Asian Brazilian

An Asian Brazilian is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Asian ancestry, who remains culturally connected to Asia, or an Asian-born person permanently residing in Brazil. Brazil received many immigrants from Asia mainly from the Middle East and East Asia. The first Asian immigrants to arrive in Brazil were a small number of Chinese people (3,000) during the colonial period as coolie slaves. However, significant immigration from Asia to Brazil started in the late 19th century, when immigration from Lebanon and Syria became important. In Brazil, most of definitions of an Asian Brazilian usually do not refer to the community of West Asian origins such as Arabs, Turks and Armenians.

Most Asian Brazilians have roots in East Asia with the majority have origins in Japan. The ones with origins in the Middle Eastern werely mostly non-Muslim Levantine Arabs and easily integrated among the White Brazilian population. The first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in 1908. Until the 1950s, more than 250 thousand Japanese immigrated to Brazil. Currently, the Japanese-Brazilian population is estimated at 3.0 million people. It is, by far, the largest ethnic Japanese population outside Japan. Other East Asian groups are also significant in Brazil. The Korean Brazilian population is estimated to be 50,000, and the Chinese Brazilian population around 160,000. Over 70% of Asian Brazilians are concentrated in the state of São Paulo. There are significant populations in Paraná, Pará, Mato Grosso do Sul and other parts of Brazil.