Children
As we walked through the doors of the Escolinha
da Professora Rebecca, we were new, exciting, and curious
to them as they were to us. We felt like instant movie stars as
the children asked for our autographs near the end of our visit.
By the end of this
week we were no longer researchers but friends of the Nikkei-
Brazilian children. Our curiosity about each other permitted us
to speak casually about our lives, giving us a peek into their
lives and identities as Nikkei-Brazilian children.
The Nikkei-Brazilian children's identity comes from being
a unique person or group with distinct, specific and defining
characteristics. 
Language is one of
these distinctive characteristics that define the Nikkei-
Brazilian children's identity in Japan. "Without language,
culture-the most distinctive hallmark of human beings-is impossible"
(Gwynne & Hicks, pg. 121). The Nikkei- Brazilian children
recounted that they were unified by language and that Portuguese
created a community. Through language, the children formed their
customs, their relationships and their identity.
Despite being linked by Portuguese, among the children in Oizumi
there are two distinct groups; those who were raised
in Brazil and have difficulty speaking Japanese and those
that were raised in Japan and have
mastered both languages. The lives of the children in these two
groups are at opposite extremes. Through their language proficiency
or lack thereof, Nikkei- Brazilian children find identity.
Through our findings in schools, publications, observations and
interviews with children, ranging from 6-14 years old, we are
able to attain a better understanding of the Nikkei- Brazilian
children. We explore issues that both groups encounter in the
sections below.
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