The locked door is opened and we enter, and it's a little chilly. The electricity is off, but the sunlight from outside makes it bright enough. First, at the front, there is the school song and motto. On the right wall is a portrait of the school's first principal, Nobushige Tokiharu. To the left is the staff room. Although covered in dust, all of the teaching materials piled up still look like they could be used today. There are about six classrooms, one of which has a wooden floor that creaks in places when you walk on it. Various equipment has been left as it is, and you can almost hear the lively voices of the children there.
Former principal Mr. Narao Yamase said, "There are a lot of teaching materials in the old school building, so please come and see it once," and this tour of the old school building was made possible. Mr. Yamase told us about various things, such as what kind of teachers there were, how many students there were, and what activities were carried out, and we were able to get a glimpse of what the school was like when it was actively run.
In 1923, Dionisio Bentes, who became the governor of the state of Pará, approached the then Japanese ambassador to Brazil, Tatsuke Shichita, about accepting Japanese immigrants for development purposes, and when Tatsuke accepted, preparations for Japanese settlement in the Amazon began. The number of settlers gradually increased, but at the end of the war, only two families remained in Castanhár. However, after the first postwar settlement began in 1955, the number began to increase again little by little.
After the Pan-Amazonian Japanese-Brazilian Association was founded in Belém in 1958, the Castanhár Japanese-Brazilian Cultural Association was established as a branch in the suburbs in 1966. The number of members, which was only 16, grew to 104 by 1974. When the association was first established, it only held athletic meets, but gradually the number of activities, such as various seminars and agricultural product fairs, increased, and the operation of a Japanese language school was one of these.
In 1970, Tokiharu Nobushige, a director of the Castanhár Japan-Brazil Cultural Association, opened a Japanese language school for the children of the colonia. The school, which started with two teachers and 34 students, grew year by year, and opened a branch school in 1974, and another school the following year, with the number of students exceeding 100. The management body also moved from the Japan-Brazil Cultural Association to an independent committee, and the school became more active, securing educational materials and expanding classrooms. Japanese language education was started by first-generation parents to improve their children's Japanese language skills, but in 1977, second-generation students became involved in the management of the school as assistants. With the expectation that the number of first-generation teachers would eventually decrease and that second-generation students would take the lead in teaching, the school began to actively participate in various teacher training sessions.
In the 1980s, the school's operations became more active, the school had more financial security, teachers were paid, and the pass rate for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test was over 90%, leaving behind solid results in the numbers. Although the children were of Japanese descent, the parents hoped that they would live respectably in Brazilian society because they were born in Brazil, but they also naturally wanted them to learn Japanese because they were Japanese. However, this was not something they could force, so they held various events such as learning presentations in addition to classes so that the children would become interested in Japanese culture, including the Japanese language, and made learning as enjoyable as possible. They had a strong desire to raise second and third generation children who would carry the future of the Japanese community on their shoulders.
The boom in migrant workers in Japan that occurred from the late 1980s to the early 2000s caused a decline in the number of Japanese language learners throughout northern Brazil, and Castanyar was no exception. Nevertheless, the school continued to cater to the needs of the children as long as they continued to come, but various circumstances forced it to close temporarily. However, a few years ago, the second generation who had studied at the school when it was at its most active wanted their own children to learn Japanese, so the school was reopened, and now about 20 students are taught by two teachers from a neighboring town and one JICA volunteer.
This school is where Mr. Yamase, the director of the Hokuhaku Japanese Language Promotion Center where I was assigned, taught. Not only that, but one of the students I taught in Japan was the grandson of the first principal, Mr. Nobushige, and it is also the alma mater of one of the JICA Brazil staff members, which is why this school feels special to me. Like other schools, it has a long history and has strong ties with the Japanese community, making it an important school in Hokuhaku. I would like to continue to support it with care and consideration.
[Reference books]
"20 Year History of the Japan-Brazil Cultural Association" 1986 (Castanha Japan-Brazil Cultural Association)
"50 Years of Pioneering Progress" 1975 (Castanhale Branch of the Pan-Amazonian Japanese-Brazilian Association)
© 2016 Asako Sakamoto
