Brazilian Independence Bicentennial Commemorative Event, Lecture by Oscar Nakasato

July 6, 2022

On Thursday, June 30, 2022, Oscar Nakasato, a third-generation Brazilian writer of Japanese descent, spoke at the Agora Global Prometheus Hall on the “Hybrid Identity of Japanese Americans in Brazil.”

The year 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s independence and the lecture was a part of a project commemorating the event. Another project, coordinated by TUFS Professor Chika Takeda, and promoted by the Embassy of Brazil in partnership with the publisher Suiseisha, has been the publication of Brazilian literature. Five books will be published this year, and one of them is the novel Nihonjin (translated by Chika Takeda) written by Oscar Nakasato. To commemorate the publication of the Japanese translation, Dr. Nakasato, was invited to visit Japan at the end of June with a grant from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and this made the lecture possible.

The lecture was given in Portuguese with interpretation into Japanese. The event was attended by students studying Latin American regions and Portuguese language at TUFS, as well as many students, faculty, and staff from outside the university.

Prior to the lecture, Dr. Oscar Nakasato, Ms. Tatiana Teixeira, Secretary for Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Brazil in Japan, Ms. Yuko Isomura, Cultural Attaché at the Embassy, and Mr. Rihito Yamazaki, translator and interpreter, paid a courtesy call on President Kayoko Hayashi. Also present at the meeting were Professor/Vice President Chika Takeda and Specially Appointed Lecturer Aline Pereira Gonçalves who teaches Portuguese at TUFS.