As Brazil commemorates 118 years of Japanese immigration on June 18, public attention will once again focus on one of the most visible legacies of the Nikkei community: its contribution to Brazilian agriculture.

Yet beyond the farms and agricultural cooperatives that have become synonymous with Japanese immigration, another story deserves greater recognition. It is unfolding along Brazil’s coasts, estuaries and fishing communities, where generations of Japanese immigrants and their descendants have helped shape local approaches to environmental stewardship.

Today, Brazil is home to approximately 2.5 million people of Japanese descent, the largest Nikkei population outside Japan. While the history of Japanese agricultural settlement is well documented, the environmental contributions of Japanese-descendant artisanal fishing........

© The Japan Times