The largest population of Japanese outside Japan are in Liberdade, Sao Paolo, Brazil. I am going there in May on business (I am a researcher in protein chemistry). As I know more Japanese than Portuguese, I would like to stay in a hotel in this area and also go to the sento. Any tips on the area would be greatly appreciated. I want to stay in a safe, calm area in Sao Paolo since I will be on my own most of the time. I am 54, so I am not interested in nightlife. In August I went to Osaka, Japan and got some great tips from this forum for that trip. Thanks to all who answered then.
Terese, Uppsala, Sweden

I have never been to Brazil but the mother of my boy whose parents were both full Japanese was born in Londrina, Brazil. I believe it is near Sao Paolo. She moved to Japan when she was 16 (she is 27 now) and still does not speak Japanese. Her grandparents moved from Japan after the war. I worked at a factory in Shiga prefecture for three months and 2/3 of the workers were of the same generation Japanese/Brazilian yet could not speak any Japanese. I think most of the younger generation only speaks Portuguese.

Hi.
I've been there 2 times. I stayed in this hotel.
http://www.akasakahotel.com.br/

Sao Paulo is known for its high crime rate but this does not really applies to this part of the town.

The best thing of this hotel is that it is in front of liberdade's metro station. I'm not sure what you mean with sento. If meant "centro" that is the portuguese word for downtown.
If you take the train in liberdade station you can reach the "Av Paulista" in about ~15 minutes. Taking a taxi will pobably take longer.

The main streen of Liberdad is not "Av Liberdade". It is "Rua Galvao Bueno". "Av Liberdade" is where the cars are. "Rua Galvao Bueno" is where the japanese, korean and chinese stores are.

If you like IGO (囲碁), I recommend traveling to "Ana Rosa" (10 mins by train), visit nihon kiin Brasil and send my regards to Yoshitake sensei. Ah, pretty much everyone in nihon kiin will speak better japanese than portuguese.

Ah, here is the relevant google map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=ja&client...sults&cd=1


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Ah, Londrina is about ~1h by plane from Sao Paulo. It's not really close.
Liberdade is a completely different place. Some of the stores there have staff that can't even speak portuguese.


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Btw, if you are really staying in Liberdade, ask to the hotel staff for the "Nandemoya" restaurant.
It is like a tipical brazilian restaurant (style of service), but with japanese food. That is, food is very cheap but still delicious.

mentat_kgs Wrote:I'm not sure what you mean with sento.

Probably public bath, Japanese style.

Well, I thought of 銭湯 too, but simply there aren't any in that region.

Brasil sits far away from any tectonic intersection, so there is very little volcanic activity. Only a select few places have "aguas termais" (one is ~30kms from where I live, btw). And they are not like in japan. There are pools built to hold the water.

Public bathing facilities do not fit well in our culture. First, it can get very hot here. Also, there are rivers everywhere, so water here is cheap. Every body had a bathroom in their own house since ancient times. So its natural for us to take shower 2 or even 3 times a day, often in cold water.

Btw, In some of the Brazilian accents, "centro" is pronounced more like "centu" or even "cent".