The Industrialization of Brazil and Japan’s Postwar Emigration Policy: Why Did Japan’s Emigration Agencies Send Engineers and Technicians to Brazil?

In postwar era, agricultural migration was initially the dominant form of migration under Japan’s emigration policy to Brazil. However, industrial migration also existed under Japan’s emigration policy to Brazil from 1961 to 1982, which targeted skilled technicians and engineers. Through this program, more than 3,000 Japanese technical workers migrated to Brazil, primarily to the Greater São Paulo metropolitan area. This was a noteworthy phenomenon because it coincided with Japan’s period of rapid economic growth, when skilled labor was short supply in Japan’s domestic labor market.

Why, then, did Japan’s migration authorities promote the emigration of technicians who were also high in demand within Japan? First, Japan’s business community and multinational corporations actively supported industrial migration to Brazil. During the so-called “Brazil boom” in Japan, business leaders began advocating the sending of technicians to Brazil. As small and medium-sized Japanese firms expanded into Brazil, efforts emerged within the business sector to facilitate the migration of skilled workers. The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry became involved in receiving and supporting industrial migrants in Brazil. Japanese companies operating there also recruited Japanese industrial migrants for local employment.

Political factors within Japan also played an important role. Some members of the National Diet initially promoted industrial migration as a solution to population pressures and later as a means of strengthening international relations. In addition, the Japanese government redefined migration policy, shifting its emphasis from population control to international cooperation. Because of declining migration numbers, policymakers began to perceive industrial migration as a promising alternative.

Furthermore, Brazil’s rapid industrialization under the Juscelino Kubitschek administration facilitated the inflow of foreign investment, which generated rapid economic growth and created a serious shortage of skilled technical personnel. As Brazilian companies repeatedly requested technicians from Japan, the interests of both countries converged, leading to the institutionalization of industrial migration from Japan to Brazil as an official migration program.