Cherry trees
From Japan.
Emerson Ricardo Zamprogno — CC BY-SA 2.0 · NMaia — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Leandro Neumann Ciuffo — CC BY 2.0 · AUGUSTO JANISKI JUNIOR from Curitiba, Brasil — CC BY 2.0 · Morio — CC BY-SA 3.0
Curitiba's Japan Square honours the Japanese immigrants who began arriving in Brazil in 1910; Paraná has the country's second-largest Japanese community after São Paulo. Building began in 1958 and finished in 1962, creating a wooded space of about 14,000 square metres. The square has thirty cherry trees sent from Japan, six small artificial lakes and a traditional stone lantern given in 1979 by Hyōgo, Paraná's sister prefecture in Japan. In 1993 the Japanese gateway and the Japanese Immigration Memorial were added; since 2008 the memorial has held a library named after the writer Hideo Handa, alongside the tea house and the House of Culture, where origami, ikebana and haiku are shown. Since 2018 a seven-metre red steel sculpture by the Japanese-Brazilian artist Tomie Ohtake has stood here. The best time to visit is late winter, when the cherry trees blossom in July and August. Entry is free, and half an hour's stroll around the lakes is enough.
From Japan.
And the House of Culture.
Seven metres of red.
Avenida Sete de Setembro, Água Verde, Curitiba
Usually in July and August, in the southern late winter.
