Japan–Latin America Relations | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Latin America is geographically far from Japan, and the antipodes of Japan is found off the coast of southern Brazil. Despite the distance, Japan has maintained relations with Latin American countries in terms of labor migration and economic relations since the late nineteenth century.

Japan and Latin America have strong relations based on the history of Japanese migration. Among world regions, Latin America has the largest population of overseas Japanese and descendants of Japanese. Brazil is estimated to have 1.6 million Japanese and Japanese-Brazilians, while Peru (82,000), Argentina (30,000), Mexico (20,000), Bolivia (14,000), and Paraguay (7,000) also have Japanese communities (all estimates in 2000).

The Japanese began to migrate to Latin America in the late nineteenth century at the end of national isolation and the lift of the ban on foreign travel. The first mass migration began in the 1890s, when 132 Japanese resettled from Hawaii's sugar plantations to Guatemala. In 1897, a group of thirty-five Japanese built the Enomoto Colony in Chiapas, southern Mexico, to grow coffee; however, the enterprise eventually failed. Some ten thousand Japanese were hired as plantation and mining laborers in Mexico during the first decade of the twentieth century. Diplomatically, Japan and Mexico entered into the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation in 1888, which was the first equal treaty Japan was able to conclude with a non-Asian country. In 1899, 799 Japanese arrived at the port of Callao, Peru, as contract laborers in coastal plantations, marking the beginning of the era of migration to that country. Alberto Fujimori, who was the president of Peru from 1990 to 2000, is a son of Japanese immigrants.

Japanese migration to Brazil began in 1908 when a ship named Kasatomaru carried 791 Japanese to the port of Santos. They were hired as coffee plantation workers in the backcountry of Sao Paulo. After the initial contract expired, they either moved further inland to settle in Japanese enclaves or moved to Sao Paulo to engage in urban occupations as well as in farming on the urban fringe. The Brazilian government initially supported Japanese immigration to make up for a serious shortage of farm laborers, while the Japanese government assisted emigration to ease its domestic overpopulation. Japanese immigration continued until the early 1930s when it was prohibited by the Brazilian government. Under the new constitution of 1934, a quota system was introduced in accepting immigrants. This quota system appeared to resemble the Immigration Act of 1924 in the United States. Japanese immigration was prohibited partly because of an increasing number of Japanese immigrants while Brazil was suffering a labor surplus under a slow economy, and also because the Brazilian government began to encourage nationalism and disregard ethnic diversity.

Japanese migration to Latin America accelerated after Japan and the United States concluded the Gentlemen's Agreement (seven letters and memoranda between the U.S. Ambassador to Japan and the Japanese Foreign Minister in 1907 and 1908, under which Japan stopped issuing passports to those intending to go to the United States), and the United States enforced the 1924 Immigration Act cutting Japanese immigration. In the 1930s, however, the interest of the Japanese government shifted to Manchuria in northeastern China, where Japanese were sent as colonists. Total Japanese migration to Latin America prior to World War II totaled 244,000. Brazil received three quarters of the total Japanese immigrants to Latin America.

Although Japanese migration to Latin America stopped during World War II, mass migration resumed in the early 1950s. Many moved away to escape Japan's postwar devastation, and the Japanese government assisted emigration. Over 90 percent of the postwar emigrants chose Latin America. While Japanese migrants in the prewar period hoped to become rich and return home in glory, those who migrated to Latin America after the war intended to settle down. High economic growth in Japan in the 1960s increased Japan's demand for labor, and the emigration boom ended.

Japanese migrants brought Japanese culture to Latin America, most clearly in Brazil. Japanese immigrants introduced intensive farming systems and Asian crops; they also introduced the concept of agricultural cooperatives. The Agricultural Cooperative of Cotia, established by Japanese farmers in 1927, developed into one of the largest agricultural cooperatives in Brazil. Systematic missionary work by Buddhist sects and Japanese new religions also began in the postwar period, especially in the 1960s. Missionary activity not only increased the numbers of Japanese adherents but also attracted non-Japanese believers; in the early 2000s there are over thirty Japanese religious sects in Brazil.

The flow of labor migration was reversed in the 1980s, especially during the so-called bubble economy of the late 1980s, in which booming labor demands and high wages in Japan attracted foreign workers. A stagnant economy and hyperinflation in Brazil and other Latin American countries contributed to the influx of Latin Americans of Japanese descent into Japan. Immigration law permitted people of Japanese descent to stay and work legally. The money remitted from Japan, the amount of which is unknown, appears to have helped Latin American families and the economy.

In 1998, there were approximately 1.5 million officially registered foreigners in Japan, with Brazilians accounting for 14.7 percent and Peruvians 2.7 percent. A majority of those from Latin American countries entered Japan to engage in labor; they were the descendants of Japanese immigrants. The Latin American population in Japan continues to increase both in large cities and in less populated areas where there is a demand for factory workers. Latin American culture has made inroads in Japan.

Japan and Latin America are trade partners, but the shares of Latin America in Japan's overall trade are low in comparison with Asia, North America, and Europe. Japan's exports to Latin America accounted for 4.7 percent of its total export value in 1999, while Japan's imports from Latin America accounted for 3.1 percent of its total import value. Panama, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina are Japan's five leading trade partners from Latin America.

Japan was Brazil's third-largest export partner and was the destination for 6.7 percent of Brazil's exports. Japan was also the country of origin of 6.1 percent of Brazil's imports in 1995 and ranked fourth among Brazil's import trade partners. Japan exported machinery, automobiles, and auto parts and imported iron ore, aluminum, coffee beans, steel, paper pulp, and soybeans.

Japan was Mexico's third-largest export partner; exports to Japan accounted for 1.2 percent of Mexico's total exports. Imports from Japan accounted for 5 percent of Mexico's total imports, making Japan Mexico's second-largest import partner in 1995. Japan exported machinery, auto parts, and steel and imported machinery, oil, meat, and salt.

Japan was Peru's second-largest export partner and was the destination for 9.2 percent of Peru's exports; imports from Japan accounted for 7 percent of Peru's total imports, making Japan Peru's third-largest import partner in 1995. Japan imported copper ore and fish from Chile and exported automobiles and machinery to Chile. It is clear that Japan depends on the mineral and agricultural products of Latin America.

Japanese official development assistance (ODA) to Latin American countries amounted to $814 million in 1999, or 7.8 percent of the total. Latin American resources continue to attract Japanese investment, and direct investment, loans, and technical assistance from Japan have facilitated development projects.

A substantial amount of Japanese direct investment and government aid were directed to Brazil in the late twentieth century. Aluminum refineries were built at the mouth of the Amazon River. Eucalyptus plantations and paper pulp production were undertaken in Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo. The Serra dos Carajas Iron Mine project in eastern Amazonia has been partly financed by Japan. Japan has also helped with the reclamation of the inland savanna called cerrado. The Brazilian government launched a comprehensive development plan in the 1970s, which Japanese ODA helped finance. In addition to financial assistance, Japan has provided technical assistance, and a good portion of the products of the grain and coffee produced in newly developed large-scale farming regions that Japanese ODA has helped establish has been exported to Japan.

Those Japanese immigrants who departed from the port of Kobe for Brazil in 1908 spent nearly two months at sea. It is now possible to fly from Japan to Sao Paulo via Los Angeles in twenty-four hours. The distance between Japan and Latin America has been substantially reduced and there are many opportunities for cultural exchange. People in Japan enjoy Argentina's tango and Brazil's samba. There are Latin American soccer players and managers on Japanese teams. Japan-Latin America relations continue to improve in terms of the movement of people, goods, capital, information, and ideas in the early 2000s.