Brazil's national soccer team is a draw wherever it plays, often a sentimental choice. The affection will run deeper for some in Japan when the countries play Monday in Tokyo with both headed to the World Cup in Qatar.
Geographically distant and culturally distinct, Brazil and Japan are connected by more than a century of immigration — and return migration. The end of slavery in Brazil in 1888 saw Japanese and others recruited to work under near-bondage conditions on coffee plantations in southern Brazil.
