SIXTY YEARS OF THE PELOTAS SUZU BROTHERHOOD

L. C. Vinholes

21.09.2025

Nota: Passados 62 anos desde que Pelotas e Suzu se tornaram cidades irmãs, vale a pena tornar acessível o texto em inglês da história de seis décadas publicada em outubro de 2024 no Nº 1, da revista Espeto do jornal Diário Popular. A intensão é compartilhar com o público de língua inglesa.

Note: Sixty-two years after Pelotas and Suzu became sister cities, it's worth making available in English the six-decade history published in October 2024 in Issue 1 of Diário Popular's Espeto magazine. The intention is to share it with the English-speaking public.

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Geographical distance did not prevent an idea that became a dream from becoming reality. The city of Pelotas, in the south of Brazil, and Suzu, in the north of Japan, made their brotherhood official after three years of exchanging correspondence between the two prefectures.

The creator of this unprecedented situation for Pelotas was Luiz Carlos Lessa Vinholes, from Pelotas by birth and, at the time, working at the Brazilian Embassy, in Tokyo, as a Chancery Officer.

Six decades later, despite being reduced, contacts are maintained and bonds are made, with an emphasis on cultural issues. The official documents that prove the brotherhood are in the respective City Halls and Municipal Chambers.

In Pelotas there is the activity of the Amigos Correspondence Club, linked to the Colégio Municipal Pelotense and created by professor Therezinha de Jesus Malmann Louzada, at the Arts Center and in the International Relations Course, documents and other activities, without forgetting the Japanese-Brazilian Association of Pelotas.

Conversations and letters cement brotherhood.

On July 27, 1962, at a dinner hosted by Suzu city hall, L. C. Vinholes, remembers the passing of Pelotas' sesquicentennial and suggests that the two cities become sister cities. Councilor Yoneda, head of Agriculture Department Services for the Noto Peninsula Region, and vice-mayor Saburo Kawahara, supported the idea and pledged their support for its implementation.

The next step was taken on November 7th with the then mayor of Pelotas, João Carlos Gastal. Vinholes sends correspondence introducing the idea. On December 1st he responds: “This executive welcomed the idea of making Pelotas and Suzu sister cities.” The year 1963 arrives. On February 21, a new letter addressed to Mayor João Carlos Gastal. The Minister Counselor of the Brazilian Embassy in Tokyo, Wladimir Murtinho, reports following the initiative “with enormous interest”. He recommended, “finally establishing an exchange of letters formalizing the link between the two cities, making the Embassy available for necessary procedures.

The first letter came from Pelotas, on April 3, 1963. Through Letter nº 345/63 HC/VPO Gastal expressed to the mayor of Suzu, Riichiro Okamura, the desire to see the brotherhood between the two cities approved by the respective Municipal Chambers.

The ordeal by the Chamber of Pelotas, on July 28, unanimously approves the link and fraternity between Pelotas and Suzu, which became the first sister cities between Brazil and Japan. Also documented in Official Letter Nº. 1074/63, of the Legislature.

On August 1st, two letters from Pelotas City Hall were sent to Japan. Nº. 818/63, to the Brazilian Chargé d'Affaires in Tokyo and No. 819/63, to the mayor of Suzu, Riichiro Okamura, communicating the decision of the Chamber the bond of fraternity between the two cities. In the Ordinary Assembly, Project nº 98 was approved, establishing the brotherhood.

Correspondence from Mayor Riichiro Okamura to Mayor João Carlos Gastal arrives at Pelotas City Hall on October 15th, informing the approval of the Suzu City Council. With a similar content, on November 9, a letter was received from the Brazilian ambassador in Tokyo, Décio de Moura, communicating the approval of the sister cities' project.

On December 31, 1963, Mayor João Carlos Gastal sent Letter Nº. 1273/63 HC ZMVS to the mayor of Suzu. He acknowledges receipt of the document that formalizes the brotherhood and announces that on January 1, 1964, the new mayor of Pelotas, Edmar Fetter, would take office. Gastal states “... that he will seek to solidify this rapprochement between our cities and that it will be highly beneficial to both”.

The Friends Correspondence Club was born.

A new milestone in the brotherhood was established in the first months of 1964, albeit in an incipient form. It was the beginning of the exchange of correspondence between members of the Amigos Correspondence Club, linked to Colégio Pelotense, and students from schools in Suzu, mainly from Escola Midorigaoka, led by teachers Therezinha de Jesus Malmann Louzada and Akiko Naka. The Club was fully operational between 1971 and 1984, always under the coordination of professor Therezinha Louzada. Correspondence was written in English and translations were made in each country.

Today the Club's material is under the custody of the Museu do Colégio Municipal Pelotense, in the Sala Luiz Curi Hallal, and coordinated by professor João Nei Pereira das Neves and fully supported by general director Maria Graciane Pereira. The collection is historic and is in the process of being cleaned and catalogued. His pieces were donated by L. C. Vinholes.

It includes interesting pieces, such as magazines, newsletters, decorative objects and elements of the uses and customs of Japanese culture. There is a report published in Diário Popular, dated April 8, 1973 and titled A Club to learn and also make friends. Article signed by journalist Maria Clara Michels and photos by Luiz Barros.

One piece that draws attention is a mask. It was donated by Vinholes to the Museum in July 2013. Made of plaster with a predominance of green, it is used in the Kagura dance in Shinto temples. It has a paper seal citing the Kasuga Shinto Temple, in the province and city of Nara, the first capital of Japan.

Kagura is a dance of a religious nature, which is performed to calm the spirits at the time of departure. Kasuga is one of the three most important Shinto temples, alongside Meiji Temple in Tokyo and Ise Temple in Mie Prefecture.

Music, visits and business

There are many facts that link Pelotas and Suzu. Over six decades, the exchange had stronger periods and periods of less communication. The first are in 1962, passing through 1985 and 1986.

In April 1962, L. C. Vinholes composed the music for the anthem of the Ohtami Primary School, in Suzu, where he made a slight reference to Brazilian music through syncopation. Fulfilled a request made by painter Gagyu Ueda. The lyrics are written by poet Iwamoto Shuzo. His first execution was on April 5 of that year.

Between the 20th and 23rd of October 1966, the vice-mayor of Suzu, Saburo Kawahara, visited Pelotas. He is received by Mayor Edmar Fetter and, in his honor, the Jockey Club names the main race of the week with his name.

After 24 years, Pelotas receives visits from the mayor of Suzu, Mikindo Hayashi and the president of the City Council, Honji Takase. In two days, October 16th and 17th, they completed an extensive agenda, being received by Mayor José Maria Carvalho da Silva.

As part of their appointments, they visited the Colégio Municipal Pelotense, where they signed a book and met the Amigos Correspondence Club, a meeting with members of the Japanese-Brazilian Association and Embrapa, where they were received by the Administrative Head, Firmino Idílio Ferreira and the researcher Bonifácio Nakasu.

In 1992, the businessman from the rice farming sector, Érico Ribeiro, went to Japan and, on behalf of Mayor José Anselmo Rodrigues, delivered correspondence and the Coat of Arms of Pelotas to Mayor Mikindo Hayashi.

In November of the same year, negotiations began regarding a visit to Pelotas by a delegation of students and teachers from Suzu, which took place between December 18th and 26th. They held a photographic exhibition of Suzu in the city hall lobby.

Pelotas had a flood in 1965. A campaign was launched among the residents of Suzu, with 150,000 yen being raised at the time to help those affected.

In agriculture, in August 1965, it was published in the newspaper Hokoriku Shinbun, in Kanasawa, where it reported that at the Experimental Farm of the Department of the Higher School Iida in Suzu, Brazilian black beans were successfully cultivated for the first time in Japan. It was named Pero Mame, pero being related to Pelotas and mame, beans in Japanese. Seeds of the Daizo variety came to Pelotas.

In November 1994, 100 cherry tree seedlings and another 100 camellia seedlings arrived from Suzu for the planned future Jardim de Suzu, delivered to Embrapa for initial care. Six seedlings of each were planted on Sunday, September 17th, in the designated location.

Another visit took place in May 1995. Vice-mayor Ryoko Tabata, the head of the Administrative Sector, Osamu Keizo and president of the Chamber arrived in Pelotas. They were received by Mayor Irajá Rodrigues and planted a cherry tree and a camellia on the island at the Bus Terminal.

In 1996, a more daring project. The installation in the UFPel and Embrapa area, in Capão do Leão, of a pilot project for a sake distillery, using rice. The Japanese mission arrives on July 17th, made up of Koen Morooka, superintendent of Suzu Schools, Naohiko Noguchi, president of the Federation of Sake Distilleries of Noto, Shoichi Tenpo and Ryozo Michitaka, co-vice-presidents of the same Federation.

Rector of UFPel, Antônio César Borges, traveled to Suzu in 1997, dealing with the distillery project, which ended up not being fully implemented and university exchanges. Professors and technicians from UFPel traveled to Suzu to learn about the sake industries there.

In the same year, Ligia and Rubens Blank visited Suzu. During a celebration visit, they deliver messages from Mayor José Anselmo Rodrigues and Inguelore, Scheunemann. The Dean of the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel).