Indians in Japan

Imperial Japan

After the destruction wreaked on Yokohama in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the Indian traders there migrated to Kobe; from then on, Kobe became the center of Japan's Indian community's growth.^[9] 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.^[10]

Current era

Prior to 1990, the Indian community in Japan remained centred in the Kobe area. However, after 1990, the numbers in Tokyo began to show a sharp increase.^[11] Migrants who arrived in the 1990s included industrial trainees sent by Japanese car manufacturers which had set up factories in India.^[12] IT professionals and their families also came to Tokyo, settling primarily in Setagaya and Minato wards.^[13]

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.^[14]

While strategic alignment remains the primary driver of India's popularity, cultural interest is also rising, with bilateral initiatives aiming to facilitate the exchange of 500,000 personnel over five years to deepen people-to-people ties.^[15]

Tokyo

As of 2018^[update] 3,758 people of Indian ancestry, about 10% of the people of Indian origin in Japan and about 30% of the people of Indian origin in Tokyo Metropolis, reside in Edogawa, Tokyo. The Nishikasai [ja] area of Edogawa Ward has a high concentration of Indian origin families. The Indian community increased when engineers came to Japan to fix the Y2K bug. Indian people settled in Nishikasai due to the proximity to the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, which connects to their places of employment.^[21] India International School of Japan (IISJ) and Global Indian International School Tokyo caters to the Indian expatriate community.^[21]

Kobe

The Indian community in Kobe has developed primarily since the late 20th century, as professionals, traders, and business owners from India settled in the Kansai region. Kobe’s role as an international port city and its proximity to Osaka made it an attractive location for commerce, manufacturing, and information technology-related work. Over time, a small but stable Indian population emerged, supported by community organizations, cultural associations, and religious institutions, reflecting the broader pattern of Indian migration to western Japan.^[22]

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.^[24]

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.^[25] 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.^[26]

Domestic violence

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.^[35] Many Indian women to Japan rarely stay for career advancement, but rather prefer staying to become a housewife.^[36]

Illegal immigration

A number of people born in Japan to asylum seekers or illegal immigrants have reported being told to return to India.^[37]

Security tracking by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and local border agencies reveals an operational shift where third-country nationals—primarily from neighboring South Asian countries facing stricter immigration barriers—exploit sophisticated syndicates to acquire genuine Indian identities via counterfeit domestic breeder documents like Aadhaar cards.^[38] This technique, known as "fraudulently obtained genuine passports" (FOGs), allows non-Indian impostors or look-alikes to masquerade under a nationality that generally commands lower scrutiny from the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.^[39]

Racism

There have been complaints about facing Islamophobia and racial profiling.^[36] Islam is considered a foreign culture within the framework of Japanese multiculturalism and is treated as such by most Japanese people. Large scale opposition to Muslim migration began in the 1990s, albeit targeting those from the Middle East, and Iranians and Pakistanis in particular.^[40] In early 2024 an Indian, along with a Black American and Pakistani, sued the Japanese government for racial discrimination; "There's a very strong image that 'foreigner' equals 'criminal'," Pakistan-born Syed Zain told Japanese reporters.^[41]