Allernatively, on occasion I have heard a Japanese effusively praise a nikkci f0r speaking ''just like a Japanese," Such comments may be subtly patronizing; thc~' hOllor the recipient with accepulIlce into an exalted group, again implicitly poillting

10 defective origins.

. .. , '''''' :..11." tI,· 1nO?

200 Daniel T. Linger

are, by Brazilian standards, visually dull and uninvolving. Going 10 movies, in Japanese or in English \'v-ith Japanese subtitles, seems pointless. Thus Brazilians are culturally and linguistically excluded even from mass entertainment and the mass media.

In short, dekasseguis commonly find themselves trapped in an exhausting routine, far from home, with few opportunities for enjoyable distraction or social engagement. As a Brazilian acquaintance once told me, "Japan is a place to work. Period." Not infrequently, and not surprisingly, Brazilians inJapan describe themselves as aliellS from outer space, as Martians. In going halfway round the planet, many feel as though they had left it entirely.16

Under these circumstances, a restaurante brasileiro such as 51 projects a green-and-yellow beacon ofwelcome. It offers reassuring food and drink - a bit ofmother and home - in its cakes and puddings, pastries and skewered meats, savory beans and gritt.y farinha, cachac;a and guarana. Above all, 51 feeds a hunger for familiar communication. serving up a feast ofappetizing, easily digestible words and images. AI 51, language circulates without hesitation or impediment.. Idealized Brazilian-style social interaction - casual, fluid, without adornment - is 51 's most compelling attraction. The customers expect an informal greeting; they use first names, without an honorific san; strangers treat each other with intimacy, asking personal questions, making sly jokes, and sometimes divulging confidences. Literate once more, dekasseguis reconnect wit.h Brazil and with the world. The expat.riate newspapers report the latest Rio kidnappings, government scandals, society gossip, Sao Paulo apartment prices, presidential excursions, dollar exchange rate. Chico Bento, Monica, Cascao: childhood friends have also crossed the Pacific. Through the videos one can t.ap the Brazilian airwaves; copies of TV programs arrive in Japan within days of their airing ill Brazil. Settle back with the Fantastico on Sunday night: it's as if you ,,,'ere in f.'faringa, Belem, or Liberdade watching with millions ofothers

16 As always in anthropology, one must generalize in ways that violate the experiellct' of specific persons. Some Brazilians in Japan learn to speak the language weU. adapt readily, find Japanese life satisfying, and have no desire ever to rerum 10 Brazil. I believe such Brazilians form a rather small minority, but I do wish 10 acknowledge their existence. Similarly, as I have noted, some Japanese - bUl not 11I:ll I1l:lny - do l:lke a strong interest in Brazil and Brazilians.

f

t

I ~

I f

I

I lhe Bisa-in-town, not the Bisa-in-the-countryside. The Eisa mcn of Luanshya created a dance. which they called the kale/a d?.nce. The kalela dance was a novel urban cultural form, performed publicly OJ) Sunday afternoons before a tribally mixed audience, that celebrated i-

all insistent Bisa identity within a rnultiethnic universe. The dancers.

t i t "_..I ._~ A_...........nMm"nc: P()rto AIC1ITe. ana 3, n. 5, p. 181·203. jurho de H197' '"

~()1 Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan

in the Clobo village. The sale oft.rademark Brazilian products further reinfc>rces the connection. Zoomp jeans, Senzala coITee, Sonho de Vtilsti bonbons, Flamengo pennants, Mamonas CDs, perfumes made frolll Amazonian flowers ... In a single outing to 51, if you wish, you can feed, clothe, scent, and surround yourselfwith no end ofparaphenltili;1 that speak eloquently and forcefully of Brazil.

51 's very name is a brilliant choice. Instantly recognizable LO a Brazilian, antithetical to the world ofwork and scrious pursuits, "51" serves as a concise code for povo and bairn>; for evenings at the botequim; for night.s filled with confessions, complaints, belly laughs, and nonsense; for t.he sound or samba at dawn; for the dangers, uncertainties, and pleasures of t.he Brazilian streets. And whar could be more meaningless to a Japanese t.han these two digits, which stand for a product so significant in Brazil and so unknown in Japan? From its name t.o its food and drink to its social ambience, Rest.aurante 51 presents itselfas an open secret, inviting those 'who know and mystifying those who don't, It has the air of a slightly malicious joke - a wry Brazilian jest, a species of revenge - perpetrated on the OSll arcade. on the country itself, which so often bewilders Brazilians with forbidding Chinesc characters, complicat.ed etiquctte, unidentifiahle foods, and

unfathomable rules. An authentically Brazilian place in an alicn environmcnt, 51

revels in its Brazilianness, thereby delivering a paradoxicfij message ­ tlIat one is nol ill Brazil, for Brazil itself is never so overtly, intensely Brazilian. Dona Lica's uses no cunning name, no green-ancl-yellow sign, no posters ofSugarloaf. It peddles no soccerjerseys, no perfumc. no raw meat, no newspapers, no videotapes. The Southern Cross hangs in the sky above Dona Lica's, not in the plastic rcplica of?. n?.g suspended in a wintry arcade. Dona Lica's is clown-deep Brazilifil1. Brazilian somewhere below the threshold of awareness.

In contrast, 51 's displaced Brazilians consume displaced food and displaced goods. Mitchell's study of Copperbelt ethnicity (1056) once ag?.in comes t.o mind. The Brazilians who frequent 5 I resemble

~()~ Daniel T. Linger

immaculately groomed laborers smar;tly attired in European dress, moved in a ci rde, singing the praises of their own group and lampooning others. For Bisa-in-the-countryside, the kalela dance, whose symbolic language was formulated in an ethnically fractured mining town, would have lacked sense. In short, tribal idenl.ity was not an issue, or was a very different sort of issue, in the rural areas.

Though one would not want to press the analogy t.oo far, then~ <HC suggestive parallels between such earlier urban migrations and current transnational movemenl.s~ Colonial Luanshya elicited a shih in Bisa identity, which Bisa workers rebuilt at the new urban ethnic frontiers through innovations in expressive culture. Similarly, Braziliall workers in industrial Japan, having ventured far from home in more W(iys than one, find themselves entangled in transnational social relarions thar bring their Brazilianness to the skin. In seeking to cope with and grasp this ullScttling condition, they gravitate to restaurallles brasileiros. There are restaurants in Brazil, but no restaurantcs brasileiros. The laller constitute a Brazilian response to life in Japan. There is ethnic pride, trumpeted through colors, banners, and language: there is a hint of the carnivalesque in 51 's disorder, frayed edges, and air of artful complicity; there is something of a debochc ill its assertive difference; there is much saudade, everywhere at 51. If 51 is a place of relaxed Brazilian-style encounter, it is also a place of intense longing, of desire to touch what is absent. Isolation and loneliness are as integyal to 51 as are connection and sociability. Alheno. the renter of videos: Kawada and Neusa, the love-hotel couple; tlIe anonymous depressed man who never returned; Xoror6, the metal h'orker who couldn't stop talking; Sadao and the women of the nighl . these and others gravitate to 51 '5 green-and-yellow sign, seeking a link lO others perhaps like themselves.

At 51, aliens meet and attempt to convince each other that they are at home. But their very meeting here, at this lusophollc rendezvous in a shitamachi mall close by the Osu Kannon temple. simultaneously confirms that they are not. When all is said and done. commensality at 51 celebrates, with considerable spirit and undeno/lC'1 ofmelancholy, the state ofdisplacement that has become the enduring condition of so many Brazilians as the century draws to a confusillg close.

Brasil displaced: Restaurant 51 in Nagoya, Japan ~().'i

References

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