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Indians in Japan

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Indians in Japan
जापान में भारतीय
日本にいるインド人
Total population
53,974 (in December 2024) Indian nationals[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama
Languages
Religion

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

As of early 2026, there are approximately 55,000 Indian nationals residing in Japan.[4] Within Japan's total foreign population of nearly 4 million, India ranks as the 12th largest immigrant group overall, trailing significantly behind Nepal (approx. 273,000) but remaining larger than the populations of Pakistan and Bangladesh.[5][6]

History

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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]

Imperial Japan

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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

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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]

Business and employment

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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.

Indians in Japan largely fill more professional roles due to a combination of the language barrier and lower salaries for the specified skilled visa, for which there are only 434 Indians. There are far more students.[16] The first batch of construction workers from India arrived in Japan in December 2019.[17]

Japan has been increasingly looking to India as a source for IT workers and talent.[18]

Japan also become the new destination for Indian nurses in 2023, with salaries that are over eight times higher than those found in India.[19] Many Indian nurses in Japan come from the private sector because private hospitals in India often offer lower salaries than government hospitals.[20]

Communities

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Tokyo

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As of 2018 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

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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]

Cuisine

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The majority of the Indian restaurants in Japan are a "fusion" of Nepali and Indian cuisine, who are by far the largest South Asian ethnic group in Japan, but many restaurants are also run by Indians.[23]

Religion

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Jainism

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Kobe Jain Temple

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

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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]

Education

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India International School in Japan, Tokyo
Global Indian International School, Tokyo Campus

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.[27]

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.[28] They follow the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education curriculum. 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.[27]

Jeevarani "Rani Sanku" Angelina[29] established the Little Angels International School (now Musashi International School Tokyo), which caters to Japanese students.[30]

Community organizations and activists

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India Club in Kobe
India Club in Kobe

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.[8] In 2000, Indian expatriates living in Edogawa, Tokyo, founded the Indian Community of Edogawa.[31]

Jagmohan Chandrani, head of the Edogawa Indian Association, want to increase the amount of Indians in Japan in the future, and views Nishi-Kasai as a model for all neighbourhoods in the future. He says the future of Japan is cosmopolitan.[32]

Lekh Juneja, is the chairman and CEO of Kameda Seika, and he advocates for increasing immigration to Japan. He criticise Japanese mindset and culture. He doesn't think it's enough that an employee only speaks or write Japanese.[33]

Yogendra 'Yogi' Puranik, the first person of Indian origin to be elected to office in Japan, says that Japanese people will have to change in order to adapt to an increasing number of foreigners.[34]

Other

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Domestic violence

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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

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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

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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]

Notable people

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Arata Izumi
Anastasia Malhotra

See also

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Related diaspora groups:

Geopolitical topics:

Culture:

References

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  1. ↑ "【在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計）統計表】 | 出入国在留管理庁".
  2. ↑ 令和6年末現在における在留外国人数について
  3. 1 2 Azuma 2008, p. 258; she lists the religions and languages in alphabetical order therein
  4. ↑ "Number of Foreign Residents as of the End of 2024," Immigration Services Agency of Japan, March 2025.
  5. ↑ "Foreign residents in Japan hit record 3.95 million," The Japan Times, 10 October 2025.
  6. ↑ "Statistics on Foreign Residents," Immigration Services Agency of Japan, October 2025.
  7. ↑ Minamino & Sawa 2005, p. 4
  8. 1 2 Minamino & Sawa 2005, p. 6
  9. ↑ Sawa & Minamino 2007, p. 15
  10. ↑ Minamino & Sawa 2005, p. 7
  11. ↑ Azuma 2008, p. 256
  12. ↑ Azuma 2008, p. 258
  13. ↑ Sawa & Minamino 2007, p. 66
  14. ↑ "India, Japan sign agreement to give skilled Indian workers access to Japanese job market". Hindustan Times. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  15. ↑ "15th India-Japan Annual Summit Joint Statement". Ministry of External Affairs, India. 29 August 2025.
  16. ↑ "India unlikely to solve Japan's labor shortage". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  17. ↑ Koshi, Luke (4 December 2019). "1st batch of construction workers from India arrives in Japan on paid internship program". The News Minute. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  18. ↑ Singh, Supriya (12 July 2022). "Japanese tech titans looking for Indian solution to talent crunch". The Japan Times. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  19. ↑ Perappadan, Bindu Shajan (30 July 2023). "Japan is now the new work destination for Indian nurses". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  20. ↑ "International Nurse Migration from India: Time to Say Goodbye?(Yuko TSUJITA)". Institute of Developing Economies (in Japanese). Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  21. 1 2 Ikeda, Tsukuru (20 May 2018). "Tokyo's Nishikasai a second home for Indians in Japan". The Statesman. Kolkata. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  22. ↑ "FEATURE: Indian community in Kobe built by those who fled 1923 Kanto quake". Japan Wire by KYODO NEWS. 5 June 2023. Archived from the original on 20 August 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
  23. ↑ "在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計） 在留外国人統計 月次 2023年6月 | ファイル | 統計データを探す". 政府統計の総合窓口 (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  24. ↑ Azuma 2008, p. 259
  25. ↑ Azuma 2008, p. 264
  26. ↑ Azuma 2008, pp. 263–264
  27. 1 2 Sawa & Minamino 2007, p. 21
  28. ↑ Sawa & Minamino 2007, p. 19
  29. ↑ "History." Little Angels International School. Retrieved on 9 March 2015.
  30. ↑ Fackler, Martin (2 January 2008). "Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India's Schools" (PDF). The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015. 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.
  31. ↑ Azuma 2008, p. 262
  32. ↑ "Nishi-Kasai's Little India is a model of expat integration | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis". The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 20 April 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  33. ↑ Sturdee, Simon (15 December 2024). "Indian-born CEO of Japanese company says nation needs immigration to thrive". The Japan Times. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  34. ↑ "Yogendra 'Yogi' Puranik: The first Indian voice in Tokyo politics". Japan Up Close. 12 May 2025.
  35. ↑ Wadhwa, Megha (3 January 2024). "How patriarchy perpetuates among Tokyo's Indian migrants". The Japan Times. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  36. 1 2 Christopher, Stephen (2022). "Indian Migrants in Tokyo: A Study of Socio-Cultural, Religious, and Working Worlds". Social Science Japan Journal. 25: 197–200. doi:10.1093/ssjj/jyab044. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  37. ↑ "Japan forces a harsh choice on children of migrant families".
  38. ↑ "Two foreign nationals arrested for attempting to travel abroad using fake Indian passports". The Hindu. 19 December 2025. Retrieved 16 May 2026.
  39. ↑ "QUESTION NO.3778 FAKE/FORGED PASSPORTS". Ministry of External Affairs (India). 25 March 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2026.
  40. ↑ Yamashita, Yoko (January 2022). "Islam and Muslims in "non-religious" Japan: caught in between prejudice against Islam and performative tolerance". International Journal of Asian Studies. 19 (1): 81–97. doi:10.1017/S1479591421000012. ISSN 1479-5914.
  41. ↑ "India, Pak, US-Born Residents Sue Japan Government Over Alleged Racial Profiling". NDTV.com. Retrieved 29 May 2024.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Japanese people of Indian descent at Wikimedia Commons
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