Helping Brazilian People Living in Japan : Towards a Joint Proposal(Issues on Cross-Cultural Distance Education : Collaborative Research Outcomes and Open Workshops)

At the moment, there are around 270.000 Brazilian people living in Japan. The migratory movement from Brazil to Japan started in the decade of 80. Initially, the migrants came to Japan without their families. From the revision of the Japanese immigration law, in 1990, Japanese descendents up to the third generation (sansei), as well as their consorts, could come and work legally in Japan. In this paper we present initially general information about the dekassegui phenomenon, in relation to the migration of Japanese-Brazilians to Japan. Next, we report on the problems and difficulties experienced by the Brazilian people living in Japan, as they have been described in several sources. Then we mention several actions and initiatives directed to or motivated by the dekassegui movement: events, courses, associations, etc. Due to the importance of the Education theme in the context of the migration Brazil-Japan, a session has been dedicated to the problems related to the Education of the dekasseguis1 children. After reporting on the problems and difficulties, we discuss a proposal aiming at helping the dekasseguis with a view to give them conditions to fight for better working conditions, and also to provide some support related to the education of their children