Matto Grosso, is one of the big states in Brazil. It is located in the Midwest of Brazil and is 1100 km far from the capital of Sao Paulo. This is part of the tropics and there are multiple climates, which are the rainy season, which starts from the middle of September up to the end of March. There is also the summer–the opposite season from the Northern Hemisphere. The dry season starts from June up to September. In winter season the temperature drops sharply and during this season, there is no rainfall. The rainfall amount is lower than that of Lubang Island. It rains intensively at times and combining that with the hot climate and the condition of the soil, the region’s land is notoriously known as unfit for agricultural use. There were 3,800 Japanese ancestry settlers who moved into this area some 23 years ago.
There were 5 reasons why Onoda chose this place. The first one was that the climate resembled Lubang Island, meaning the region belongs to the tropical zone and the temperature is very hot and the seasons are rainy and dry. The second one was that he often ate meat and had observed the lifestyle of cows on Lubang Island for a long time. Thirdly, he had an abundant of experience living in a tropical country. He was deeply familiar with the whole of Lubang Island so he knew the tropical fruit such as bananas and palms, and rice as well. He also got familiar with the relationship between the seasons and the land, it was useful knowledge for him to run the stock farm. The fourth reason was that he thought there were few social dealings or business relationships there. Finally, he played with the cows when he was young in his maternal grandmother’s place.
Thus, to run Onoda Stock Farm became his new dream. His new challenge started from this sun baked land where telephone and electric lines were not present.
Onoda obtained the necessary licenses to run a stock farm in a short time in Japan before his immigration. He studied and received an agriculture training certificate from a government institution. He also applied for a driver’s license as well. Then he was allowed to immigrate into Brazil as a free immigrant.
In Brazil, there were over 7 hundred thousand(700,000) Japanese immigrants so Onoda could get most of his daily necessities such as Japanese foods, therefore, he brought only special items which he could not buy in Brazil e.g. made-in-Japan electrical generator, Japanese dogs, etc.
Onoda borrowed money from his friends and purchased 500 hectares of land from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. They sold the land lots to settlers after the approval of the Brazilian government. It was really lucky to purchase the land through the agency because there was a high potential risk that multiple owners had the same land in Brazil.
The size was the same as the size of Japan International Airport. He had a plan to expand his farm to 1,000 hectares of land for 2,000 cattle, so this land purchase was his 1st step. He also purchased some tractors, bulldozers, Jeeps and bikes to explore the land like a jungle.
First, Onoda had to make a house to live in. His 2nd from the eldest brother, his wife and a few Japanese and 2nd-generation Japanese immigrants came to help him. There was no electricity so he brought an electrical generator. In addition, there was no running water. So they drilled wells and were able to have water sources which had the capacity to provide 75,000 liters of water per day. He needed at least 60,000 liters per day, so it was necessary and sufficient water for his business. To explain the water requirement: For 2,000 cattle * 30 liters (a cattle drinks 30 liters per day) = 60,000 liters per day is needed)
A portion of his land faced a national road. It was a tropical jungle—a primitive jungle as far as he could see stretched ahead. Therefore, he initially thought where he would start cutting trees. The size of the jungle was much bigger than that of Lubang Island.
Onoda finally started working in the jungle with much effort and will.