Japanese immigration in Brazil

On June 18, 1908, the Japanese ship Kasato Maru arrived in Santos (SP) with the first group of Japanese immigrants. One hundred years later, Brazil and Japan celebrate the 100th anniversary of their arrival with a series of cultural events in several cities and the visit of prince Naruhito. Brazil has the biggest Japanese community outside Japan (more than 1,5 million) and their influence is particularly strong in the state of São Paulo.

To celebrate the occasion, here is a short article about the immigrants and an interesting video teaching you how to eat sushi (scroll down the page if you would like to read the transcript too).

Then listen to Mari comparing life in New York and Tokyo and Clare comparing Japan and England. And finally, why not try a quiz about the country?

Brazil in the news: Stem-cell research approved

The Brazilian Supreme Court has given scientists the green light to carry out stem-cell research using frozen embryos. Read all about it in this New York Times article.

More about stem-cell research:

Stem-cell research in the US

Brazil in the news: Brazilian cachaça

Until fairly recently, the Brazilian cachaça used to be the drink that local people would order in bars when they couldn't afford any other kind of drink. Not any more. Aged cachaças produced in small scale are now a sophisticated product and distillers all over the country are exporting them to Europe and the U.S.. The states of Minas Gerais and Pernambuco have owned the reputation of making the best cachaça in the country but you can find thousands of different brands - many of excellent quality - anywhere you go.

Read all about that in this article published in The New York Times and then watch the video to learn how to prepare Brazil's most famous drink, the caipirinha. If you want to read the script, click on the link at the bottom of the box.



How To Make A Caipirinha Cocktail

A delicious festival

by Flávia J.

The 'Comida di Buteco' is back. The 9th edition of the famous gastronomic festival begins next Friday, 11th April, with 41 bars from different parts of the city participating. Like it happened in other years, bars are judged by customers and receive prizes for their food, quality of service, cold beer and cleaness.

There are also shows programed for the 31 days of the event and another edition of the 'Art in the Bathroom', with local artists exhibiting their paintings in the bathrooms of the bars. The 'Festa da Saideira', a big party to celebrate the end of the festival, will take place on 17th and 18th May.

This is a great time to visit Belo Horizonte and try the local traditional food of our 'botecos'!

Read also:

Comida di Buteco's official website (in Portuguese)
Belo Horizonte in the New York Times
What to do in Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte: young at 110

Brazil in the news: discovering Salvador

Salvador is one of the most fascinating Brazilian cities, and one of the country's favourite holiday destinations. Full of history and culture, the capital of Bahia was recently the subject of an interesting article published in the New York Times, focusing on some famous - and not so famous - tourist sights.

Brazil in the news: Carnival in Rio

Wherever you are in Brazil this week, it will be impossible to ignore the country's most famous celebration. More than 750 thousand tourists are spending Carnival in Rio de Janeiro this year and hundreds of thousands more are joining the party in cities like Salvador and Recife. Here is a BBC article about this year's samba schools parade. Click on 'watch' under the picture next to the text to watch a related video.

Click here to try an activity focusing on finding redundant information.

Brazil in the news: Tiradentes (MG)

The small town of Tiradentes, in Minas Gerais, used to be a very quiet place until about a decade ago, with its narrow cobblestone streets, colonial houses and baroque churches. It is still relatively peaceful most of the time but things change twice a year, when tourists from all over the country flock to the 18th century mining village for the International Film Festival in January and the International Culinary Festival in August.

New York Times' journalist Isabel Vincent visited Tiradentes last year; in this article, she gives us her impressions about the town and suggests what you can do in one of the best preserved and most historic places in South America.

Oscar Niemeyer: still modern at 100

by Aline S. / slideshow: Bernardo C.

The Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is celebrating his 100th birthday on December 15th. He is one of the most important architects of all time. There are examples of his work in many cities in Brazil and around the world and you can see some of them in the slideshow. He was responsible for the design of most public buildings during the construction of Brasília, the capital of the country; but before that, in the 1940s, he designed the church of Sao Francisco, the casino and the Yacht Club - among others - in Belo Horizonte. His most recent work, which is going to be constructed soon, is the administrative complex of the state of Minas Gerais.

Brazil in the news: interview with film director José Padilha (Tropa de Elite)

“If you publish a scientific paper it is very hard to start a nationwide debate about something. If you do this in a movie, you can start a debate." And initiate a debate was what Brazilian director José Padilha intended when he made Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad), a film that discusses urban violence and drug traficking from a police officer's point of view. It's the most talked about movie in Brazil since City of God (2002) and it is now on its way to international film festivals, opening in the US and Europe next year. You can read Padilha's recent interview in the New York Times clicking here.

Brazil in the news: Florianópolis

Looking for a place to go in the summer? Benji Lanyado, from the British newspaper the Guardian, explores the beauty and relaxed atmosphere of Florianópolis, in the south of Brazil, a city that boasts fantastic beaches and incredibly friendly people!

Brazil in the news: BH in the NYTimes

Straight from California, Ronaldo sends us the link to an interesting article published in the New York Times about the 12,000+ bars you can go to in Belo Horizonte. From the greasy-spoon spots to the very sophisticated pubs, tourists are sure to find one to match their taste!

Of course it would be impossible to come up with a comprehensive list of the best bars in town, so how about lending them a hand and posting here some suggestions of the "not-to-be-missed" places to go? You can use the comments link or send us your post! platypusmail@gmail.com

Check also: Comida de Buteco Food Festival

Belo Horizonte: young at 110

Delicious 'brigadeiro'!

by Ariane

This is my favorite recipe. It's a recipe easy to do and everybody will love!!! I learn trying do to a recipe different for the weekend.


Recipe for Brigadeiro

Ingredients

-1 can of condensed milk
-1 tablespoon of butter
-1 tablespoon of chocolate powder

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a pan. Heat it until the mixtire is thick but don't forget to mix with a wooden spoon while you heat it. turn off and pour the misture in a bowl and wait until it cools. When it's ready, you can break maisena (a kind of cornflour) cookies in small pieces and sprinkle them in the mixture and mix. It will taste like "palha italiana". Or you can add grated coconut. You will love!!!

A tale of two cities: Riverside (USA) and BH (Brazil)

by Marcia and Ronaldo

Hi Blog,
We are originally from Belo Horizonte (BH), MG, in Brazil, where we have lived most of our lives. However, since September 2006 we are living in Riverside, CA, in the USA (click on map), and so far it has been a great experience. We would like to share with you a few differences between these two places.

Believe us or not (if you are from BH), public transportation service in BH is better than in Riverside. Getting around by bus in BH you can go to more places than you could go in Riverside. This is like that because cars in the USA are relatively cheaper than cars in BH, then fewer people need buses. But, as expected, buses in Riverside are in better condition than in BH.

It is summer season in Riverside and temperatures may reach 40 degrees celsius everyday and you definitely want an air conditioning. Contrarily, in BH we would barely need one. Moreover, Riverside is a semi-desert, it is sunny the whole year and much drier than BH. But notice that Riverside is colder than BH during the winter and you cannot live without heating. Riverside has almost no rain, differently from BH where you can get soaked during December and January. As you can now imagine, temperature in Riverside varies much more than in BH.

Finally, we would like to talk about ethnic groups you find in these cities. In BH we mostly find descendants of immigrants from Africa, Portugal, Spain and Italy. On the other hand, in Riverside you find many native Asians and Middle-Easterns and for that reason it is not rare to listen to many types of English accents.

Obviously, there is much more to say about some differences we found between these two cities. The good thing is that these characteristics make each city a culturally unique place to live.

Marcia and Ronaldo.

Forró: from Brazil to New York

Five Brazilians and one American meet in New York. The result? Forró in the Dark, a band that mixes traditional forró music from northeastern Brazil with more 'urban' elements. The group has just released a new album, Bonfires of Sao Joao, with Bebel Gilberto, David Byrne and Miho Hatori as guests. Here is an article and an interview with the members of Forro in the Dark, and a sample of their latest work (Riacho do Navio and, believe it or not, the classic Asa Branca in English...)

Brazil in the news: plane crashes at SP airport

Less than a year after the biggest aviation disaster in Brazilian history killed 153 passengers in the Amazon region, another plane has crashed, this time in a crowded downtown area in the city of São Paulo. The airbus skidded off the runway right after landing at Congonhas airport and hit a building, immediately bursting into flames and killing all 186 passengers and crew members on board, and critically injuring a number of people on the road. If you have been following the story, here's the news on CNN and an updated article by the Associated Press (with video).

Brazil in the news: AIDS

President Lula has given the green light to let Brazil manufacture a generic AIDS drug whose patent originally belongs to the American pharmaceutical industry Merck & Co. The "compulsory license" allows the country to buy or produce the AIDS drug efavirenz at a smaller price, and although there had been threats to bypass drug patents before, this is the first time it has been done here.

Read more about the issue in this article published in the New York Times. What do you think? Is the Brazilian government right in breaking Merck's patent?

Chapada dos Veadeiros (Goiás)

by Fernanda W.

If you enjoy ecotourism and trekking, don’t miss Chapada dos Veadeiros (GO). Over 200 km from Brasilia, the region has the largest concentration of quartzo crystal in the world and also a wonderful landscape, including high waterfalls, natural swimming pools (with chilly waters, around 17°C) and hot spring water. You may spot emus, toucans, woodpecks, wolves and if you’re lucky, leopards and deers.

Inns and restaurants are simple but pretty decent. The main town that gives access to most of the private properties in which the waterfalls are located is Alto Paraíso de Goiás (5,000 inh.). Near the National Park is São Jorge, a small village (600 inh.) which is loved by alternative tribes.

Here is a sample of what you can see there.