Английская Википедия:Indians in Japan

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Indians in Japan consist of those with Japanese citizenship and those with foreign citizenship.

As of June 2023, there were 46,262 Indian nationals living in Japan. Indian nationals in Japan are often employed in IT, engineering, management, finance, and scientific research, and other office jobs where English language is used. Today, in the 21st century, Indian migration to Japan has undergone a major increase and Japan is seeing influx of professionals from India. Indian nationals are the third largest Indian ethnic group, preceded by Nepali and Burmese nationals and followed by Sri Lankan nationals.

A significant percentage of the Indians in Japan are from north east India, who may often have more Asian face shapes, though identify very heavily with India and the Indian people, and consider themselves to be Indian. They have unique and long standing cultural relations with Japan. Furthermore people from other South Asian countries such as Nepal and Myanmar may also have more Asian face shapes, but identify very heavily with India and the Indian people. Nepali people are the largest South Asian nationality group with 156,333 Nepalis living in Japan, followed by Burmese with 69,613.

A significant number of the Indians in Japan also descend from the large Indian populations in Hong Kong and South East Asia such as Thailand and Singapore.

India is also the largest source of tourism to Japan after East Asian countries.

In an opinion poll published by the Pew Research Center, India was the most liked major Asian country by Japanese people with a majority of people holding favorable views, while Japan was the most liked major Asian country by Indian people with a majority of people holding favorable views.

History

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The Indian Water Fountain in Yamashita Park, Yokohama was donated by the local Indian community to remember those who perished in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, including more than 90 Indians.

Japan has been a destination for Indian travellers and merchants for hundreds of years, including a famous voyage by a monk from the southern intellectual city of Madurai. India and Japan have maintained relations through direct contact and indirect contact via the Sinosphere and South East Asia.

The history of modern Indian settlement in Japan goes back more than a century. As early as 1872, a few Indian businessmen and their families had settled in Yokohama as well as Okinawa. In 1891, Tata, then a small trading firm, established a branch in Kobe. By 1901, Japanese government statistics recorded 30 people from British India living in Japan. Local statistics of the Hyōgo Prefecture government showed 59 Indians living in the prefecture in 1905, among whom all but one were men. After the destruction wreaked on Yokohama in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the Indian traders there also migrated to Kobe; from then on, Kobe became the center of Japan's Indian community's growth.

By 1939, on the eve of World War II, the number of Indians in Hyōgo Prefecture had reached 632. However, due to British sanctions against Japan and the 1941 halt of shipping between Japan and their homeland, many closed their shops and left; by 1942, there were only 114 remaining. Three years after the Partition of India, their numbers had recovered somewhat to 255. Prior to 1990, the Indian community in Japan remained centred on the Kobe area. However, after 1990, the numbers in Tokyo began to show a sharp increase. Migrants who arrived in the 1990s included industrial trainees sent by Japanese car manufacturers which had set up factories in India. IT professionals and their families also came to Tokyo, settling primarily in Setagaya and Minato wards.

There is some technical cooperation between India and Japan, such as for the Shinkansen in western India, or for the numerous Japanese companies present in India such as Sony, Softbank or Suzuki. In 2016, the two sides signed the "Manufacturing Skill Transfer Promotion Programme” agreement for training 30,000 people over 10 years.

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.

Business and employment

Шаблон:As of, there were also around 800 Indians working in the IT industry in Japan, up from 120 in 1993. Kenichi Yoshida, a director of the Softbridge Solutions Japan Co., stated in late 2009 that the Indian engineers are becoming the backbone of Japan's IT industry and that "it is important for Japanese industry to work together with the India." Another 870 Indians were employed as cooks. 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.

Cuisine

Indian food is very popular in Japan. Conversely Japanese food is also very popular with Indians.

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. The various spices and cultural infusion that were imported along the same trade routes from South Asia into South East Asia led to the formation of cuisines in South East Asia heavily influenced by South Asia as far back as at least 2000 years ago, of which many of them are eaten in Japan.

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An Indian restaurant in Tokyo

Curry

Indian curry is one of the most popular dishes in Japan, sometimes labelled as the most popular dish of Japan. Curry (カレー) is a loanword from Tamil (கறி kaṟi) via Indian English, popularized by naval contact between the Japan and the British East India Company.

It is now considered to be a national dish of Japan and dishes from various parts of India are often sold in convenience stores and restaurants. The majority of the Indian restaurants in Japan are a "fusion" of Nepali and Indian cuisine, who are by far the largest Indian ethnic group in Japan, but many restaurants are also run by Indians and Sri Lankans, the latter of whom number around 35,000 and make the third largest Indian ethnic group after Nepalis and Indians.

The majority of Japanese will eat Japanese curry (カレー, karē) purchased from supermarkets and convenience stores, or from one of the numerous Japanese chain restaurants that specialize in curry.

Tea

Furthermore, though tea is originally native to East Asia, tea is also often drunk in Japan as black tea or milk tea using tea leaves grown in South Asia (such as Darjeeling, Assam or Ceylon). Black tea is increasingly becoming more popular than green tea in Japan.

Religion

India is strongly associated with religion in Japan since the introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century. Buddhism has been heavily integrated into the native Shinto culture, and a large number of the festivals in Japan derive from Buddhism, with identical festivals being celebrated in Buddhist countries such as Sri Lanka, and similar festivals being found in Hinduism. There are numerous shrines and temples native to Japan that cater for Hindu deities.

Buddhism remains widespread in Japan and Japanese culture. 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. There is also a Nepali peace pagoda in Osaka, built by a German architect as part of the wider peace pagoda movement started by Japanese monks in response to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Benzaiten shrine, Inokashira Park

Jainism

Indians in Japan speak a number of different languages and follow various religions; there is little correlation between religion or language and profession, except in the case of the Jains, many of whom work in the jewellery industry. The Jains are generally concentrated around Okachi-machi in Taitō, Tokyo. On the whole, Tokyo has fewer religious facilities for Indians than Kobe.

Sikhism

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. 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. They consider this as just a temporary adaptation to Japanese society. However, this practise is not common among Sikhs in skilled professions such as IT.

Education

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India International School in Japan, Tokyo

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Global Indian International School, Tokyo Campus

Indians who send their children to school in Japan generally select English-medium schools. The first Indian-specific school, India International School in Japan, was established in 2004 in Tokyo's Koto ward at the initiative of some of the old trading families based in Tokyo and Yokohama. The Global Indian International School, a Singapore-based school, has operated a branch in Tokyo since 2006, and plans to open another in Yokohama in 2008. They follow the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education curriculum. The schools are popular not just among Indian expatriates, but among some Japanese as well, due to a reputation for rigour in mathematics education. 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.

Jeevarani "Rani Sanku" Angelina, established the Little Angels International School (now Musashi International School Tokyo), which caters to Japanese students.

Sport

There are a handful of Indians that are professional sportspersons in Japan. A number of major sports in Japan also ultimately derive from Indian sports as well.

Racket sports

Though it has been theorisesed that the game has been played in various forms for over 2000 years, the current version of Badminton was brought back from India to the UK by the Duke of Beaufort in 1873 after having seen the game being played in Pune, India. Badminton was brought to Japan in the early 1900s. Japan and India are two of the highest ranking nations in Badminton.

Tourism

India is the largest source of tourism to Japan after East Asian countries. The leading motivations for Indian tourists to Japan are eating Japanese cuisine, sightseeing, shopping, walking around and experiencing Japanese culture and history. Unlike westerners, Indians rarely view the culture of Japan "as exotic".

Community organizations

One of the earliest Indian community organisations, the Oriental Club, was established in 1904 in Kobe; it changed its name to The India Club in 1913, and continued operating up to the present day. More were founded in the 1930s, including the Indian-dominated Silk Merchants' Association, the Indian Social Society, and the Indian Chamber of Commerce. In 2000, Indian expatriates living in Edogawa, Tokyo, an area with a high concentration of Indian IT engineers founded the Indian Community of Edogawa. Others include the Indian Community Activities Tokyo, whose Diwali celebration draws 2,500 participants, as well as the Indian Merchants Association of Yokohama.

Social issues

An article in the Japan Times complained that patriarchy perpetuates among Indian immigrants to Japan, whereas Indian women may feel more empowered in societies such as Berlin, Germany. As in the native Japanese culture, many Indian women to Japan rarely stay for career advancement, but rather prefer staying to become a housewife.

A number of people born in Japan to asylum seekers or illegal immigrants have complaiend about told to return to India.

There have been complaints about facing Islamophobia and racial profilling.

Notable people

• Anastasia Malhotra, professional tennis player (Indian-British/Greek-British father)
• Annu Mari, actress
• Arata Izumi, football player (Indian father)
• Bob Singh Dhillon, businessman
• Bodhisena, Buddhist scholar and monk
• Gonsalo Garcia, Roman Catholic saint
• Pico Iyer, author
• Priyanka Yoshikawa, fashion model
• Sarbjit Singh Chadha, enka singer
• Jaideep Singh, kickboxer
• Yogendra Puranik, an ex-politician
• Koel Purie, actress

See also

• Indian diaspora
• India–Japan relations
• Japanese–Manipuri cultural relations
• Hinduism in Japan
• Japanese people in India
• Nepalis in Japan

Sources

• Wadhwa, Megha (2021), Indian Migrants in Tokyo: A Study of Social, Cultural and Religious Worlds, London, NewYork: Routledge, 2021, https://www.routledge.com/Indian-Migrants-in-Tokyo-A-Study-of-Socio-Cultural-Religious-and-Working/Wadhwa/p/book/9780367569990
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Further reading

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External links

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