Japanese Argentines or Japanese Argentinians ( es, nipo-argentinos; ja, 日系アルゼンチン人, ''Nikkei Aruzenchin-jin''), are Argentine citizens of Japanese ancestry, comprising Japanese immigrants and their descendants born in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. Japanese migration to Argentina began in 1908 with the arrival of immigrants from

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

and

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

. The first Japanese entered the country via

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and succeeding groups of immigrants tended to reach Argentina through the neighboring nations. In the pre-war years, Japanese Argentines were concentrated in urban small businesses, especially dry cleaning and cafes in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

(see :es: Café El Japonés), while some worked as domestic servants, factory workers and longshoremen. A minority of Japanese Argentines also engaged in horticulture, floriculture and fishery. There is an important Japanese community in the city of

Belén de Escobar Belén de Escobar (or Escobar) is a city in the urban conurbation of Greater Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative seat for Escobar Partido. The city has an important Japanese Argentine Japanese Argentines or ...

where they settled and specialised in floriculture. Between the 1960s and 1970s, more Japanese immigrants arrived in the country. Many were attracted by the economic opportunities in agriculture. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs there are 23,000 nikkei and 11,711 Japanese nationals in Argentina for a total of 34,711 people.

History

There were about 6,000 ethnic Japanese in Argentina in the late 1930s. The Argentine government was friendly with Japan up until the twilight of World War II, when pressure from the United States and the losses by the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

resulted in loss of diplomatic relations and the Argentine government declaring war against Japan and therefore causing Japanese institutions in the country to close. In the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

period, most ethnic Japanese decided to stay in Argentina.Masterson, Daniel M. and Sayaka Funada-Classen. ''

The Japanese in Latin America ''The Japanese in Latin America'' is a 2004 book published by the University of Illinois Press about Japanese Latin Americans. The author is Daniel Masterson, while Sayaka Funada-Classen gave research assistance related to the Japanese language. T ...

''.

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

, 2004. , 9780252071447. p
146
Additional immigration occurred around the 1950s.Masterson, Daniel M. and Sayaka Funada-Classen. ''

''.

, 2004. , 9780252071447. p
146147

Culture

In regions with a substantial Japanese population in Buenos Aires, institutions such as Japanese associations and Japanese language schools were established by early Japanese immigrants. During the United States-Japanese conflict of

, Argentina remained neutral until 1943, which limited the impact of war on the lives of Japanese Argentines. However, restrictions included the ban on meetings, Japanese education, newspaper publication, as well as a freeze on Japanese assets—which remained effective between 1944 and 1946.

Education

There is a bilingual Spanish-Japanese private school,

Instituto Privado Argentino-Japonés Instituto Privado Argentino-Japonés (IPAJ), also known as , is a bilingual Spanish-Japanese elementary and middle school in Buenos Aires. It is the only school permitted by the Argentine Ministry of Education to require students to take Japanese, ...

or Nichia Gakuin. The origins date from 1922.Nogués, Germinal. ''Buenos Aires, ciudad secreta'' (Obras Diversas).

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase ...

Grupo Editorial Argentina, May 1, 2015. , 9789500752312.

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

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"Misceláneas. En ''Yatay'' 261 se halla el único colegio japonés de Buenos Aires, cuyos orígenes se remontan a 1922 y opera como escuela bilingüe." The Asociación Cultural y Educativa Japonesa/Colegio Japonés (ブエノスアイレス日本人学校, ''Buenosu Airesu Nihonjin Gakkō''), an overseas school for Japanese national children, is located in Buenos Aires and has elementary and junior high school education.海外子女教育のご案内
" Embassy of Japan in Argentina (在アルゼンチン日本国大使館　/ Embajada del Japón en Argentina). Retrieved on January 21, 2017. "設立：1961年所在地：LA PAMPA 3520, (1430) BUENOS AIRES " It was established in 1961.

Media

Prior to

, there were four Japanese newspapers in Argentina; the United States government influenced the Argentine government to close these publications in 1944.

Notable individuals

Mario Alberto Ishii Mario Alberto Ishii (born 22 June 1951) is an Argentine politician of the Justicialist Party, currently serving as ''intendente'' (mayor) of José C. Paz, a '' partido'' in the Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aire ...

, politician and mayor of José C. Paz * María Kodama, writer with a Japanese father *

Jessica Michibata Jessica Michibata is a Japanese fashion model. Personal life Michibata was born in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese mother and an Argentine father of Spanish and Italian descent. Michibata was married to British Formula One driver Jenso ...

, model active in Japan *

Sonoya Mizuno Sonoya Mizuno (born 1 July 1986) is a Japanese-British actress, model, and ballet dancer. She notably starred in the miniseries ''Maniac'' and the '' Game of Thrones'' prequel series ''House of the Dragon'', and appeared in all the works direct ...

, actress * María Eugenia Suárez, actress * Alicia Terada, politician and congresswoman * Laura Russo, politician and congresswoman

References