Ana Paula Kojima Hirano spent two years in Brazil and one year in Japan during pre-production and production of One Day We Arrived in Japan. Hirano earned her undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of São Paulo, where she researched global labor market transformations and also studied visual anthropology and cinema. She studied at Sophia University in Tokyo on a Japanese Government Scholarship, and she earned a Ph.D. in Luso-Brazilian Literature and Film & Visual Studies from Harvard University.

Aaron Litvin spent 30 months in Brazil and 30 months in Japan during pre-production and production of One Day We Arrived in Japan. Litvin graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Latin American Studies, after which he earned a Master’s in Sociology from the University of São Paulo and a Ph.D. in Luso-Brazilian Literature from Harvard University. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Brazil and a Japanese Government Research Scholar at Sophia University in Tokyo.