In the years 1613 through 1620, several diplomatic missions occurred on behalf of Japan to the Vatican, traveling through New Spain (arriving in Acapulco and departing from Veracruz) and visiting various ports of call in Europe.

They were led by Hasekura Tsunenaga, who was accompanied by more than one hundred Japanese Christians and merchants; as well as twenty-two samurai under the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

They were of diverse origins, including Japanese, Koreans, Malays, Filipinos, Javanese, Timorese, and people from Bengal, India, Ceylon, Makassar, Tidore, Terenate, and China.

[19][20] Mexico was the first Latin American country to receive Japanese immigrants in 1897, with the first thirty five arriving to Chiapas under the auspices of Viscount Enomoto Takeaki, with the permission of Mexican president Porfirio Díaz .

They established the Sociedad Colonizadora Japón-México to recruit Japanese farmers to migrate with government support to obtain land.

[19] The very first settlement was based on coffee production but failed for various reasons including the fact that not all of the colonists were farmers and many became sick with tropical diseases.

[21][23][24] In the first decade of the 20th century, a large number of Japanese immigrants came as workers contracted to companies doing business in the country which needed skilled labor.

[19] The main Japanese companies involved in this were Kumamoto, Toyo and Tairiku Shokumin Kaisha which did business in mining and agriculture.

However, many of the immigrants could not do the hard labor of the mines and sugar cane fields, prompting them to abandon their contracts, heading to California or even Cuba .

A significant portion of Japanese agricultural production was exported to the United States and even led to a Japanese-owned chili pepper dehydration facility for the same purpose.

One reason for this is that the Japanese population was not as prominent as the Chinese one in numbers and the work that they did, which included the construction of factories, bridges and other infrastructure was viewed favorably.

[23] The official census of 1940s counts only 1,550 Japanese nationals in the country, the overwhelming majority men, although other studies put the number higher, as many as over 6,000.

Even with the 6,000 figure, it pales against the number of Japanese in other countries in the Americas at the time such as the United States (285,000), Brazil (205,000), Canada (22,000) and Peru (18,000) .

[23] Japanese immigration halted by World War II to near zero, and those who were in the country were faced with restrictions and relocation after Mexico broke diplomatic ties with Japan in 1941.

[19] However, in a number of cases, this proved impossible as people created new lives in the central states and/or they lost farming land and/or water rights to the unscrupulous.

[19][25][26][27] The main researcher is María Elena Ota Mishima who has written various works on the topic, including the book Siete Migraciones Japoneses en México 1890–1978.

[citation needed] They have come because they have found it easier to develop their careers in Mexico, as the art market in Japan is very small and very hard to break into.

In 2011, the Museo Universitario del Chopo held an exhibition called Selva de cristal: artistas japoneses en México to promote the work of artists from Japan and Japanese descent in Mexico.

Artists represented included Luis Nishizawa, Kiyoshi Takahasi, Carlos Nakatani, Kyuichi Yahai and Kiyoto Ota .

[28] Notable Japanese and Japanese-Mexicans include theater promoter Seki Sano, painters Tamiji and Tawaja and Luis Nishizawa.

[22] Tanetoshi Kirawawa founded one of the most successful Japanese businesses in Mexico, and is also known for his philanthropic work such as the publication of books and magazines about Japan including Japónica and the creation of institutions such as Liceo Mexicano-Japonés, with teaches both Japanese and Mexican children, as well as the Japan study program of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte.

[38] Part-time Japanese schools include the Colegio Japones de Guadalajara A.C. (グアダラハラ補習授業校 Guadarahara Hoshū Jugyō Kō) in Zapopan, Jalisco and the Asociacion Regiomontana de Lengua Japonesa A.C. (モンテレー補習授業校 Monterē Hoshū Jugyō Kō) in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León.

[43] A novel Mudas las Garzas by Selfa A. Chew is based on the oral histories of Japanese Mexicans in the middle of the 20th century.