講師詳細Teacher's Details

I want to help you solve real problems using English. 
 

I'm the born-again husband of Selma. Our children, Amanda and Daniel, were both born in Manaus, Brazil. 

This photo was taken in 2018.

I'm from Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America, and I've been teaching English since 1999.

The map above is of South America. Brazil is in green. Guyana is in orange.

The map above is of my present location, Manaus, in the Brazilian Amazon. It is 345 km south of the equator.

Japan is always 13 hours ahead of Manaus.

Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America at 8.5 million square kilometers (3.2 million square miles) and with over 208 million people.

It is also the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America.

Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan. As of 2009, there were approximately 1.6 million people of Japanese descent in Brazil.
 

At the same time, over 108,000 Dekasegi Brazilians are living in Japan as of 2016.

The city of São Paulo is home to about 400,000 Japanese descendants. The Liberdade ("Liberty") neighborhood, where shop fronts and building names are written in Japanese ideograms, and the architecture is traditionally oriental, is the world's largest Japanese community (Japantown) outside Japan. The Liberdade street market opens on Saturdays and Sundays, offering traditional Japanese food and various household goods and souvenirs.

900 Nikkei, mostly from Okinawa were the first to arrive in São Paulo, Brazil.  

They arrived on the Kasato Maru (photo below) to work on coffee plantations on 8 June 1908

Since then, Japanese Brazilians have integrated very well into society all over Brazil, contributing things such as matcha tea, soy sauce, the Kumon method, judo, shiatsu, karate, karaoke, tofu, the Fuji apple, black pepper, the kabocha, the Japanese cucumber, the radish, and the horseradish root and Aji-no-moto as well as dishes such as sushi, temaki sushi, sashimi, yakisoba, and sukiyaki. 

Japan-Brazil relations continue strong, as evidenced by trade.

Brazil's main exports to Japan include iron ore, meat, non-ferrous metal, chemicals, iron, and steel.

Japan's main exports to Brazil include automobiles, automotive parts, motors, and metalworking machinery.

Though 15,000 km away from Japan, Manaus plays a significant role in Japan-Brazil relations due to its free trade zone, where more than 40 Japanese corporations have operations. These include Honda, Pioneer, Daikin, Suzuki, Panasonic, Hisamitsu, Noritsu, Orient, and Fuji.

Manaus is the fourth biggest city in Brazil and the biggest city in the Brazilian Amazon, with a population of 2.2 million people. It is the capital city of the state of Amazonas. The river banks of Manaus are on the Amazon River. The local dish specialty is grilled tambaqui.

 The first Koutakussei arrived in Amazonas in 1930-1931, working with jute, strawberry, tea, and rice.

There are 5,000 nikkei that make up the Japanese community in Manaus. Many are still in agriculture and can be found in the local suburban Japanese colony. The community meets at places like the Manaus Country Club, where they play golf, baseball, and softball.

The Consulate General of Japan is located in the south-central part of the city. There is also the Amazonas Japanese Chamber of Commerce.  

This is my degree.

I graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, but have only worked as an English teacher.  Twelve years at the Amazonas State University were my longest English teaching tenure.