Taiko drummers on the main stage of the Japanese matsuri in Sao Paulo

It’s a strange feeling to be walking down the street in one country, and suddenly find yourself transported into a another culture where everyone looks completely different to where you were a minute before.

That’s exactly what happened one day in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes I was in Japan, thinking this must be something like how Alice felt falling down the rabbit hole and waking up in Wonderland.

The big red torii marks the entrance to the Sao Paulo neighbourhood of Liberdade which is home to a large number of immigrants of Japanese origin

Sao Paulo is home to the largest number of Japanese people or people of Japanese origin outside of Japan. The immigrant history dates back about a hundred years.

So in search of some Japanese culture and…