Brazilians in Motion: Migration, Labor, and Social Reproduction in Japan

The article analyzes migratory flows through the articulation of the categories of gender, race, and social class. In light of the continuous growth of international migration, taking the Brazilian case as an example, it is argued that this phenomenon cannot be understood solely through individual motivations or isolated labor market imbalances, but must be situated within the contradictory articulation of capital’s social reproduction. Drawing on Social Reproduction Theory, the text examines how the demographic crisis – marked by low fertility rates and population aging in core countries – drives the demand for immigrant labor, while simultaneously relying on historically constituted gendered and racialized inequalities. The case of the migration of Brazilian descendants of Japanese immigrants to Japan is analyzed as a paradigmatic example, demonstrating how immigrant labor is incorporated under precarious conditions, detached from the costs of its social reproduction, and subjected to specific forms of exploitation, racial discrimination, and xenophobia. The article concludes that international migration functions as a partial response to the crises of capitalist social reproduction, while at the same time intensifying class, gender, and racial inequalities in both countries of origin and destination.