Indians in Japan
They are often employed in IT, engineering, management, finance, scientific research, and other office jobs where the English language is used.
[7][8][9] Nepali people are the largest South Asian nationality group in Japan with 176,336 residents, followed by Burmese, with 86,546.
[20] By 1901, Japanese government statistics recorded 30 people from British India living in Japan.
[23] Indians in Malaya (modern day Malaysia and Singapore) were often treated more favorably by the Japanese due to the importance of India in the global war plans of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
[24] By 1939, on the eve of World War II, the number of Indians in Hyōgo Prefecture had reached 632.
[26] Migrants who arrived in the 1990s included industrial trainees sent by Japanese car manufacturers which had set up factories in India.
In 2016, the two sides signed the "Manufacturing Skill Transfer Promotion Programme” agreement for training 30,000 people over 10 years.
[4] In 2021, Japan and India signed an agreement to allow Indian citizens to obtain the specified skilled visa, which allows Indians to work in several fields including nursing, industrial machinery, shipbuilding, aviation, agriculture and the food services industry.
[32] Japan also become the new destination for Indian nurses in 2023, with salaries that are over eight times higher than those found in India.
[38] Others are engaged in trading, importing the Indian handicrafts, garments, precious stones, and marine products, and exporting Japanese electronic goods, textiles, automotive parts, and jewellery.
The Nishikasai [ja] area of Edogawa Ward has a high concentration of Indian origin families.
Indian people settled in Nishikasai due to the proximity to the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, which connects to their places of employment.
Historically many spices were imported into Japan as these spices could only be grown in certain climates found in Southern China (including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau), Southern India (including Sri Lanka) and South East Asia.
[44] Curry (カレー, karē) is a loanword from Tamil (கறி kaṟi) via Indian English, popularized by naval contact between the Japan and the British East India Company.
There are also numerous temples in Japan that were built by Sri Lankans but often affiliated with various Japanese Buddhist organizations, acting as a place of worship for Japanese, East Asian and South East Asians as well.
[11] There are Sikh gurudwaras in both Kobe and Tokyo; the latter is of more recent provenance, having been founded in 1999 in the basement of an office building.
[58] Some Sikhs employed as unskilled labourers in small and medium enterprises had to cut their hair short and remove their turbans in violation of the principle of kesh, because their employers are unfamiliar with their customs and do not give them any latitude in their style of dress.
The schools are popular not just among Indian expatriates, but among some Japanese as well, due to a reputation for rigour in mathematics education.
[61] Other migrants leave their children behind in their native states, either with grandparents or at the boarding schools, in order to avoid interrupting their education.
[66] Unlike westerners, Indians rarely view the culture of Japan "as exotic".
[70] A number of people born in Japan to asylum seekers or illegal immigrants have reported being told to return to India.
Large scale opposition to Muslim migration began in the 1990s, albeit targeting those from the Middle East, and Iranians and Pakistanis in particular.
