Why are there so many Brazilians in Japan?

Question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Foreig…

according to this population map, there are hundreds of thousands of Brazilians in Japan. The second largest foreign demographic, just behind China. Of course China makes sense, but Brazil?

Answer:

About a century ago many, many Japanese went to Brazil to work as cheap labor on farms. They stayed and had families.

Then in the 1990s the Japanese government wanted someone to do their cheap labor but, being Japan, they didn't want to employ non-Japanese to do it for them. And so they remembered about Brazil.
The Japanese government loosened its normally very tight work-immigration policies for those with "Japanese blood" (usually no farther than 3rd generation) and their families, and if you're a Brazilian who is offered the chance to go to Japan to work you're going to think this is a great idea and head over there. (Unfortunately the reality is they're highly discriminated against, sort of on-par with Mexican immigrants in the U.S.)

Ironically, during the most recent economic troubles Japan thought they could fix their unemployment problem by telling the Brazilians to leave Japan on the government's dime, go back to Brazil, and not come back for at least five years.