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Japanese dancers find samba salvation in quake tragedy

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I personally don't get the idea of Japanese people of non Brazilian descent (the Japanese who emigrated to Brazil to work in agriculture) that came back to Japan and repatriated themselves bringing with them some of the culture they assimilated with while abroad but for mainstream Japan to adopt foreign culture into the mainstream society dilutes Japanese culture.

They've adopted American culture quite a bit... that's also diluting Japanese culture, surely?

I do find it strange that Japan would adopt elements of Brazilian culture though - it couldn't be more different.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yonosuke! m/

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I admire Megumi's passion but staying in a favela?!

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It looks like so much fin, and she clearly loves it. Her mom channeling her sadness from the quake into the dance is a lovely story too. But it is this line that makes me go "huh?":

"At our house a door was damaged and would not open....a dark and sinking feeling washed over me."

Because of a door?! Bit of an emotional reaction, no? I could understand better if the dark and sinking feeling was related to the devastation and the many who lost their lives. Maybe its just translated badly?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It's nice that some people make a hobby out of something based in another culture but to bring it into your mainstream home culture is strange. I guess that sometimes when things are really bad like after the Kobe Hanshin earthquake disaster, people try to find some measure of peace by distracting themselves with activities that take them away to another place or time so that they do not have to dwell on the events at the present around them. Samba is cool, it's like Carnival in Trinidad (actually the Brazilians stole the concept because Trinidad's carnival goes back further in time) and is based on celebrations practiced by black slaves brought to the new world centuries ago by Spaniard and Portuguese traders. I personally don't get the idea of Japanese people of non Brazilian descent (the Japanese who emigrated to Brazil to work in agriculture) that came back to Japan and repatriated themselves bringing with them some of the culture they assimilated with while abroad but for mainstream Japan to adopt foreign culture into the mainstream society dilutes Japanese culture. But who am I to judge the Japanese culture, I am just an onlooker travelling through time and commenting on what I see like looking out the window of a Shinkansen watching the rapidly changing landscape.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

NHK did a really nice piece on her and her involvement in Samba last week. It's worth a look if you can access NHK's archives.

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A few years ago I got up close to some samba dancers at an international festival. I have never seen anything as beautiful and intricately made-up as their costumes.

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Japanese dancers find samba salvation in quake tragedy

This doesnt make sense.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

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