Ogihara
At the Ogihara factory, in the neighboring
city of Ota, we toured the area where car-body dies are made. This is the
exterior metal form of the car. At the metal pressing station we had a few
minutes to speak to an older Nikkei-Brazilian who has been with the
company for over ten years. He was the manager for that particular station
and the majority of his employees were Brazilian. One intriguing piece of
information that we received from him is that opportunities for upward mobility
within the factory are available for Nikkei-Brazilians as they are
for Japanese, provided that the Brazilian can speak Japanese. However, Nikkei-Brazilians
do not have opportunities for promotion in every factory. For example, at
the Naganuma
factory, we learned from our tour guide, that Nikkei-Brazilians have
absolutely no chance for upward mobility within the company. He explained
that his is because they are short term contract workers or temporary workers.
Nevertheless, some of the workers we spoke with have worked in the company
for up to three years. One Brazilian woman has been with the company for
nine years.
Although some Japanese and some Brazilians both claim that there are equal opportunities for Nikkei-Brazilians as there are for Japanese, this feeling is not shared by everyone. There exists a considerable amount of conflict and misunderstanding between Brazilian workers and Japanese bosses. Among the Japanese, Brazilians have the stereotype for being lazy and sometimes disrespectful. The Japanese claim that they cannot trust Brazilians to show up to work and Brazilians are always late. Brazilians, on the other hand, contend that the Japanese discriminate on the job by making assumptions that the Brazilians cannot perform certain kinds of jobs. They argue that their Japanese bosses give Japanese workers better treatment. The situation at Ogihara, where a Nikkei-Brazilian is in a position of authority, is rather unusual.
Personal account of a factory worker