Japanese New Zealanders
[1] In the 2018 census, 18,141 New Zealand residents identified themselves as members of the Japanese ethnic group.
Japanese women are also more likely to move to New Zealand for working holiday or study purposes.
The first Japanese settler, Asajiro Noda, arrived at Bluff in the South Island.
[2] Prior to the beginning of Japanese immigration to New Zealand, most who arrived from Japan were short term visitors for diplomatic or cultural exploration reasons.
[3] Japanese people typically chose to adopt English names upon immigrating to New Zealand to integrate.
[7] Upon Japan's entry into World War II, Japanese immigration and tourism began to slow.
[3] Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese immigrants were typically imprisoned on Somes Island, or at a prisoner of war camp in Featherston.
[3] A strike against forced labour at Featherston on 25 February 1943 resulted in the deaths of 48 Japanese prisoners and one guard.
[12] Relationships were re-established and Japanese culture became a major export of interests to New Zealand.
These women had fallen in love with New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in Japan as part of the Occupational Forces post-World War II.
[14] These women faced difficulties in adjusting to life in New Zealand,[13] including a lack of local community pressure to assimilate, and disapproval from their families for having married foreigners and moved away.
[7] During the mid-1990s, working holiday schemes were opened for Japanese citizens in New Zealand as a result of reformed immigration policies.
[5] Academics also attribute this rapid increase in population size to the expansion of tourism and education for Japanese citizens from the late 1980s.
[7] In 1997, 56.3% of Japanese applicants for permanent residency in New Zealand applied under the Family category.
[7] Large groups of Japanese communities can be found in the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Dunedin.
The immigration of these short-term business expatriates led to the creation of a wider Japanese community in Auckland.
At the time, New Zealand had the seventh-highest number of people studying Japanese in the world.
[5] Japanese language courses were first introduced to New Zealand's secondary and tertiary education systems in 1960.
[13] There are weekend supplementary Japanese education programmes (hoshū jugyō kō) in Auckland, Canterbury/Christchurch, and Wellington.
Ayami Kuragasaki-Laughton writes that Japanese New Zealanders have "dual loyalty to the land of their birth and the place where they live.
The New Zealand-Japan Society of Auckland hosts Aoteakai, a Japanese tea ceremony club, and Haere Mai, a taiko performance group.
[32] New Zealand hosts an annual anime and manga convention called Overload, a major event for New Zealand anime and manga fans featuring local and international artists.
[33] Retailers within the country have started selling manga and merchandise related to popular anime, video games and Japanese brands.
On 15 November 2024, the Japanese virtual idol Hatsune Miku performed live at Spark Arena in Auckland as part of a debut Miku Expo concert tour in New Zealand and Australia,[35] attracting thousands of enthusiasts including cosplayers and Vocaloid fans who traveled from around New Zealand and overseas to attend the event.
[36][37] Japanese forms of martial arts are a popular cultural export in New Zealand.
Over time, Westernised styles of Japanese martial arts have been created in New Zealand.
