Top Page > Press Release 2008 > Monuments for Centennial of Japanese Emigration to Brazil Leave Yokohama aboard Containership MOL Wisdom

Monuments for Centennial of Japanese Emigration to Brazil Leave Yokohama aboard Containership MOL Wisdom

February 14, 2008

TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL, President: Akimitsu Ashida) today announced the departure of the containership MOL Wisdom from Yokohama, transporting stone monuments to Brazil to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Japanese emigration to Brazil.MOL is transporting the monuments at the request of Executive Committee for the Construction of the Monument Commemorating Centenary of the Immigration of Japanese to Brazil.

2008 marks the 100th year since the first ship carrying Japanese emigrants, the Kasato Maru arrived at the port of Santos, Brazil. The Japanese and Brazilian governments agreed to celebrate 2008 as the Japan-Brazil Year of Exchange. The Japan-Brazil Year of Exchange Organizing Commission was organized to mark the event, and started planning various events. As part of these commemorative programs, sculptor Kota Kinutani created monuments to be donated to Brazil.

Six monuments were carefully packed and loaded into six flat rack containers. The departure ceremony was held on February 12 and the containers on MOL Wisdom left Yokohama on February 14. They will arrive at Santos in mid-March.

* About the monuments

The project consists of six monuments (total weight: about 100 tons) of granite from Inada in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture. After arriving in Brazil, the monuments will be completed with an additional Brazilian granite sculpture created in Brazil. The monuments are intended to serve as an eternal symbol of past, present, and future exchanges between Japan and Brazil. Sculptor Kota Kinutani studied in Brazil for one year starting in 2003, focusing on granite. This fateful event led him to take on the monument project. The monuments will be placed at the Carmo Park in a suburb of Sao Paulo, a city closely tied to Japanese emigration.