For the 26th installment of this series, we spoke with Naosa Fuse (59), editor-in-chief of Kojiro Publishing (represented by Ryuichiro Kawarazaki). The monthly magazine “Pindorama” published by the company is a free paper that regularly publishes information about Brazil in Japanese, and has been recognized as one of the world's leading Japanese free papers in a Japanese survey. Since its launch in 2006, it has been loved by Japanese expatriates living in Brazil and Japanese-Brazilians who can read Japanese, as one of the few Japanese information magazines published in Brazil.
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This marks the 18th year since the magazine was first published.
The company's monthly magazine "Pindorama" has been in publication for 18 years since its inaugural issue was published in June 2006, and this month the 214th issue was published without any problems. The company's trademark is the name and logo of CEO Kawarazaki's pet cat, and the magazine's name "Pindorama" originates from the indigenous Brazilian Tupi language and means "land of the palm," referring to the region that is now Brazil.
Representative Kawarazaki (who has lived in Brazil for 31 years) believed that there would definitely be a need for a Brazilian information magazine in Japanese that was published regularly in Brazil. He placed importance on the fact that it was "regular," and has maintained a "monthly" style since the beginning. It has never stopped being published once a month.
Since the 2020 pandemic, many advertisers in the hospitality industry have been hit hard, and advertising volume has been halved, making it the toughest period since the company was founded. However, the company has weathered the crisis by reducing the number of pages, which had been steadily increasing along with advertising, to less than half, and now previous advertisers are returning and new advertisers are also appearing.
Since its launch, the company has never had a vision to expand its business scale, but has instead focused on publishing an "interesting magazine." By conveying the "unknown Brazil," the company hopes that "Japanese people will learn about the diverse culture and values of Brazil, which will enrich their lives even more."
A never-ending treasure trove of Brazilian culture
When it was first published, people said it would "just go bust after three issues," but Pindorama has continued to publish for 18 years. The concept was to be a "general magazine introducing Brazilian society and culture in general," differentiating it from Japanese language newspapers that specialize in Japanese society and culture in Brazil. It strives to cover a wide range of themes, including tourism, sports, cooking, music, literature, politics, economics, and immigration history, and the articles have been written by a diverse range of writers, including not only professional writers, but also Brazilian tourist guides, university professors, singers, lawyers, doctors, peddlers, housewives, manga school instructors, acupuncturists, and ramen artisans, which has enriched the pages of the magazine.
"Through Pindorama we have continued to dig into the veins of Brazilian culture, and the more we dig, the more new gems we find, and the more we cry out in joy," says Editor-in-Chief Fuse.
For about a year and a half after its launch, the magazine was not well known and struggled with advertising sales, but advertising sales gradually increased, and before the pandemic, the magazine had grown to over 50 pages. When it was first published, it was only available in print, but now the latest issue and back issues can be read online, sharing information with readers not only in Brazil and Japan, but all over the world.
Started providing useful real estate information
In 2011, when Pindorama had started to gain popularity among Japanese people in São Paulo, they published the Japanese guidebook Easy São Paulo, which covered almost everything related to daily life in the city, including tourism, medical care, food, entertainment, shopping, education, and infrastructure. It was compiled to help people living in São Paulo for the first time to start a new life "easily." It was a large, full-color book of over 200 pages, which took time to produce, but it was well-received beyond expectations, and a new edition was published every two years until 2020.
The company has also been involved in assisting Japanese organizations in producing commemorative magazines and personal histories, and since last year has begun a new business venture in which it has partnered with a major Brazilian real estate company to broker rental apartments in São Paulo for expatriates.
Editor-in-Chief Fuse moved to Brazil at the age of 40 to make a fresh start. In Japan, he was a teacher at a prep school and had no experience in editing, but he found happiness in both his personal and professional life in Brazil, which he finds "a hundred million times more fun than Japan." Recently, he has also discovered the art of making health-conscious sweets, and has begun selling them on a small scale.
"I never imagined in Japan that I'd start baking sweets at nearly 60 years old. The appeal of Brazil, where you can freely design your own life with self-responsibility, is endless," she says with a bright smile. As a small publisher, they have the flexibility to keep on working, so they plan to continue taking on interesting projects, not just in publishing.
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Overview of Kojiro Publishing |
*This article is reprinted from the Brazil Nippo (April 13, 2024).
© 2024 Tomoko Oura
