8. Brazil Was and Remains Home to the Largest Japanese Population Outside Japan
Most Japanese, in Japan and around the world, eventually came to their senses and accepted reality. Many, however, continued to resist facts. Thus, thousands of Japanese soldiers in isolated locales around the former Japanese Empire continued to fight for months, years, or even decades after the war ended. Some were innocent cutoff troops, who had not gotten the memo. Others were just stubborn jerks. In Brazil, which hosted a sizeable Japanese immigrant community, a radical group sprang up to terrorize people into denying that Japan had surrendered. Brazil hosts the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, with over 1.5 million nationals or naturals of Japanese ancestry living there. Significant numbers of Japanese began to arrive in Brazil early in the twentieth century. By 1940, the country had about a quarter million Japanese immigrants and their descendants. Most were concentrated in the coffee plantation region of Sao Paulo State.
