Ethnic groups of Japan


According to census statistics in 2018, 97.8% of the population of Japan are Japanese, with the remainder being foreign nationals residing in Japan. The number of foreign workers has been increased dramatically in recent years, due to the aging population and the lack of labor forces. A news article in 2018 states that approximately 1 out of 10 young people residing in Tokyo are foreign nationals.

Demographic

About 2.2% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign citizens. Of these, according to 2018 data from the Japanese government, the principal groups are as follows.
The above statistics do not include the approximately 30,000 U.S. military stationed in Japan, nor do they account for illegal immigrants. The statistics also do not take into account minority groups who are Japanese citizens such as the Ainu, the Ryukyuans, naturalized citizens from backgrounds including but not limited to Korean and Chinese, and citizen descendants of immigrants. The total legal resident population of 2012 is estimated at 127.6 million.

Native Japanese people

Ainu

- The Ainu, an indigenous people, native to Hokkaido and northeastern Honshu. They are also found in Russia, in Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, both formerly part of the Japanese Empire, and the Kamchatka Peninsula. They possess an alphabet and language distinct from modern Japanese, as they do not use kanji but the katakana alphabet. They traditionally practiced tattooing and followed religious beliefs that are considered animism.

Bonin Islanders

- The Bonin Islanders are ethnic group native to the Bonin Islands, also called the Ogasawara Islands, part of Tokyo Prefecture. They are descendants of Europeans, Polynesians, and Kanaks who settled Hahajima and Chichijima in the 18th century. They speak a dialect of English, called Bonin English, and have traditionally practiced Christianity. Legal status of Bonin Islanders passed back and forth between the United States and Japan over the years and, during and after World War II, many Bonin Islanders were forced to leave their homes. Some immigrated to the United States, finding it easier to assimilate into an English-speaking Western culture than a Japanese-speaking Asian one. Today, roughly 200 Bonin Islanders remain in Japan, some still bearing the surnames of the original 18th-century settlers.

Yamato

- The Yamato people are the dominant native ethnic group of Japan and because of their numbers, the term Yamato is often used interchangeably with the term Japanese. However, other ethnic groups native to Japan, who are genetically distinct from the Yamato, do exist.

Ryukyuans

Ryukyuans - The Ryukyuans are an indigenous people, native to the Ryukyu Islands. There are different subgroups of the Ryukyuan ethnic group, them being the Okinawan, Amami, Miyako, Yaeyama and Yonaguni peoples. Their languages make up the Ryukyuan languages, considered to be one of the two branches of the Japonic language family, the other being Japanese and its dialects.. The Ryukyuans have a specific culture with some matriarchal elements, native religion, and cuisine which had fairly late introduction of rice.

East Asian

Chinese

are the one of the largest ethnic minorities in Japan. They comprise 0.52% of Japan's population. Chinese people are mostly concentrated in the Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama areas.

Koreans

are the fifth largest ethnic minorities in the country. Most of them arrived in the early 20th century.
As of 2012, there are 530,421 Koreans in Japan who are not Japanese citizens.

Mongolians

Orok

Nivkh

A small number of Nivkh people resettled in Hokkaido when Japan evacuated southern Sakhalin at the end of World War II.

North American

Americans

South American

Brazilians

There is a significant community of Brazilians in Japan, which is home to the second largest Brazilian community outside of Brazil. They also constitute the largest number of Portuguese speakers in Asia, even greater than those of formerly Portuguese East Timor, Macao and Goa combined. Likewise, Brazil maintains its status as home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.

Peruvians

Like Brazilians in Japan, there are Peruvians in Japan, some of them lived in Peru when the country opened their doors for foreign workers. Alberto Fujimori is one example of Peruvian Japanese.

South Asian

South Asians in Japan live mostly in Tokyo.

Bangladeshis

Indians

Nepalis

Pakistanis

Southeast Asian

Filipinos

formed a population of 202,592 individuals at year-end 2007, making them Japan's third-largest foreign community along with Brazilians, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice. In 2006, Japanese/Filipino marriages were the most frequent of all international marriages in Japan. As of March 12, 2011, the Filipino population of Japan was 305,972.

Burmese

Vietnamese

More than 300,000 Vietnamese people are living in Japan by October 2018.

Indonesians

North African and Middle Eastern

Iranians

Kurds

Jews

Turks

European and Central Asian

British

French

Irish

Russians

sub-Saharan African

Nigerians