Kokusai Hiroba Café -Around the World- Vol. 65 Brazil & Italy

Date

September, 19^th (SUN) 14：00－15：30

Venue

Online through Zoom

Organizers

Fukuoka International Exchange Foundation

Participation Fee

Free

Audience

To people interested in international exchange

instructors

Elida Maria Matsumoto (Brazil)
Flora Impari Hirata (Italy)

◇ Contents

　Opening and introduction of Hiroba Cafe

　Introduction of Brazil and Italy by lecturers from each country

  Q&A time and closing of the meeting

(Introduction of each country)
Brazil: Elida Maria Matsumoto was broadcasting from Brazil while introducing Brazil. It was 2 am over there as the time difference was 12 hours. The presentaion was about the various aspects of Brazil (people, living environment, nature, etc.), food, carnivals, birthday parties, etc.

She explained that there are many kinds of Brazilians living in Brazil, including natives, Germans, Italians, etc., showing us various pictures of their faces.

She also explained that there are people who live in the Amazon jungle, where you can see cheetahs from the window when you wake up in the morning, and people who live in apartments in big cities, similar to those in Japan.

As for food, the staple food in Brazil is black beans and long, thin rice, which is different from Japan, but in the morning they often simply have coffee and bread. She explained that churrasco, which is popular in Japan, is a traditional dish in Brazil where people love meat, and various kinds of meat are skewered and grilled.

Finally, she explained about birthday parties. She explained that in the past, it was hard to survive to live a year long in Brazil, so when a child turned one, they would celebrate being alive and have a big birthday party. In the birthday video, not only family members, but also relatives, friends, and even people from the town were all there to celebrate the birthday.

Italy: Flora Impari Hirata proceeded to give a quiz the participants, asking them to choose one of the 3 options and answer via the chat function on Zoom. The participants were very active in answering the questions and it was very exciting.

For example, the question “What is the food at the last supper? The top two choices the participants chose was 1) prosciutto with melon and 2) rabbit with apple, but the correct answer was 3) eel with orange, and they were surprised to learn that eel is also eaten in Italy.

She explained that in Italy, people often use gestures and skinship to express their feelings and intentions. There are many different hand gestures, such as the gesture you use when you are angry or when you are thinking, and she showed us pictures and explained them one by one. She explained that skinship is a part of Italian culture, so if you go to Italy and see a couple very close to each other in a square or someplace, please don’t be surprised and understand its part of the culture.

In Italy, the host who invites you to a meal has to pay for the entire meal. That’s why people who are invited buy dessert and wine. She also shared her experience that when she was invited to a Japanese home after coming to Japan, she brought wine and dessert, but was surprised when she was told at the end of the meal that she would have to split the cost of today’s meal.