Why Does Latin America Have So Many Japanese Immigrants?

The average person is no stranger to immigrant communities in their country. In 2016, nearly 1.2 million people immigrated to the United States, and over half a million to the United Kingdom. Generally speaking, these people come from all over the world to escape conflict, pursue economic opportunity, or join family (in a process known as chain migration). Migration trends are always in a state of flux as well, with issues such as the UK’s 2016 EU Referendum, the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, or issues surrounding climate change causing spikes in immigration rates. But there is one immigration trend that may strike the average reader as both unexpected and puzzling, and they may find themselves asking: why does Latin America have so many Japanese immigrants?

Credit: Illinois State University

As with so many socio-political trends, the answer goes back at least a century. By the mid-1800s, the Japanese political system was in a transitional state. The military general (“shogun”) who had ruled Japan lost his power to merchant and other groups seeking interactions with outside powers, and supreme authority being restored to the emperor. The emperor’s new approach was to rapidly re-structure Japan to mimic European powers through a series of reforms known as the Meiji Restoration. The goals of the Meiji Restoration were to reduce a dependency on agriculture, and industrialise Japan by promoting the cautious introduction of both Western technology and culture.

So what does this have to do with Latin America in particular, and why it has so many Japanese immigrants?

Credit: University of Pittsburgh

The consequences of the Meiji Restoration, particularly a shift away from agriculture, caused high rates of unemployment and inequality throughout Japan - particularly in rural areas. Initial migrants (known as Nikkei, or overseas migrants of Japanese descent) to Hawaii were met with poor treatment, leading to the prohibition by the Meiji government for Japanese people to seek a future there. But the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 made American employers more eager to attract Japanese migrants - until 1924, when the Federal Immigration Act banned all Asian workers from entering the USA (which was already limited by the Japanese government). Many Asians - Japanese, in particular, therefore sought economic opportunity in neighbouring Latin America in the early 1900s. By the middle of the century, this trend increased significantly following the widespread destruction of Japan throughout the Second World War. More recently, members of the Nikkei communities of Latin America have been seeking to emigrate to Japan following the revision of Japanese immigration laws in 1990. The trend is believed to be useful to the economies of both Japan and the Latin American countries that the Nikkei come from - primarily Brazil, as these migrants send finances to the country their ancestors emigrated to decades (or more) ago.

Today, the descendants of Japanese migrants to the Americas - both North and South - can find civic engagement opportunities and a sense of community in PANA, the Pan-American Nikkei Association (or COPANI depending on whether the English or Spanish name is used).

TAI Score: Degree 0. The presence of Japanese-descended immigrants does not pose a threat for Latin American or Japanese societies. Risk assessors have nothing to monitor in this regard.