Ola!

Hello! This is Lilian Haraguchi and I am the Brazil CIR at IFIE since April 2006. Even though my name sounds Japanese, and I look like Japanese, I was actually born and raised in Sao Bernardo Do Campo City in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Did you know that the current president of Brazil is from the same City as mine??

I am a sansei (3rd generation Brazilian with Japanese ancestry) and my last name “Haraguchi” comes from my grandfather who was from Fukuoka Prefecture. Since I was very little my parents and my grandparents taught me Japanese, and I also studied at a Japanese language school while attending elementary school. The first time I came to Japan was the field trip organized by the Japanese language school. The 15 of us (teachers and students) visited all over Japan from Hokkaido to Kyushu during the blazing hot summer season.

I went to the State University of Campinas and majored in chemical engineering. After graduating from the University, I had the opportunity to come to Japan again as a research student at the Ecology Engineering Department of Toyohashi University of Technology. It was my first time living overseas. Since it rarely snows in Brazil (it snows a bit in the southern part of Brazil), I was looking forward to a snowy winter in Japan; unfortunately my wish didn’t come true during the 2 winters I have spent in Toyohashi.

After knowing I was placed in Ishikawa as a CIR, I was worried but anxious everyday. Unlike my hometown, where many metallurgy and car factories are concentrated, Ishikawa has very rich Japanese traditional cultures and natural resources. Ishikawa is a good place to live in, and my favorite time is to ride my bicycle along the beautiful Asanogawa River and looking at the magnificent scenery under the setting sun. If you ever saw me in the area, don’t forget to say hello!