在日ネパール人 जापानमा रहेका नेपालीहरु | |
---|---|
Total population | |
233,043 (In December, 2024) [1] [2] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Tokyo (Shinjuku) · Ōsaka · Aichi · Hamamatsu · Fukuoka · Naha · Yokohama · Sapporo · Kawasaki · Sagamihara · Chiba · Funabashi · Saitama · Kawaguchi | |
Languages | |
Nepali · Japanese · Maithili · Newari · Magar | |
Religion | |
Hinduism (majority) · Buddhism · Kirat Mundhum | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Nepali diaspora, Indians in Japan, Bangladeshis in Japan, Burmese people in Japan |
Nepalis in Japan consist of migrants from Nepal to Japan, including temporary expatriates and permanent residents, as well as their locally born descendants. In December, 2024, there are about 233,043 Nepalis living in Japan, which makes them the largest South Asian community in the country. [3]
Nepalis are the third largest foreign student community in Japan. The country remains a dream destination for many Nepali youth, with many paying over $14,000 to enter the country on a student visa. [4] [5]
Japan was a popular destination for Nepalese immigrants, as they could earn five times more than the average wage in Nepal, even in low-skilled manual jobs in the service sector. [6]
The Nepalese Association of Japan (NAJ) was founded in 1988 with the sole intent of protecting the rights and benefits of Nepalese people living in Japan, promoting understanding among them by providing a forum to bring them together and assisting develop friendly relationship between the countries of Japan and Nepal. [7]
Other organizations include NRN-NCC Japan, the Nepalese Student Association in Japan (NESAJ) and NUSAJ (another student body).
The largest concentration of Nepalis in Japan is in Tokyo, especially in the Shinjuku special ward, home to 3,838 Nepali citizens, or 1.1% of the ward's population in 2024. [8] As of 2019, Tokyo had a Nepali population of 27,598. Other wards and neighborhoods with a large Nepali population include Nishi-Kasai, known as Tokyo's Little India with a large population of Indian and Nepali citizens.
The prefectures with the most Nepali citizens in Japan as of 2019 are Tokyo with 27,598 Nepalis, Aichi with 9,093, Chiba with 6,801, Kanagawa with 6,425, Fukuoka with 6,379, Saitama with 6,282, Osaka with 3,053, Gunma with 2,978, Tochigi with 2,350, and Okinawa with 2,139; Tokyo, Gunma, Okinawa, Fukuoka, and Tochigi are the prefectures with the highest concentrations of Nepalis. [9] Nepalis are the largest group of foreign workers in Okinawa, making up 24.6% of foreign workers employed in the prefecture. [10]
In 2023, 243 Nepali residents were arrested for crime (excluding visa violations) and 231 Nepali visitors were arrested. Nepalis were 1.56% of arrests of foreign residents and 2.31% of foreign visitors. [11]
In 2025, 4 men, Indian and Nepalese nationals, robbed the president of a dispatch worker staffing company that one of them were working for, using spices to blind the man in his eyes. [12] Also in 2025, two Nepalese men, father and son, pretended to be Shohei Ohtani, and defrauded an elderly woman in her 80s of a significant amount of money. [13] [14] [15] Also in 2025, a Nepalese man was sentenced in court for sexual assault in a bus in Fukuoka City. [16]