Liberdade, die Japanische Gemeinschaft & Die Asiatische Seele São Paulos
São Paulo's Liberdade neighbourhood (the neighbourhood immediately south of the Centro Histórico — the heart of the Japanese-Brazilian community, the largest Japanese diaspora community outside of Japan) is the most important Japanese cultural district in the world outside of Japan, and a window into the remarkable story of Japanese immigration to Brazil and the integration of Japanese culture into Brazilian identity.
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Liberdade — The Largest Japanese Community Outside Japan
Liberdade (the neighbourhood south of the city centre, named for the Largo da Liberdade, the triangular square where public executions were held in the 19th century) has housed São Paulo's Japanese-Brazilian community (the largest Japanese diaspora community in the world outside Japan — 1.5 million Nikkei in São Paulo state) since the 1910s — the Feira da Liberdade (the Sunday fair on Praça da Liberdade, the largest Japanese fair in the Americas, 8am–5pm, free) sells Japanese home-cooking (yakisoba, onigiri, mochi), imports, and cultural products; the red torii gates on the main street mark the neighbourhood's identity.
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Imigrantes do Japão — The 1908 Immigration
The first Japanese immigrants to Brazil (the 781 passengers of the Kasato Maru, which docked at the Port of Santos on June 18, 1908) were recruited to replace the freed slave labor on São Paulo state coffee plantations — the initial plantation conditions were near-slavery; Japanese immigrants subsequently moved to urban areas, established small businesses, and built the community infrastructure (Japanese schools, newspapers, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines) that defines Liberdade today; the Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil (R$12, Tuesday–Sunday) is the comprehensive archive.
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Restaurante Sujinho and the Liberdade Ramen Scene
The Japanese-Brazilian culinary fusion of Liberdade: the ramen shops (Ikkousha, Menya Kanae) serve authentic Japanese ramen styles not available elsewhere in Brazil; the izakayas (Izakaya Issa, Kappou Asanebo) serve Japanese pub food with Brazilian beer; the Japanese pastry shops (Doces da Ligia, Takahashi) have been producing wagashi (Japanese sweets for tea ceremony) and Japanese-Brazilian hybrid pastries (the strawberry mochi — a Brazilian adaptation using condensed milk) since the 1960s; the Banco Bradesco Japanese food court (Praça da Liberdade underground) serves the quickest and cheapest authentic Japanese lunch in São Paulo.
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Galeria do Rock — São Paulo's Alternative Culture Underground
Galeria do Rock (Avenida São João 439, Centro, the 5-story building containing 100+ shops selling metal, punk, goth, hip-hop, and skateboarding culture, operating since 1965 when it was a cinema) is the most concentrated alternative culture space in South America — the shops sell imported vinyl (the largest selection of heavy metal vinyl in Brazil), band merchandise, tattoo equipment, and the instruments for São Paulo's thriving street music scene; the building's walls are covered in band posters and street art; the adjacent Galeria do Rock Skatepark uses the building's parking ramp.
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Pinacoteca do Estado — São Paulo's First and Best Fine Arts Museum
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (Praça da Luz 2, Luz neighbourhood, 1905, Ramos de Azevedo architect, R$20 adults, free Tuesday, the red brick building that predates MASP by 63 years) is the oldest art museum in São Paulo — the permanent collection (10,000+ works, the finest collection of Brazilian 19th and early 20th century paintings, including the most complete set of works by Almeida Júnior, the 'Brazilian Millet') and the temporary exhibitions (international loan shows from major collections) make it the museum with the most consistently excellent programming; the sculpture garden is free.
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Museu de Arte Sacra — Baroque Brazil in a Colonial Convent
Museu de Arte Sacra de São Paulo (Avenida Tiradentes 676, Luz, in the 1744 Luz Convent, the oldest building in the centre of São Paulo, R$15 adults, free Tuesday, Wednesday–Sunday 9am–5pm) houses the most important collection of Brazilian colonial religious art outside Salvador da Bahia — 18,000 objects (gold altar frontals, polychrome wood statues of saints, liturgical vestments embroidered with gold thread) from the 17th–19th century Jesuit, Franciscan, and Benedictine missions in Brazil; the convent chapel (in use since 1744) is the only surviving 18th-century sacred interior in central São Paulo.