2021 Activity Report
March Activity Report
31 March 2022
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
This month, UERJ established a new agreement with a very special Japanese Institution: the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Rector of UERJ, Prof. Ricardo Lodi Ribeiro, and the Chief Representative of JICA's Brazil Office, Mr. Masayuki Eguchi, signed the document during a ceremony held on the 10th, in the auditorium of the University's Rectory.
UERJ Central Administration representatives; the Consul General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro, Ken Hashiba; the Consul Rina Ishikawa; UERJ Professors, among other participants were present at the event, which was coordinated by the Director of the International Cooperation Office at UERJ, Professor Cristina Russi. Prof. Masato Ninomiya, Ph.D. also participated at the event remotely.
The agreement inaugurated the JICA Chair, specialized in Japanese Studies, which will be established in the Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Program in Law (PPGD) with the collaboration of the Japanese Department of the Institute of Letters. The Chair's general objectives are to foster human resources that contribute to the future of Brazilian society and to the international community, and to develop the area of ??Japanese studies at UERJ, in order to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Japan and Brazil.
Through the JICA Chair, both Institutions will coordinate the reception of Japanese scholars, students and professors who will offer courses at UERJ, as well as the selection of students, researchers and professors who will be sent to Japan to develop research, through the Mid-Career Program implemented by JICA. It will also be possible to carry out internships in the JICA Brazil offices and in JICA's Technical Cooperation projects.
In addition, cooperation will be promoted for the holding of symposia, literary and technical translations, publications and academic research related to the area of ??Japanese studies.
Below are some images from the signing ceremony:
From the left to the right, the UERJ Vice-Rector Prof. Mário Sérgio Carneiro, Mr. Masayuki Eguchi, the Rector Prof. Ricardo Lodi Ribeiro and the Consul General Ken Hashiba
On the left, Prof. Cristina Russi, Ph.D., Director of the International Cooperation Office at UERJ opening the ceremony
Some of the UERJ Central Administration Representatives, JICA Representatives, Consuls and Professors who were present at the event
February Activity Report
28 February 2022
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
On February 17, the Rio de Janeiro State Education Secretariat inaugurated the “José Maria de Brito Brazil–Japan State School”, formerly known as “José Maria de Brito State School”. The school is the result of a partnership of the Education Secretariat, the General Consulate of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and the Rio de Janeiro State University. It is an intercultural project, with an emphasis not only on the Japanese language, but on Japanese culture.
The school is located in the city of Itaguaí in the Rio de Janeiro State. The choice of location was not without reason. Around 1940, a large group of Japanese immigrants arrived in Itaguaí and together they helped to found the Japanese colony in the region. The colony initially had agriculture as its main economic activity, especially tomato planting, which gave good results thanks to the fertility of the soil and teamwork. In a second moment, due to the economy issues, many of the settlers of Itaguaí left agriculture and became traders. Until today Itaguaí is the center of the largest Japanese colony in the Rio de Janeiro State and the second one in the country.
Regarding the newly inaugurated school in Itaguaí, it became the first unit with an intercultural concept that offers full-time high school education with an emphasis on Japanese culture. Among the objectives of this initiative, the preservation of the history of the Japanese colony in the region stands out, as well as a better training of young people for life in an increasingly globalized world in which knowledge of different languages ??and cultures is valued.
The Consul General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro, Ken Hashiba, the Cultural Consul, Rina Ishikawa, and the Rio de Janeiro Government Undersecretary for Planning and Strategic Actions, Ricardo Piquet, participated in the opening ceremony and spoke with the principal and students.
Below are some ceremony images:
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian
Brazil-Japan panel at José Maria de Brito Brazil–Japan State School
January Activity Report
31 January 2022
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
On January 20, the day of S?o Sebasti?o (Saint Sebastian), patron saint of the city of Rio de Janeiro, is celebrated in various parts of the city.
According to Catholic belief, Saint Sebastian was killed at the age of 30 by the Roman Empire on January 20, 286 for defending Christians. It is said that he was martyred twice: the first time with arrows, which he survived and, after recovering, was beaten to death, by order of the Roman emperor of the time, when confronting him.
Eternalized by ancient hagiological reports, it soon came to be venerated by Christians. It is believed that populations got rid of epidemics at least three times thanks to his intercession. The most common representation of the Saint is the image of his arrowed body, with red and white as predominant colors. Red symbolizes martyrdom and white, peace.
He became the city's patron saint when, on January 20, 1567, the Portuguese defeated the French in an attempted invasion of Rio.
There are several tributes to the Saint in the city of Rio de Janeiro, such as a statue in Luís de Cam?es Square, in Glória neighborhood; the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, located in the City Center; the famous Sanctuary Basílica de S?o Sebasti?o dos Capuchinhos in the Tijuca district; several churches and chapels dedicated to the Saint in neighborhoods such as Vargem Grande, Taquara, Ilha do Governador and Quintino, and some avenues and streets in different neighborhoods named after the Saint. By the way, the city itself is also known as the city of S?o Sebasti?o do Rio de Janeiro.
On the day of the Saint, masses are held throughout the day in several churches, there is a procession in which the image of the Saint is carried through the streets of Tijuca, and the S?o Sebasti?o Race at Aterro do Flamengo takes place, a traditional event that celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, with races in the 5 or 10 kilometers.
Below are some images that refer to S?o Sebasti?o.
Source: diariodorio.com
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian
Source: Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian
Announcement of Masses on Saint Sebastian's Day at the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Cathedral
Photo by Santuário Basílica de S?o Sebasti?o - Frades Capuchinhos Rio de Janeiro
Sanctuary Basilica de S?o Sebasti?o dos Capuchinhos
Photo by Santuário Basílica de S?o Sebasti?o - Frades Capuchinhos Rio de Janeiro
Solemn mass on January 20, 2016 at Sanctuary Basilica de S?o Sebasti?o dos Capuchinhos
December Activity Report
31 December 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
Closing the year, we had a last event organized by the UERJ Institute of Letter, entitled “The III ENPPEC – CEALD (Collaboration, Learning Strategies and Digital Literacy) Research and Extension Project Meeting & V LICOM – UERJ Languages for the Community”, in which the Japanese Department had an active collaboration. The event was held from December 8 to 10, through the Institute YouTube Channel.
The UERJ Japanese Culture Professor Elisa Massae Sasaki, Ph.D, along with three UERJ students participated in the event as speakers.
Prof. Elisa talked about her extension program “Topics on Japanese Culture” that through the years has been spreading the Japanese culture in Rio de Janeiro, encouraging cross-culturality and building bridges between Brazil and Japan. An overview of the past events and activities promoted through the extension program was presented, as well as plans for the future such as collecting and registering the experience and memories of the Brazilian exchange students who studied in Japan. In addition, Prof. Elisa talked about the exchange programs, the creation of the Global Japan Office at UERJ, the Japanese students who studied at UERJ and the Brazilian ones who studied in Japan.
In another round table, the UERJ student and Japanese Department intern, Bruna dos Santos Faria, presented the academic project in which she is involved. She has been giving remote Japanese language and culture lessons to high school students at Colégio de Aplica??o da UERJ for two years under the guidance of the UERJ Japanese Language Professor Elisa Figueira de Souza Corrêa, Ph.D. Bruna talked about general characteristics of the course, her teaching experience, the methodology applied in the classroom and the results of the course.
Two other UERJ students and Japanese Department interns, ?sis Yoshimi Togue and Guilherme de Castro Henriques Vieira, presented the activities held in the Japanese language and culture courses given at Colégio Pedro II and Colégio Militar do Rio de Janeiro, two highly regarded public schools in the city. These courses are also supervised by Prof. Elisa Figueira.
Below are some images of the event presented by Prof. Elisa Massae and the undergraduate Japanese language students.
November Activity Report
30 November 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
This month, the closing ceremony of the Japanese language and culture courses offered at Colégio Militar do Rio de Janeiro and Colégio Pedro II took place. Both institutions are renowned public schools in the city.
The courses, coordinated by the UERJ Professor Elisa Figueira de Souza Corrêa, were given by Professor Mari Fujiwara, with the assistance of the interns Guilherme de Castro Henriques Vieira, Bruna dos Santos Faria and Isis Yoshimi Togue. They had also counted on the support of The Japan Foundation of S?o Paulo, the Global Japan Office and the schools involved in the project.
The classes were offered remotely because of the pandemic and were aimed at high school students. About a hundred students participated in the courses, from April to November, divided into nine classes.
For the closing session, the students formed groups and presented short stories or dialogues in Japanese, based on what they had learned during the course, through slides made in PowerPoint. The result was surprising due to the creativity of the stories and the ability to develop them in Japanese, despite the fact that they had studied the language only for a few months.
In 2022, new classes will be formed, continuing the project aiming to spread the learning of Japanese language and culture to Brazilian students in high school.
Below are some images of the audience and presentations.
October Activity Report
31 October 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
Some of the holidays in Brazil are religious ones based on the Catholic tradition. This month, on the 12th, it is celebrated one of the most important among them. It is the national holiday in honor of Our Lady of Aparecida, Patroness of the country.
In S?o Paulo State, Aparecida City, not far from Rio de Janeiro, it was built the largest cathedral and second largest Catholic church in the world named Cathedral Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida, dedicated to the Saint. The Cathedral was visited by TUFS students in February 2020, during the Rio de Janeiro Summer Session 2020, a little before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Cathedral currently houses the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida that has the following singular story, although it can vary in details.
The statue was found in 1717 by three fishermen who were fishing on the Paraíba River, in S?o Paulo. The men were trying unsuccessfully to catch fishes. After some hours of hard work, when one of the fishermen was pulling the fishing net, the image of the Saint was hoisted, but without her head. Then, another fisherman threw the net again, bringing the missing head. According to the story, from that moment the nets were full of fish.
After cleaning the statue, the fishermen realized that it represented Our Lady of the Conception, but it received the name of Our Lady of Aparecida for having appeared in this surprising way, since “aparecida” in Portuguese means “appeared”. It was dark colored due to the contact with the mud at the bottom of the river.
In the beginning, a small chapel was built to house the image. Over the centuries, the original chapel was replaced by larger ones and around it the city of Aparecida emerged. The believers have reported to achieve countless graces granted by Our Lady Aparecida, mainly in the form of miracles. People’s adoration to the Saint gradually increased and, in 1930, Our Lady Aparecida was proclaimed Patroness of Brazil, through a decree by Pope Pius XI.
In 1954, Pope Pius XII made October 12th the commemorative date to Our Lady of Aparecida, since it is the same day when she was found in the river. Later, in 1980, it became a national holiday through a decree by the president in power at the time.
Here are some of the images of the Cathedral during the visit of TUFS and UERJ students in February 2020:
The entrance to the Cathedral
The Our Lady of Aparecida statue
A close-up of the Our Lady of Aparecida statue
Inside the Cathedral
September Activity Report
30 September 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
Since 2014, in Brazil, September is a month dedicated to raising awareness and preventing suicide, through the campaign called Setembro Amarelo (Yellow September), organized in a joint effort of mainly three Institutions: the ABP (Brazilian Psychiatric Association), the CFM (Federal Council of Medicine) and the CVV (Center for the Valuation of Life).
In fact, this is not a movement that only exists in Brazil. September 10th is, officially, the World Day for the Prevention of Suicide, instituted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003, which chose the color yellow to represent the fight against suicide, due to a situation that occurred in the USA.
In September 1994, a 17-year-old boy named Mike Emme committed suicide. He had a yellow ’68 Mustang, which he had restored and painted himself. Mike was in love with his car, and on the day of his wake, his parents and friends decided to hand out cards tied in yellow ribbons, in reference to the color of the much loved car, with phrases of support for people who might be experiencing emotional problems.
The idea ended up triggering a suicide prevention movement and to this day the campaign’s symbol is a yellow ribbon.
Over the past few years, in Brazil, schools, universities, public and private sector entities and the population in general have been involved in this movement. In Rio de Janeiro, monuments such as Christ the Redeemer, Tiradentes Palace (headquarters of the State Legislative Assembly), the Central do Brasil building and others had special yellow lighting to draw attention to the movement.
UERJ has been promoting awareness-raising events on the issue in recent years. This year, the Uerj pela Vida Project (UERJ for life Project) and the Laboratory of Phenomenology and Studies in Existential Psychology at UERJ held, on September 29, the seminar “Yellow September – Awakening to life through community love”. The meeting took place through the Zoom platform and dealt with topics such as “suicide in times of pandemic” among many others.
On another occasion, the film “Ver?nica decides to die”, based on the homonymous book by Paulo Coelho, was shown, followed by a debate with Prof. Ana Maria Feijoo, Ph.D, from the Department of Clinical Psychology at UERJ.
Below are some images of the Setembro Amarelo at UERJ and in the city of Rio de Janeiro:
Tiradentes Palace (Headquarters of the State Legislative Assembly)
Christ the Redeemer
August Activity Report
31 August 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
Every two years, the UERJ Classical and Oriental Letters Department, which consists of four sections (Japanese, Latin, Greek and Hebrew), holds its one-week congress promoting mini-courses and lectures.
This year, the 10th edition of the event, entitled crossings, displacements and diasporas: the interlacing in classical and oriental studies, took place from August 9th to 13th. The Congress was a success, although, for the first time, it was held remotely. It counted on the participation of Ph.D. professors, Ph.D., Master’s and undergraduate students who had the opportunity to show their surveys and expose their ideas.
The event was opened by Elisa Figueira de Souza Corrêa, Ph.D., who is a UERJ Japanese Language Professor and Chief of the Classical and Oriental Letters Department.
With regard to presentations on Japanese studies, the themes were quite varied: on Monday, the 9th, there was a round table mediated by the UERJ Professor Elisa Massae Sasaki, with the participation of five Japanese undergraduate students, among which two former TUFS exchange students: Diego Alexandre Assis Pinto de Sousa and ?sis Yoshimi Togue. Diego spoke specifically about his exchange experience at TUFS. ?sis and the other three students, Guilherme de Castro Henriques Vieira, Bruna dos Santos Faria and Lucas de Castro Salles spoke about their experiences on the surveys that they are developing under the guidance of UERJ Japanese professors. At the same time, the former TUFS exchange student Danilo Gomes de Castro Lopes presented his research Kouno Taeko and the body expression in Japanese literature at another round table.
Then, there was the round table, mediated by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki, entitled Pop Culture and Asia, in which Jo?o Paulo Vicente Prilla, MA. and the Master’s students Emerson Aparecido dos Santos Bezerra and Bruna Vieira Dorneles presented works with themes involving Japanese manga. Their presentations had the following titles respectively: Interart Dialogues (Comics and Literature) between East and West: the Knights of the Zodiac manga and the Divine Comedy; Saint Seiya: an example of the reception of classics in manga; and Asian characters in Disney animated feature films.
On Wednesday, the 11th, the Tokyo University Art Master’s student, Fernanda Costa Lopes de Almeida, gave the conference The foundry process in Japan.
On Friday, the last day of the event, a round table on Language and Japan Studies took place, mediated by the UERJ Professor Elisa Figueira de Souza Corrêa. At this table, Fausto Pinheiro Pereira, Ph.D., professor at the Brasília University, presented the work Overview of the typology of Japanese dictionaries, followed by the Ph.D. student Raphael dos Santos Miguelez Perez, who presented his survey A critical discursive analysis of the Brazilian and Japanese proposals for reform of the UN Security Council, and finally, the TUFS Ph.D. student, Abimael Maciel Marques, spoke about the Development of sociocultural competence in Brazilian Portuguese classes from the perspective of translation.
Later, the conference Japan in the literatures of Portugal and Brazil: proximities and distances was given by José Carvalho Vanzelli, Ph.D.
Finally, at the end of the event, the audience enjoyed a delightful presentation of Okinawan music performed by the musician Rafael Kiyoiti Kamiya, who, in addition to singing, played sanshin. Songs such as Kagiyadefu, Tinsagu nu hana, Minami no Shima and others were performed.
All the lectures took place in Portuguese and can be watched on the Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGgzD__5AnyHT_kYCLN93wQ/videos
André Daniel Reinke was in charge of the design of the event, the Department Logo was created by Alice Araújo and the event website design and management was done by Prof. Isabel Arco Verde Santos.
Below are some images of the event.
July Activity Report
31 July 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
As usual in many places around the world, high school seniors plan to continue their studies by entering a university. It is no different for students who will graduate at the end of this year from the UERJ high school, called CAp-UERJ (Instituto de Aplica??o Fernando Rodrigues da Silveira).
Considering this demand and that the students are on a short winter vacation, the CAp-UERJ Pedagogical Coordinators Mrs. Leonor Cardoso Rosa and Mr. Murilo Santos, the UERJ Japanese Professor Elisa Figueira de Souza Corrêa, and the Global Japan Office coordinator scheduled an event, which was held on the 28th, to present the possibilities for students to join TUFS to pursue a full undergraduate course, with a MEXT scholarship.
Japan is a very admired country by Brazilians and, for many students, it would be a dream to live and study for some months or a few years in that country. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, many UERJ students had the opportunity to study at TUFS, either for about one year as undergraduate exchange students, for four years to complete an entire undergraduate course or even to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree.
As expected, several students and their relatives attended the above mentioned event and asked several questions. In addition to the presentation of the rules to apply for a scholarship and the selection procedures to study at TUFS, a short video about the University was presented, in which part of the campus, its facilities and the environment were shown. The presentation motivated even more the candidates who fulfil the requirements to apply for the exchange program.
We hope that safe sanitary conditions will be restored so that Brazilian students can study at TUFS again, as well as Japanese students can attend UERJ, as in the past.
Below are some images of the live stream which was presented by Prof. Elisa Figueira and Prof. Leonor Cardoso Rosa:
June Activity Report
30 June 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
In several countries around the world, including Brazil, June is a month marked by several demonstrations in favor of the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, and, on the 28th, specifically, the International LGBTQIA+ Pride Day is celebrated.
UERJ, in commemoration of the date, took part in the second LGBTI State Blood Donation Campaign, promoted by the Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat for Social Development and Human Rights, through its blood bank named Herbert de Souza which belongs to the Pedro Ernesto University Hospital (Hupe).
The action is significant, as just a year ago, the Brazilian Supreme Court determined the end of the ban on blood donation by homosexuals.
This achievement adds to others, such as the permission for civil marriage between people of the same sex, legalized a few years ago in the country, and the treatment of homophobia and transphobia as crimes equivalent to racial or color prejudice, while awaiting the edition of a specific law on the subject by the National Congress.
It is not new that Rio de Janeiro has been branding itself as gay friendly city. During this month, Rio de Janeiro, through its tourism company named Riotur, installed panels along the city’s seashore with words such as “pride”, “life”, “affection” along with the flag that represents the community. The municipal government also illuminated buildings and some city’s famous monuments, such as the Lapa Arches, with the colors of the rainbow, in addition to holding events to mark the LGBTQIA+ Pride Day.
Here are some images of the LGBTQIA+ month celebration in Rio de Janeiro:
A panel at a lifeguard station on Ipanema beach with the word orgulho (pride) on it
The Lapa Arches, with the colors of the rainbow
May Activity Report
31 May 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
On May 1st, it is celebrated in Brazil, as in several other countries, the International Workers’ Day. The date was chosen in honor of the efforts of the workers who, on May 1st, 1886, took to the streets of the largest cities in the United States to demand a reduction in the maximum workload per day, which could reach 16 hours a day. The movement has spread around the world over the years.
In Brazil, at the beginning of the 20th century, Brazilian workers started to mark the date to make demands, with demonstrations that took to the streets. It became a holiday from 1925.
One of the biggest May 1st demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro was in 1919. The main demands at the time were the eight-hour workday, when people used to work from 10 to 12 hours a day; the abolition of child labor, since six-year-old children were workers; and the protection of women’s work.
From the end of the 1930s, the then president Getúlio Vargas recurrently announced, on May 1st, new measures of his government that aimed to benefit workers, such as the annual minimum wage adjustments and the creation of the Consolidation of the Labor Laws — known as CLT, published on May 1, 1943, still in force today with several modifications. Over more than a hundred years of labor movements, many advances and setbacks have occurred.
At the current time of pandemic, UERJ paid special tribute through an open letter from the Rector to professionals working in the university’s health units: the Pedro Ernesto University Hospital (Hupe) and the Piquet Carneiro Polyclinic (PPC). More than ever, health professionals are putting their lives at risk to save those who seek help, overcoming all the material and human difficulties that the public service faces in Brazil, in order to provide the treatment that the population deserves.
Below are some old images of May 1st, 1919, when protests were already taking place in the country in favor of better working conditions.
Source: “Revista da Semana”, May 10th, 1919
Source: “Revista da Semana”, May 10th, 1919
April Activity Report
30 April 2021
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques
This month, the Japanese Department of UERJ, the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and the TUFS Global Japan Office at UERJ organized an online event to present exchange programs at Japanese Universities, with scholarships offered by the Japanese Government through the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro as well as through the agreements between UERJ and its Japanese partner universities.
The event poster
The event took place on April 27th and had as co-organizer and mediator the UERJ Professor Elisa Massae Sasaki. The former exchange student at TUFS Barbara Silva Kontz and the Consulate staff member M?nica Regadas gave support to the event.
The presentations were divided in two sections. In the first one, the speakers focused on the exchange programs explanations. In the second one, former exchange students shared their experiences of living in Japan. The event was opened by the Vice-Consul Keiko Kikuchi from the Cultural Office of the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro, followed by the speakers, as follows:
(1) Gabriela Yussa – Cultural Advisor for the Scholarship Section at the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro, who presented the scholarships offered by the Japanese Government through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT).
Gabriela Yussa explaining about the benefits of the MEXT scholarships
(2) Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques – Coordinator of the TUFS Global Japan Office at UERJ who spoke about the agreements and exchange programs between UERJ and the partner Japanese universities.
The UERJ partner Universities in Japan
(3) Rafaela Líbano Soares – Bachelor in Industrial Design, graduated from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). As an exchange student at the Tokyo University from 2016 to 2018, with a MEXT scholarship, Rafaela studied Design and Prototyping and researched on the development of orthopedic prostheses with 3D technology.
Rafaela Líbano talking about her research on orthopedic prostheses with 3D technology while studying in Japan
(4) Maria Ester Reis Martins – In 2017-2018, Maria studied at Kumamoto University with a MEXT scholarship, while she pursued her undergraduate course at UERJ. After that, she graduated and became a Japanese language teacher. Recently, she was granted a MEXT scholarship to research at TUFS through agreement between TUFS and UERJ.
Maria Ester, who talked about her research and the lifestyle in Kumamoto
(5) Pedro Passos Couteiro – Pedro is a former student of Chemical Engineering at UERJ. In 2013, he was granted a MEXT scholarship to pursue the undergraduate in Japan. He attended the preparatory Japanese course at TUFS and then, from 2014 to 2018 he studied International Relations at Tsukuba University. Since April 2018, he has worked as a logistics professional at Suzuyo & Co. in Japan.
Pedro Couteiro presentation. These pictures were taken at TUFS where he spent his first year as an exchange student learning Japanese. Pedro is the one in the photo above, on the left, in black.
(6) Guilherme Kenjy Chihaya da Silva – Guilherme was one of the first exchange students from UERJ to go to Japan. During his degree in Social Communication at UERJ, he participated in an exchange program at Waseda University (2003-2004) through an agreement with UERJ. In 2006, he was granted a MEXT scholarship after being selected by the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro to pursue a Master degree in International Relations at the University of Waseda and, later, a Ph.D in Sociology at the Tohoku University. He researched about social inequality in China and marriage between people from different social classes. Since 2012, Guilherme has been working as a researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Ume?, Sweden, where he studies the integration of immigrants.
Guilherme Kenjy, who took a Ph.D degree at the Tōhoku University, worked as a volunteer after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011