Sri Lankans in Japan

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Sri Lankans in Japan
在日スリランカ人
Zainichi Surirankajin
Total population
46,949 (in December, 2023) [1] [2]
Regions with significant populations
Tokyo, Chiba, Funabashi, Kawaguchi, Kawasaki, Sagamihara, Saitama, Yokohama
Languages
Sinhala, Tamil, English, Japanese
Religion
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity

Sri Lankans in Japan consist of Sri Lankan migrants that come to Japan, as well as their descendants. In December 2023, there were 46,949 Sri Lankans living in Japan. They are the fourth largest nationality group from South Asia after Nepalis, Burmese and Indians. [1] [3]

Contents

History

Austronesian proto-historic and historic maritime trade network, along with other trade networks in the Indian Ocean Austronesian maritime trade network in the Indian Ocean.png
Austronesian proto-historic and historic maritime trade network, along with other trade networks in the Indian Ocean

Ancient

Japan has been a destination for South Asian travellers and merchants for hundreds of years. South Asia and Japan have maintained relations through direct contact and indirect contact via the Sinosphere and South East Asia. [5] [6]

There is evidence that Austronesian traders engaged in a trade and communications network in the eastern Indian Ocean (in particular the coasts of the south east of India and Sri Lanka), South East Asia (including Taiwan) and Japan as far back as 5000 BC. [7] [8]

Itsukushima shirne, located in Miyajima near Hiroshima, an example of the confluence of Shintoism, Buddhism and Hinduism in Japan. 20181111 Itsukushima Shrine torii-2.jpg
Itsukushima shirne, located in Miyajima near Hiroshima, an example of the confluence of Shintoism, Buddhism and Hinduism in Japan.

Sri Lanka was a major source of Buddhism dissemination through the Pali Canon and the creation of Theravada Buddhism, one of the three sources of Buddhism along with Chinese Buddhism (Mahayana) and Vajrayana. [9] Though often overlooked in western academia, Buddhism was transmitted through trade routes across South East Asia in addition to the Sinophere. [10] As in Sri Lanka, there remains a great deal of confluence between Buddhism and Hinduism, which are integrated into Shintoism in Japan. [11] One of the earliest South Asians in Japan was a monk from the intellectual city of Madurai, who ultimately played a key role in the development of Chinese Buddhism and its transmission to Japan. [12]

Imperial Japan

Japanese operation in South Asia in 1942. Nagumo's forces are shown at the bottom of the map. Pacific War - Southern Asia 1942 - Map.jpg
Japanese operation in South Asia in 1942. Nagumo's forces are shown at the bottom of the map.

Ceylonese supporters of the Indian independence movement formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the so called Indian National Army which had been established by Nazi Germany, directly under Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and based themselves in Japanese Malaya. A plan was made to transport them to Ceylon by submarine, to begin the independence struggle, but this was abortive.

British Indian naval units being inspected in Hiroo, Japan Major General David Cowan inspects Indian troops in Kure, Japan, 1946.jpg
British Indian naval units being inspected in Hiroo, Japan

Ceylon, at the time the headquarters of the South East Asian division of the British Navy and a major base for British military operations in South Asia, was viewed as a desirable base for the Empire of Japan. Both the Japanese and the Indian National Army considered the Ceylonese to be "local Indians". [13]

Modern

A number of the Indians from South East Asian were historically categorised as "Indians" but otherwise have a lineage to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans were also often chosen to work in administrative roles in the East India Companies due to being colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch and British at an earlier stage and having a higher literacy rate. [14] Trade was often imported and exported from Nagasaki to Ceylon by the Dutch East India Company, such as kimonos [15] and copper. [16]

Cuisine

Indian food is very popular in Japan. [17]

Historically many spices were imported into Japan as these spices could only be grown in certain climates found in Southern China (including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau), Southern India (including Sri Lanka) and South East Asia. [18] The various spices and cultural infusion that were imported along the same trade routes from South Asia into South East Asia led to the formation of cuisines in South East Asia heavily influenced by South Asia as far back as at least 2000 years ago, of which many of them are eaten in Japan. [19]

Curry

Indian curry is one of the most popular dishes in Japan, sometimes labelled as the most popular dish of Japan. [20] Curry (カレー, karē) is a loanword from Tamil (கறி kaṟi) via Indian English, popularized by naval contact between the Japan and the British East India Company. [21] [22] There are also curries found in Japan that were developed in ancient times in South East Asia that were derived from South Asia. [19]

It is now considered to be a national dish of Japan and dishes from various parts of India are often sold in convenience stores and restaurants. [23] The majority of the Indian restaurants in Japan are a "fusion" of Nepali and Indian cuisine, who are by far the largest Indian 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 Indian ethnic group after Nepalis and Indians. [24] [25]

The majority of Japanese will eat Japanese curry purchased from supermarkets and convenience stores, or from one of the numerous Japanese chain restaurants that specialize in curry. [26]

Tea

Furthermore, though tea is originally native to East Asia, tea is also often drunk in Japan as black tea or milk tea using tea leaves grown in South Asia (such as Darjeeling, Assam or Ceylon). [27] Black tea is increasingly becoming more popular than green tea in Japan. [28]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "【在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計）統計表】 | 出入国在留管理庁".
  2. ↑ "在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計） 在留外国人統計 月次 2022年12月 | ファイル | 統計データを探す".
  3. ↑ "在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計） 在留外国人統計 月次 2022年12月 | ファイル | 統計データを探す".
  4. ↑ Manguin, Pierre-Yves (2016). "Austronesian Shipping in the Indian Ocean: From Outrigger Boats to Trading Ships". In Campbell, Gwyn (ed.). Early Exchange between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 51–76. ISBN   9783319338224. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Gupta, Sunil (1999–2000). "From Eastern Indian Ocean to the Yellow sea interaction sphere: Indo-Pacific beads in Yayoi Japan" (PDF). Purātattva. 30: 93–97.
  6. ↑ Katsuhiko, Oga; Gupta, Sunil (1 January 2000). "The Far East, Southeast and South Asia: Indo-Pacific Beads from Yayoi Tombs as Indicators of Early Maritime Exchange". South Asian Studies. 16 (1): 73–88. doi:10.1080/02666030.2000.9628581. ISSN   0266-6030. S2CID   191984538.
  7. ↑ Solheim, Wilhelm G. (1996). "The Nusantao and north-south dispersals". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. 15: 101-109.
  8. ↑ Manguin, Pierre-Yves (2016). "Austronesian Shipping in the Indian Ocean: From Outrigger Boats to Trading Ships". In Campbell, Gwyn (ed.). Early Exchange between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 51–76. ISBN   9783319338224.
  9. ↑ Prebish, Charles S. (1975), Buddhism – a modern perspective , University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN   0271011858, OCLC   1103133
  10. ↑ Holcombe, Charles (1999). "Trade-Buddhism: Maritime Trade, Immigration, and the Buddhist Landfall in Early Japan". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 119 (2): 280–292. doi:10.2307/606111. ISSN   0003-0279. JSTOR   606111.
  11. ↑ "Buddhism and Hinduism". obo. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  12. ↑ Aiyar, Pallavi (2018-06-09). "The oldest recorded Indian in Japan impacts the country's culture even today". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  13. ↑ "INA as seen by a Ceylonese recruit". Hindustan Times. 2006-04-17. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  14. ↑ Balakrishnan, Preveena (2022-07-12). "Malaya's Ceylonese Connection - Penang Monthly". penangmonthly.com. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  15. ↑ "The Fascination with Japanese-Styled Gowns: A Quantitative Perspective on Ready-Made Garments at the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century". Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  16. ↑ Glamann, Kristof (July 1953). "The Dutch East India company's trade in Japanese copper, 1645–1736". Scandinavian Economic History Review. 1 (1): 41–79. doi:10.1080/03585522.1953.10409899. ISSN   0358-5522.
  17. ↑ Dhillon, Amrit (2019-12-08). "Changing tastes: why is Japanese food so popular in India?". The National. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  18. ↑ "Did You Know? The Exchange of Spices along the Silk Roads | Silk Roads Programme". en.unesco.org. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  19. 1 2 Wang, Weiwei; Nguyen, Khanh Trung Kien; Zhao, Chunguang; Hung, Hsiao-chun (2023-07-21). "Earliest curry in Southeast Asia and the global spice trade 2000 years ago". Science Advances. 9 (29): eadh5517. Bibcode:2023SciA....9H5517W. doi:10.1126/sciadv.adh5517. ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   10361603 . PMID   37478176.
  20. ↑ Bhaumik, Sita Kuratomi (2020-10-13). "How 'Indian curry' became Japan's favourite dish". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  21. ↑ "kari – A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary". Archived from the original on 23 June 2020.
  22. ↑ Taylor, Anna-Louise (11 October 2013). "Curry: Where did it come from?". BBC Food. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  23. ↑ "India gets a taste for Japanese curry | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News". NHK WORLD. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  24. ↑ "在留外国人統計（旧登録外国人統計） 在留外国人統計 月次 2023年6月 | ファイル | 統計データを探す". 政府統計の総合窓口 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  25. ↑ KHAREL, Dipesh (2022-05-16). "Vulnerability and Pathways to Precarity: How COVID-19 Has Affected Japan's Nepali Immigrants". Social Science Japan Journal. 25 (2): 229–246. doi:10.1093/ssjj/jyac007. ISSN   1369-1465.
  26. ↑ NEWS, KYODO. "FEATURE:Japanese chain "CoCoIchi" making inroads in curry's toughest market". Kyodo News+. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  27. ↑ "Tea farmer eyes India as export market with cinnamon flavor | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  28. ↑ Writer, Miyako Taniguchi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff (2023-04-04). "Popularity of Japanese Black Tea Blooms as Green's Starts to Wilt". japannews.yomiuri.co.jp. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
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