Every year, the traditional district of Tokyo known as Asakusa gets treated to the very untraditional sight of samba girls dancing down the street in front of Senso-ji, one of Tokyo’s most dignified Buddhist temples. A kaleidoscopic swirl of color fills the street as musicians, dancers, and floats move to the sound of the samba beat rather than a somber Buddhist dirge.

Asakusa’s Samba Carnival began in 1981. The mayor of the district at that time wanted the winners of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival to put on a display in Asakusa. Today the festival has become a four-hour long parade of samba groups from all over Japan.

Close to 4000 people participate in the Samba parade. Majority of the participants are Japanese but there are also a number of foreigners who participate most notably Brazilians and Japanese Brazilians.

Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. Migration to Brazil started in the early 20th Century with farmers looking for better conditions abroad. A number of them intermarried with Brazilians and converted to Catholicism. Japanese immigrants introduced judo which has became Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

In the 1980s during the Bubble Economy many Japanese Brazilians migrated to Japan. There are now over 275,000 “Dekasegi” – Japanese Brazilians – living in Japan. The Asakusa Samba Carnival underscores the cultural bond between these two countries.

Asakusa, Japan.

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