Brazil holds the largest Japanese population outside Japan, and Liberdade is where that settlement concentrated from 1912 onward — red suzuranto lanterns along the streets, bookshops, confectioners and a long run of restaurants. It has become more broadly East Asian over the decades, with Chinese and Korean businesses alongside. The street market in Praca da Liberdade on Sundays is the time to come, for yakisoba and takoyaki rather than for souvenirs. The metro station of the same name puts you in the middle of it.