Indians in Japan

2021-06-17T00:04:42Z

2601:446:300:D960:388B:D3DF:DCA4:FAF6: /* Notable people */

{{EngvarB|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Indians in Japan<br/>{{nobold|{{Nihongo2|在日インド人}}}}<br/>''Zainichi Indojin''
| image =
| population = 30,048 (2017)<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/file-download?statInfId=000031642055&fileKind=0|publisher=Ministry of Justice|publication-place=Tokyo|date=April 2018|script-chapter=ja:インド基礎データ |language=ja |script-title=ja:平成29年6月度在留外国人|access-date=22 April 2018}}</ref>
| popplace = {{hlist|[[Tokyo]]|[[Kobe]]<ref name="Azuma">{{harvnb|Azuma|2008|p=256}}</ref>}}
| langs = {{hlist|[[Indian English|English]]|[[Japanese language|Japanese]]<br>'''Indian languages''':<br>[[Hindi]]|[[Marathi language|Marathi]]|[[Tamil language|Tamil]]|[[Malayalam]]|[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]|[[Bengali language|Bengali]]|Other [[languages of India]]<ref name="Azuma2008p258">{{harvnb|Azuma|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=39lJz_L4MdUC&pg=PA258 258]}}; she lists the religions and languages in alphabetical order therein</ref>}}
| rels = {{hlist|[[Christianity in India|Christianity]]|[[Hinduism]]|[[Jainism]]|[[Sikhism]]<ref name="Azuma2008p258"/>}}
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| related_groups =
}}
'''Indians in Japan''' consist of migrants from [[India]] to [[Japan]] and their descendants. {{asof|2014}}, there were 28,047 [[Indian people|Indian]] nationals living in Japan.<ref name="MOFA">{{citation|url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/india/data.html|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs|publication-place=Tokyo, Japan|date=July 2009 |script-chapter=ja:インド基礎データ|script-title=ja:各国・地域情勢 |access-date=25 September 2009}}</ref> Roughly 60% consist of expatriate IT professionals and their families.<ref>{{cite news|work=Asahi Shimbun|language=ja |script-title=ja:対インド関係「頭脳大国」との視点を|last=Kondõ|first=Masanori|date=10 March 2008|access-date=25 September 2009|url=http://www.asahi.com/international/aan/hatsu/hatsu080315.html}}</ref>

==Migration history==
[[File:Indian drinking fountain 01.jpg|thumb|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.]]

According to the ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'', in 1654 two men and two women of the [[Tushara Kingdom]], along with one woman from [[Shravasti]], were drive by a storm to take refuge at the former [[Hyūga Province]] in southern [[Kyushu]]. They remained for several years before setting off for home.<ref>{{harvnb|Waterhouse|1991|p=75}}</ref>

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, primarily [[Parsi]]s and [[Sindhi people|Sindhis]], had settled [[Yokohama]] as well as [[Okinawa]].<ref name="Singhvi">{{harvnb|Singhvi|2000|p=283}}</ref> In 1891, [[Tata Group|Tata]], then a small trading firm, established a branch in [[Kobe]].<ref>{{harvnb|Minamino|Sawa|2005|p=5}}</ref> By 1901, Japanese government statistics recorded 30 people from [[British India]] living in Japan.<ref>{{harvnb|Minamino|Sawa|2005|p=4}}</ref> Local statistics of the [[Hyōgo Prefecture]] government showed 59 Indians living in the prefecture in 1905, among whom all but one were men.<ref name="Minamino">{{harvnb|Minamino|Sawa|2005|p=6}}</ref> 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 centre of gravity of Japan's Indian community.<ref>{{harvnb|Sawa|Minamino|2007|p=15}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Minamino|Sawa|2005|p=7}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Azuma" /> Migrants who arrived in the 1990s included industrial trainees sent by [[Automotive industry in Japan|Japanese car manufacturers]] which had set up factories in India.<ref>{{harvnb|Azuma|2008|p=258}}</ref> IT professionals and their families also came to Tokyo, settling primarily in [[Setagaya, Tokyo|Setagaya]] and [[Minato, Tokyo|Minato]] wards.<ref>{{harvnb|Sawa|Minamino|2007|p=66}}</ref>
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==Business and employment==
[[File:Mumbaipalaceindianresttokyo.jpg|thumb|150px|An Indian restaurant in Tokyo]]
{{As of|2000}}, there were also around 800 Indians working in the IT industry in Japan, up from 120 in 1993.<ref name="Singhvi_a">{{harvnb|Singhvi|2000|p=284}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news|title=FOCUS: Indian engineers becoming backbone of Japan's IT|url=http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=469103|newspaper=[[Kyodo News]]|location=[[Minato, Tokyo]]|date=9 November 2009|access-date=6 November 2009}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Backbone of Japan's IT industry? Indian engineers!|url=http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/nov/06/indian-engineers-becoming-backbone-of-japan-it-industry.htm|newspaper=[[Rediff.com]]|location=[[Mumbai]]|date=6 November 2009|access-date=6 November 2009}}</ref> Another 870 Indians were employed as [[Indian cuisine|cook]]s.<ref name="Singhvi_a"/> 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.<ref name="Singhvi" />

==Religion==
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.<ref>{{harvnb|Azuma|2008|p=259}}</ref> The Jains are generally concentrated around Okachi-machi in [[Taitō, Tokyo]].<ref name="Azuma_a">{{harvnb|Azuma|2008|p=262}}</ref> On the whole, Tokyo has fewer religious facilities for Indians than Kobe.<ref name="Sawa">{{harvnb|Sawa|Minamino|2007|p=19}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Azuma|2008|p=264}}</ref> Some Sikhs employed as unskilled labourers in small and medium enterprises had to [[Sehajdhari|cut their hair short]] and remove [[dastar|their turbans]] in violation of the principle of ''[[Kesh (Sikhism)|kesh]]'', because their employers are unfamiliar with their customs and [[religious discrimination|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.<ref>{{harvnb|Azuma|2008|pp=263–264}}</ref>

There has been a recent migration of [[Marathi Buddhist]] community in Japan. The community came to Japan in search of jobs and is now also emerging as a business community. These people speak [[Marathi language|Marathi]] at home and [[Japanese language|Japanese]] at work. These people are originally followers of [[Navayana Buddhism]] and have now started syncretising with [[Japanese Buddhism]].

==Education==
[[File:India International School in Japan, Tokyo.JPG|thumb|left|[[India International School in Japan, Tokyo]]]]
[[File:Globalindianschooltokyo.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[[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 was established in 2004 in Tokyo's [[Koto, Tokyo|Koto]] ward at the initiative of some of the old trading families based in Tokyo and Yokohama. The school's name is IISJ which stands for [[India International School in Japan]].<ref name="Sawa_a">{{harvnb|Sawa|Minamino|2007|p=21}}</ref> The [[Global Indian International School]], a Singapore-based school, has operated [[Global Indian International School, Tokyo Campus|a branch in Tokyo]] since 2006, and plans to open another in [[Yokohama]] in 2008.<ref name="Sawa" /> 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]].<ref>{{citation|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070422x2.html|periodical=Japan Times|date=11 April 2007|title=Indian schools make a mark|access-date=25 September 2009|last=Hani|first=Yoko}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Sawa_a" />

Jeevarani "Rani Sanku" Angelina,<ref>"[http://www.angelsenglish.com/about/history.html History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309051805/http://www.angelsenglish.com/about/history.html |date=9 March 2015 }}." Little Angels International School. Retrieved on 9 March 2015.</ref> established the [[Little Angels International School]], which caters to Japanese students.<ref name=Fackler>{{cite news|last=Fackler|first=Martin|url=http://www.angelsenglish.com/about/MediaC/Nytimes.pdf|title=Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India's Schools|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2 January 2008|access-date=9 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309142533/http://www.angelsenglish.com/about/MediaC/Nytimes.pdf|archive-date=9 March 2015|quote=Unlike other Indian schools, Ms. Angelina said, Little Angels was intended primarily for Japanese children, to meet the need she had found when she sent her sons to Japanese kindergarten.|df=dmy}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="Minamino" /> In 2000, Indian expatriates living in [[Edogawa, Tokyo]], an area with a high concentration of Indian IT engineers founded the Indian Community of Edogawa.<ref name="Azuma_a" /> Others include the Indian Community Activities Tokyo, whose [[Diwali]] celebration draws 2,500 participants, as well as the Indian Merchants Association of Yokohama.<ref name="Singhvi_a" />

==Notable people==
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| title =
| image1 = Arata.JPG|caption1={{font|size=110%|text=[[Arata Izumi]]}}
| image2=Chada.jpg|caption2={{font|size=110%|text=[[Sarbjit Singh Chadha]]}}
| image3 = TC Blau-Wiess 2009.jpg|caption3={{font|size=110%|text=[[Anastasia Malhotra]]}}
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* [[Anastasia Malhotra]], professional tennis player
* [[Annu Mari]], actress
* [[Arata Izumi]], football player
* [[Bob Singh Dhillon]], multi-millionaire businessman
* [[Bodhisena]], Indian Buddhist scholar and monk
* [[Gonsalo Garcia]], Roman Catholic saint
* [[Pico Iyer]], a noted author and philosophist living in [[Nara, Nara|Nara]]
*[[Priyanka Yoshikawa]], beauty pageant
* [[Sarbjit Singh Chadha]], [[Enka]] singer
* [[shing02]] Rapper
* [[Yogendra Puranik]], a politician and first person of Indian origin to be elected to a city council.<ref>https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/senkyo/chihosen19/sogo/list/CK2019042302100004.html</ref>

==See also==
* [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin]]
* [[India–Japan relations]]
* [[Hinduism in Japan]]
* [[Japanese people in India]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|3}}

==Sources==
* {{citation|last=Waterhouse|first=David|year=1991|chapter=Where did Toragaku come from?|editor-last=Marett|editor-first=Allan|title=Musica Asiatica|volume=6|pages=73–94|publication-place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39050-7|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511896071.006}}
* {{citation|last=Singhvi |first=L. M. |chapter=Asia-Pacific Region |pages=273–288 |title=Report of the High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora |publisher=Ministry of External Affairs |publication-place=New Delhi |chapter-url=http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter8.pdf |year=2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206063957/http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter8.pdf |archive-date=6 February 2012|df=dmy}}
* {{citation|script-title=ja:在日インド人社会の変遷--定住地神戸を事例として |trans-title=Changes in Indian society in Japan—focused on the case of Kobe residents |language=ja |last1=Minamino |first1=Takeshi |first2=Munenori |last2=Sawa |url=http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/repository/90000944.pdf |access-date=25 September 2009 |pages=4–15 |year=2005 |script-journal=ja:兵庫地理 |volume=50 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6dKlNSnVm?url=http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/repository/90000944.pdf |archive-date=26 November 2015 |df=dmy}}
* {{citation|last1=Sawa|first1=Munenori|last2=Minamino|first2=Takeshi|title=Emerging of An Indian Community in Tokyo: A Case Study of Nishikasai|journal=The Indian Geographical Journal|volume=82|issue=1|pages=7–26|year=2007|url=http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/repository/90000733.pdf}}
* {{citation|year=2008|chapter=Indians in Tokyo and its vicinity|last=Azuma|first=Masako|pages=255–269|title=Rising India and Indian communities in East Asia|editor-first=K.|editor-last=Kesavapany|editor2-first=A.|editor2-last=Mani|editor3-first=Palanisamy|editor3-last=Ramasamy|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-230-799-6}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Eston|first=Elizabeth|year=2019|title=Rash Behari Bose: The Father of the Indian National Army, Vols 1-6|url=https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07QMVG6GX/|publisher=Tenraidou}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Green|first1=Nile|title=Shared infrastructures, informational asymmetries: Persians and Indians in Japan, c.1890–1930|journal=Journal of Global History|volume=8|issue=3|year=2013|pages=414–435|issn=1740-0228|doi=10.1017/S1740022813000351|s2cid=162765204}}
* {{citation|editor-last=Yamashita|editor-first=Kiyomi|script-title=ja:エスニック・ワールド：世界と日本のエスニック社会 |trans-title=Ethnic World: Global and Japanese ethnic societies |script-chapter=ja:日本のインド人社会 |chapter=Indian society in Japan|last=Sawa|first=Munenori| date=April 2008 |isbn=978-4-7503-2758-7|publisher=Akashi Shoten|oclc=226814973}}
* {{citation|url=http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/repository/kaken/K0001496.pdf|script-title=ja:グローバリゼーション下のディアスポラ ―在日インド人のネットワークとコミュニティ |trans-title=Diaspora under globalisation: Networks and community of Indians in Japan| date=October 2008 |series=院人間発達環境学研究科報告書|publisher=Kobe University|volume=13680081|last=Sawa|first=Munenori}}

{{Immigration to Japan}}
{{NRI-PIO}}

[[Category:Demographics of Japan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Japan]]
[[Category:Indian expatriates in Japan| ]]
[[Category:Japanese people of Indian descent| ]]
[[Category:India–Japan relations]]
[[Category:Immigration to Japan]]

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Indians in Japan