As of December 2024, there were 53,974 Indian nationals living in Japan.[1][2] In the 21st century, Indian migration to Japan has undergone a major increase, and Japan is seeing an influx of migrants from the South Asian nation.[4] Indian nationals are the third largest nationality group from the subcontinent, preceded by Nepali and Burmese nationals and followed by Sri Lankans.[5]
History
Portuguese colonial voyage to Japan
The earliest known Indian to visit Japan was the Buddhist monk Bodhisena, who arrived in 736 upon the invitation of Emperor Shomu.[6] One of the earliest Indians in Japan was a Buddhist monk from the city of Madurai, who ultimately played a key role in development of Chinese Buddhism and the transmission of Chinese Buddhism to Japan.[7]
The history of modern Indian settlement in Japan goes back more than a century. As early as 1872, a few Indian businessmen and their families had settled in Yokohama as well as Okinawa.[8] In 1891, Tata, then a small trading firm, established a branch in Kobe.[9] By 1901, Japanese government statistics recorded 30 people from British India living in Japan.[10] Local statistics of the Hyōgo Prefecture government showed 59 Indians living in the prefecture in 1905, among whom all but one were men.[11]
Japanese operation in South Asia in 1942. Nagumo's forces are shown at the bottom of the map.
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.[12]
Indians in Malaya (modern day Malaysia and Singapore) were often treated more favorably by the Japanese due to the importance of India in the global war plans of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. In comparison, Chinese were sidelined due to the ongoing war between Chinese and Japanese forces in China.[13]
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. Three years after the Partition of India, their numbers had recovered somewhat to 255.[14]
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.[15] Migrants who arrived in the 1990s included industrial trainees sent by Japanese car manufacturers which had set up factories in India.[16] IT professionals and their families also came to Tokyo, settling primarily in Setagaya and Minato wards.[17]
In 2016, the two sides signed the "Manufacturing Skill Transfer Promotion Programme" agreement for training 30,000 people over 10 years. 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.[18]
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.[19] The first batch of construction workers from India arrived in Japan in December 2019.[20]
Indians represent a growing and notable influence in the world of IT.[21]As of 2000[update], there were also around 800 Indians working in the IT industry in Japan, up from 120 in 1993.[22] Kenichi Yoshida, a director of the Softbridge Solutions Japan Co., stated in late 2009 that the Indian engineers are becoming the backbone of Japan's IT industry and that "it is important for Japanese industry to work together with the India."[23][24] Japan has been increasingly looking to India as a source for IT workers and talent.[25]
Japan also become the new destination for Indian nurses in 2023, with salaries that are over eight times higher than those found in India.[26] Many Indian nurses in Japan come from the private sector because private hospitals in India often offer lower salaries than government hospitals.[27] Indian nurses working in Japan can save over 1 lakh per month.[28]
Others are engaged in trading, importing the Indian handicrafts, garments, precious stones, and marine products, and exporting Japanese electronic goods, textiles, automotive parts, and jewellery.[8]
As of 2018[update] 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.[30] India International School of Japan (IISJ) and Global Indian International School Tokyo caters to the Indian expatriate community.[30]
A bust of Mahatma Gandh[29]i was installed in Nitta No. 6 Park in the Nishi-Kasai area of Edogawa City, Tokyo, as a gift from the Government of India and a symbol of Japan–India friendship and goodwill. The bronze sculpture, including its pedestal, stands approximately 1.8 m high and 0.6 m wide, and was created by Indian sculptor Naresh Kumawat. The unveiling ceremony took place on 28 July 2024, attended by India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, India’s Ambassador to Japan Sibi George, and Edogawa Ward Mayor Takeshi Saito, among others. The location was chosen for its significance to the large Indian community living in the area. The installation was intended to serve as a familiar landmark for local residents and as a symbol of the continuing cultural ties between Japan and India.
Kobe
Kobe Jain Temple
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.[32]
The Kobe Jain Temple[33] is a Jain place of worship located in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Established by members of the local Jain community, the temple serves as a religious and cultural center for Jain families living in the Kansai region. It follows traditional Jain practices and rituals and is primarily used for prayer, community gatherings, and religious observances. The temple reflects the presence of a small but active Jain diaspora in Japan and contributes to the broader landscape of Indian religious institutions in the country.
Cuisine
An Indian restaurant in Tokyo
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 and Sri Lankans, the latter of whom number around 35,000 and make the third largest South Asian ethnic group after Nepalis and Indians.[5][34]
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.[35] The Jains are generally concentrated around Okachi-machi in Taitō, Tokyo.[36]
Sikhism
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.[37] 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.[38]
Indians who send their children to school in Japan generally select English-medium schools.
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.[39]
The leading motivations for Indian tourists to Japan are eating Japanese cuisine, sightseeing, shopping, walking around and experiencing Japanese culture and history.[43] March 2024 marked the highest ever number yet of inbound tourists from India to Japan.[44] Indian films have periodically used Japan as a filming backdrop, the most iconic being Love in Tokyo (1966), Youngistaan (2014) and Tamasha (2015) The locations are tourism spots for Indians visiting Japan. Filming locations[45] for Love in Tokyo[46] on the 50 year anniversary of the movie.
Community organizations and activists
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.[11] In 2000, Indian expatriates living in Edogawa, Tokyo, founded the Indian Community of Edogawa.[36] Others include the Indian Community Activities Tokyo, whose Diwali celebration draws 2,500 participants, as well as the Indian Merchants Association of Yokohama.[22] In 2017, the All-Japan Association of Indians (AJAI) was established with support from several Indian associations in Japan, with a singular focus on serving the community through welfare activities .
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.[47]
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.[48]
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.[49]
Demographic Decline and Immigration Debates
Domestic violence
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.[50] As in the native Japanese culture, many Indian women to Japan rarely stay for career advancement, but rather prefer staying to become a housewife.[51]
Illegal immigration
A number of people born in Japan to asylum seekers or illegal immigrants have reported being told to return to India.[52]
Racism
There have been complaints about facing Islamophobia and racial profiling.[51] 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.[53] 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.[54]
12Azuma 2008, p.258; she lists the religions and languages in alphabetical order therein
↑Wadhwa, Megha (2021). Indian Migrants in Tokyo – A Study of Socio-Cultural, Religious, and Working Worlds (1sted.). London, New York: Routledge. p.2. ISBN978-1-03-273418-7.
↑Harding, Christopher (31 July 2025). "Art, Pan-Asianism and Arai Kanpō". Arts of Japan. Retrieved 15 December 2025. Indian ideas had arrived in Japan back in the sixth century, in the form of various schools of Buddhism travelling via China and Korea. They were followed, in 736, by the first known Indian ever to visit Japan: a Buddhist scholar and monk by the name of Bodhisena. While in Japan, Bodhisena met Gyōki, a renowned Japanese monk and philanthropist. It was later said that the two men came to recognise one another as reincarnations of people who had been present at Vulture Peak when the Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra. They had been destined to meet again like this.
↑"History." Little Angels International School. Retrieved on 9 March 2015.
↑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.
Waterhouse, David (1991), "Where did Toragaku come from?", in Marett, Allan (ed.), Musica Asiatica, vol.6, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.73–94, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511896071.006, ISBN978-0-521-39050-7
Singhvi, L. M. (2000), "Asia-Pacific Region"(PDF), Report of the High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora, New Delhi: Ministry of External Affairs, pp.273–288, archived from the original(PDF) on 6 February 2012
Minamino, Takeshi; Sawa, Munenori (2005), 在日インド人社会の変遷--定住地神戸を事例として[Changes in Indian society in Japan—focused on the case of Kobe residents](PDF), 兵庫地理 (in Japanese), vol.50, pp.4–15, archived from the original(PDF) on 8 December 2015, retrieved 25 September 2009
Azuma, Masako (2008), "Indians in Tokyo and its vicinity", in Kesavapany, K.; Mani, A.; Ramasamy, Palanisamy (eds.), Rising India and Indian communities in East Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp.255–269, ISBN978-981-230-799-6
Green, Nile (2013). "Shared infrastructures, informational asymmetries: Persians and Indians in Japan, c.1890–1930". Journal of Global History. 8 (3): 414–435. doi:10.1017/S1740022813000351. ISSN1740-0228. S2CID162765204.
Sawa, Munenori (April 2008), "Indian society in Japan" 日本のインド人社会, in Yamashita, Kiyomi (ed.), エスニック・ワールド：世界と日本のエスニック社会[Ethnic World: Global and Japanese ethnic societies], Akashi Shoten, ISBN978-4-7503-2758-7, OCLC226814973
Sawa, Munenori (October 2008), グローバリゼーション下のディアスポラ —在日インド人のネットワークとコミュニティ[Diaspora under globalisation: Networks and community of Indians in Japan](PDF), 院人間発達環境学研究科報告書, vol.13680081, Kobe University, archived from the original(PDF) on 3 June 2022, retrieved 28 September 2009
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