How to Experience Japanese Culture in São Paulo
Prompted by a coffee boom in the late 1800s, Japanese immigrants first entered Brazil to work in the country’s coffee plantations along its verdant southeastern stretches. Today, the lineage of this influx is most represented in the country’s epicenter, São Paulo, which now hosts the largest Japanese population outside of Japan hovering at around 1.6 million. On an outing with gyde Maisa, you’ll be privy to the city’s most interesting cross-cultural offerings where Japanese art, culture, and fashion are on full display.
Stroll Lantern-Lined Alleyways
São Paulo’s Japanese culture is most evident in Liberdade, where a red torii arch marks the neighborhood’s entrance. Cherry blossom trees and suzuran-to, or Japanese-inspired lanterns, line alleyways framed by traditional grocery stores, tea shops, and markets. Tucked within the neighborhood’s bustling thoroughfares are authentic Japanese outposts like ramen shops and stalls for yakisoba noodles—plus dedicated storefronts specializing in tofu and manjū, round steamed cakes made from wheat or rice and filled with red azuki bean paste. Every Sunday, Liberdade comes alive with a convivial street fair known as Feira da Liberdade, where vendors line the streets to sell kimonos, cookware and imported Asian delicacies.
Liberdade; South of Praça da Sé, São Paulo
View Ancient Traditions and Innovative Perspectives
When Japan House opened in São Paulo on Avenida Paulista in 2017, it made a statement with its minimalistic brise-soleil shading. Made from hinoki, Japanese cypress, and formed into minimalistic wooden blades, the entrance leads visitors into a three-story cultural center operating as the flagship initiative of the Japanese government to promote the country’s art and culture worldwide. The space is replete with a ground-floor exhibition space set adjacent to a café, library, and gift shop hawking Japanese literature and snacks. Upstairs is the main exhibition hall and lecture theaters, while the top-floor hosts Aizomê, where chef Telma Shiraishi, offers settos, set menus featuring a main dish with miso soup and steamed rice.
Japan House; Avenue Paulista, 52
Shop Minimalist Japanese-Brazilian Fashion in Vila Madalena
As one of São Paulo's most beloved fashion designers, Fernanda Yamamoto harnesses her Japanese-Brazilian roots to design her line of minimalist, geometric pieces that reflect her cross-cultural ancestry. Though her clothing is often inspired by Japanese motifs—like Japanese housewives of the 1970s—her line reflects Brazilian sensuality, with all fabrics sourced from the country. Visitors to bohemian Vila Madalena can visit her flagship boutique, an industrial, concrete-lined outpost with racks hawking the designer’s elegant, free-form pieces that combine manual knitting with sculptural silhouettes and flowing fabrics, balancing folklore patterns and minimalist design.
Fernando Yamamoto; Rua Aspicuelta, 441
