Liberdade (São Paulo, Brazil)

Liberdade (Portuguese: [libeʁˈdadʒi], liberty; Japanese: リベルダージ, romanized: Riberudāji) is a district in the subprefecture of Sé, in São Paulo, Brazil. Liberdade is known as a Japantown, although the Japanese presence did not occur throughout the neighborhood, but in specific streets. Japanese immigrants started settling in the region in 1912, coming from the interior of São Paulo, as many did not adapt to working on coffee farms and started looking for better opportunities in the capital. Even today, the neighborhood is famous for its typically Japanese restaurants and shops, as well as its oriental elites and signs in Japanese. Currently, the majority of Japanese people and their descendants no longer live in the neighborhood, only maintaining their commercial establishments in the region. With the departure of the Japanese, the region began to receive many Chinese and Korean immigrants.