Nagoya, Japan - As the global recession hits Japan's export-driven economy, temporary workers at auto-parts and electronics plants have been among the first to lose their jobs with the 320,000 Brazilians living in Japan particularly vulnerable to the layoffs.
More than 800 Brazilians and their supporters took to the streets of the central Japanese city of Nagoya Sunday, raising their green and yellow national flags and calling for no more layoffs, secure employment and proper schooling for their children.
Paulo Kanashiro and Minoru Nishizawa, both Brazilians who have Japanese ancestry, brought their Brazilian co-workers from a Toyota subsidiary to the demonstration to demand from the Japanese government the same rights it guarantees Japanese workers.