The governor of the Japanese province of Gifu, Hajime Furuta, informed on Monday (16) to Deputies Walter Ihoshi (DEM-SP) and William Woo (PSDB-SP) that its local government will help Brazilians who have been dismissed since the beginning of the global financial crisis to come back to Brazil. Ihoshi and Woo, respectively the president and the vice-president of the Parliamentary Group Brazil-Japan, made an official visit to that country, which ended on Friday (18).

According to Furuta, the help to Brazilian dekaseguis will come in the shape of a streamlined loan for the purchase of airplane tickets. The requirement of a guarantor and the collection of boarding fees will be waived, and the travelers will have a three-month term to pay for the tickets. Furuta asked the deputies’ support for the adoption of a similar measure in Brazil.

Support measures
Since the worsening of the crisis, around 50,000 Brazilians of Japanese origin have already come back to Brazil. In order to get acquainted to the reality of the dekaseguis, Deputies Woo and Ihoshi met with representatives of the Japanese government and of the Brazilian community in Japan. Their objective was to discuss support measures to Brazilian immigrants dismissed as a result of the crisis, most of them or Japanese origin.

The province of Gifu, located in the Northern of Japan, has one of the largest Brazilian communities in that country. During the visit, the deputies got to know the first Brazilian school in that region.

Yesterday, Ihoshi and Woo met with the Prime-Minister of Japan, Taro Arso, and with the Minister of Promotion of Measure for Resident Aliens, Yuko Obuchi. They thanked for all efforts the Japanese government has been making to help Brazilian dekaseguis.

High-speed rail
At the meeting with representatives of Japanese government, the deputies manifested their support to the implementation in Brazil of a model of a Japanese high-speed rail (TAV). Known as the shinkansen, the Japanese TAV is one of the models being analyzed for the railway São Paulo-Campinas-Rio de Janeiro.

The Brazilian high-speed bullet train is one of the main items of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) and its implementation is being studied by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).

For Deputy Ihoshi, the Japanese train is safe and efficient. “In more than 40 years of operation, Japan has never recorded any accident or casualty”, said the congressman, after the meeting with the Minister of Transports, Kazuyoshi Kaneko.

From the newsroom
Editing - João Pitella Junior
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda