Mayume's Life History: Between Japan and Brazil

Although Mayume is from mixing ancestry, her mother is non-Japanese Brazilian and her father is Japanese-Brazilian, her appearance is similar to a girl from a small town in Japan. At the time of the interview she was eighteen years old. When she was at four years of age, and her brother one year, her mother decided to join her father who was already working in Japan. She attended kindergarten, although she didn't understand what they were talking. However, she adjusted very well to the Japanese school and life style. But, six years ago her mother decided to return to Bastos, Brazil, to see her parents. That's when Mayume faced a difficult adjustment: "I wanted to come here to see the town. I didn't want to remain. I wanted to go back, I wanted until today... because there is enjoyable at least for myself". She compares the Japanese town where she lived to Bastos: "Japan is a developed society, it looks like Sao Paulo, and I thought that here it would be the same. When I arrived here, I said: that's too much land!" Mayume faced a lot of problems at the Brazilian school. She compares the organization and the cleanness of the Japanese public school, the respect from her classmates toward their teacher, and among themselves to the Brazilian public school and its poor building, lack of respect toward the teacher, lack of discipline. Mayume's dream is to return to Japan and attend college there.

Mayume and other children face ruptures in their socialization process due to their parents' labor migration. However, children as social agents can struggle to change their lives and make the decisions that sound better to them.