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Indeed! And arigato is not the only one, there are a lot of japanese vocabulary very similar to portuguese words. I just never heard anyone contesting it...I even learned it from my History books! The Portuguese were the first ocidental people to get to Japan. There were lots of examples in my History book... many words they use are "engrish" versions of portuguese words. I think the word "tea" itself comes from the portuguese itself. "Ocha" in japanese (I think) "Ch?" in portuguese. They even have their own version of a cake we have here named "P?o-de-l?", named "Kasutera" in japanese, similar to our "Castela". Also, we taught japanese people Tempura!

Yes, you're totally right, all thanks to trading, centuries ago! There are even some famous japanese paintings and descriptions from the day the ocidental men (Portuguese sailors in this case) stepped on the japanese islands. We were portraied and viewed as smelly people with HUGE noses!!