| Total population |
|---|
| 22,335 (December 2008)[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Tokyo, Kobe[2] |
| Languages |
|
Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, and other languages of India[3] |
| Religion |
Indians in Japan consist of migrants from India to Japan and their descendants. As of December 2008, there were 22,335 Indian nationals living in Japan.[1] Roughly 60% consist of expatriate IT professionals and their families.[5]
Contents |
The history of Indians in Japan goes back more than a century. In 1891, Tata, then a small trading firm, established a branch in Kobe.[6] By 1901, Japanese government statistics recorded 30 people from British India living in Japan.[7] Local statistics of the Hyōgo Prefecture government showed 59 Indians living in the prefecture in 1905, among whom all but one were men.[8] 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 shuttered 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; there were also four Pakistanis.[9] Prior to 1990, the Indian community in Japan remained centred around the city of Kobe. However, the numbers in Tokyo began to show a sharp increase after then.[10] Migrants who arrived in the 1990s included industrial trainees sent by Japanese car manufacturers which had set up factories in India.[11]
Kenichi Yoshida, a director of Softbridge Solutions Japan Co., stated in late 2009 that Indian engineers are becoming the backbone of Japan's IT industry and that "it [was] important for Japanese industry to work together with India."[12][13]
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.[14] The Jains are generally concentrated around Okachi-machi in Taitō, Tokyo.[15]
There are Sikh gurudwara in both Kobe and Tokyo; the latter is of more recent provenance, having been founded in 1999 in the basement of an office building.[16] Some Sikhs employed as unskilled labourers in small and medium enterprises 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 just a temporary adaptation to Japanese society. However, this practise is not common among Sikhs in skilled professions such as IT.[17]
The Global Indian International School, a Singapore-based school, operates one branch in Tokyo with plans to open another in Yokohama. 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.[18]
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.[19] In 2000, Indian expatriates living in Edogawa, Tokyo, an area with a high concentration of Indian IT engineers founded the Indian Community of Edogawa.[20]
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
