Japanese Argentines or Japanese Argentinians, are Argentine citizens of Japanese ancestry, comprising Japanese immigrants and their descendants born in Argentina. Japanese migration to Argentina began in 1908 with the arrival of immigrants from Okinawa and Kagoshima. The first Japanese entered the country via Brazil, 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, 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 ofBelén de Escobar 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 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 period, most ethnic Japanese decided to stay in Argentina. Additional immigration occurred around the 1950s.
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 World War II, 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.
Prior to World War II there were four Japanese newspapers in Argentina; the United States government influenced the Argentine government to close these publications in 1944.
