I. Background of Japanese immigration to Peru 2. Japanese immigration to Peru 3. Highlights in the history of the Nikkei community 4. Migration of Nikkei to Japan 5. Nikkei community today

1. 120 years of Japanese
immigration to Peru
May 2, 2019
Carlos Aquino Rodríguez
Coordinator of the Center for Asian Studies San Marcos (CEAS)
Academic Vice-Dean, Faculty of Economic Sciences, UNMSM

2. Index
• I. Background of Japanese immigration to Peru
• 2. Japanese immigration to Peru
• 3. Highlights in the history of the Nikkei community
• 4. Migration of Nikkei to Japan
• 5. Nikkei community today

3. I. Background of Japanese immigration to Peru
• Towards the beginning of the 19th century in Peru, a
shortage of labor began to be experienced on the coastal
plantations producing cotton and sugarcane for export.
• This was exacerbated with the abolition of slavery in 1854
and also the growing need for labor for the exploitation of
guano and the construction of railways
• That is why, since 1849, Chinese workers began arriving in
Peru, and it is estimated that up to 1874, between 100 and
150 thousand Chinese arrived in Peru.

4. • An incident on a ship that brought Chinese workers to Peru
made it possible for Japanese to immigrate to Peru some
years later.
• In July of 1872, the Peruvian ship María Luz, which
transported 225 coolies, and had anchoraged in Yokohama,
Japan, suffered the desertion of one of them who threw
himself into the sea.
• The coolies were usually mistreated on the trip from Macao
to Callao. This was verified by the capitan of the English
warship that picked up the Chinese worker
• The capitan of the Peruvian ship was ordered to return the
coolies to China, which caused a diplomatic incident
between Peru and Japan

5. • Having no diplomatic relations Peru and Japan, after
negotiations established this in August 1873
• Faced with the mistreatment of the coolies, the Chinese
Empire ordered the end of the sending of its citizens to Peru.
These two countries also did not have diplomatic relations,
which were established in 1874
• By that time, Japan had just opened up to the world and
began a process of modernization.
• The Meiji Restoration, which began in 1868, was a process of
modernization of the country that made many peasants,
who had to pay high taxes, became poorer. This, added to
the large increase in population in the country, made many
Japanese began to emigrate to other countries.

6. 2. Japanese immigration to Peru
• The Japanese government encouraged the emigration of its citizens
abroad. For this, companies were established to carry on this task.
• The Japanese began to emigrate to Hawaii first and then to the US but
at the end of the last century they began to feel some negative
reaction due to the growing immigration of Japanese (and Chinese
too) so they started looking for other destinations.
• The arrival to Peru of Japanese began when on April 3, 1899, the ship
Sakura maru arrived with 790 of them to the port of Callao.
• This was also possible because in Peru laws were passed to promote
the immigration of foreigners, driven by Peruvian landowners.
Augusto Leguía, their representative, also met Teikichi Tanaka in the
US, who began sending Japanese immigrants to Peru through the
Morioka Shokai company.

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Peruvians
Poster encouraging
Japanese to emigrate to
South America

8. https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-3-abril-1899-dia-que-se-unieron-peru-y-japon-747399.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1IoF1QjYFaTWJaqFrnc4-
8wqmMsF5dNyP3LGpiTqtEcPS0_Qg6GIhjaFU
Destination of the first
group of immigrants

9. • The immigrants arrived with a 4-year contract, with an
agreed salary that was much higher than the one they
received in Japan.
• Life was hard for the first immigrants. For example, of the
first group of 790, at the end of the 4 years of contract, 162
had died, 50 escaped, 54 ended the contract of mutual
agreement before finalizing it, and some went to Bolivia.
Only 136 returned to Japan.
• The majority after finishing their contract went to work in
the cities and many set up their own businesses, mostly in
the commerce and services sector.

10. https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-3-abril-1899-dia-que-se-unieron-peru-y-japon-747399.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1IoF1QjYFaTWJaqFrnc4-
8wqmMsF5dNyP3LGpiTqtEcPS0_Qg6GIhjaFU

11. País Numero
Brasil 188,986
Perú 33,070
México 14,476
Argentina 5,398
Cuba 686
Paraguay 521
Chile 519
Panamá 415
Colombia 229
Bolivia 202
Uruguay 18
Venezuela 12
Otros 4
Total 244,536
Number of Japanese who emigrated to the Americas
(1897 to 1941)
Source: Kamo Yoso: “Raten Amerika handobuku”, Kodansha 1985

12. • From 1924, by decision of the Peruvian government, the Japanese who
came did it only by invitation of those who were already in the country
• According to statistics from Japan, until 1941 a total of 33,070 came to
Peru, where the vast majority of them remained.
• The hard work of the Japanese immigrants and the success they had in
expanding their businesses created resentment in the local population.
This, together with the fact that they worked mostly employing people
from their same ethnic background, made the government restrict the
number of Japanese arriving in Peru and even enacted a law so 80% of the
employees in a business had to be Peruvian (1932 law).
• For example, between 1904 and 1924 the establishments of hairdressing
owned by Japanese immigrants increased from 1 to 130, while that of non-
Japanese decreased from 70 to 46.

13. https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-3-abril-1899-dia-que-se-unieron-peru-y-japon-747399.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1IoF1QjYFaTWJaqFrnc4-
8wqmMsF5dNyP3LGpiTqtEcPS0_Qg6GIhjaFU
Buddhist cemetery in Cañete

14. 3. Highlights in the history of the Nikkei
community
• Already in 1930, when the Sánchez Cerro military coup against President
Leguía took place, there were demonstrations in Lima that degenerated
into looting of commercial establishments of the Japanese community.
• In 1936 and 1937, laws were passed to limit the number of foreigners in
the country, which means that Japanese immigration to Peru practically
ended.
• In May of 1940 anti-Japanese riots took place in Lima where their homes
and businesses were vandalized.
• Japan's entry into World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor in
December 1941 further inflames the anti-Japanese sentiment, and in
January 1942 Peru breaks diplomatic relations with that country.

15. • The US encouraged Peru to send 1,771 Japanese to concentration
camps in Texas and elsewhere during the period that ended the war.
• The assets and property of the Japanese community were
expropriated, or they were forced to auction off these, causing
immense economic losses to them.
• In 1952 diplomatic relations between Peru and Japan are restored
• In 1967 the heirs princes of Japan visited Peru.
• In 1989 April 3 was declared day of the Peru Japanese Friendship.
• It should be noted that most of the immigrants who arrived from
Japan were from the south of the country, especially from Okinawa.

16. 4. Migration of Nikkei to Japan
• In the late 1980s, with the economic crisis and the social and political
climate of instability worsening in Peru, Peruvians of Japanese origin,
Nikkei, began to go to Japan for work.
• This coincided with the growing labor shortage that Japan
experienced in the labor-intensive sectors and in activities that the
Japanese did not want to do anymore.
• Going to work in Japan presented the additional attraction that
because of the rise in the value of the yen, the value of salary in
dollars terms was increasing. At the end of 1984, the exchange rate of
one dollar was 251 yen, in 1988 it was 125 yen, and in 1994 it was 99
yen.

18. • At the end of 1984, the number of Peruvians in Japan was of 452, a
number that increased to 10,279 in 1990 and to 36,269 in 1995.
• In 1990 Japan amended its immigration law to make it possible for
people of Japanese origin to work in Japan in labor-intensive,
unskilled jobs, such as assembly, construction, agriculture, and the
service sector.
• The attractiveness of going to work in Japan meant that Peruvians
who did not have Japanese origin tried to obtain the Japanese
surname in different ways.

21. Fuente: Immigration
Bureau of Japan:
Immigration Control
Report 2012

22. • The international financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 hit Japan and its
export industries, sectors where the largest group of Peruvians and
foreigners worked. Some chose to return to Peru (with incentives
offered for that by the government of Japan).
• The contribution made in the form of remittances by the Peruvian
Nikkei in Japan is very important for their families and the country in
general. For example, in 2017, they sent some 222 million dollars to
their families (out of the total of 3.051 billion dollars in remittances
that the country received that year). It is interesting to note that
Peruvians in Japan send to their relatives in the country a greater
amount than Peruvians living in other countries (almost twice as
much).

23. Fuente: Immigration Bureau of Japan:
Immigration Control Report 2016

24. Fuente: Immigration Bureau of Japan: Immigration Control Report 2016

25. Fuente: BCRP Memoria 2017

26. 5. Nikkei community today
• In 1990, with the election of the first Nikkei President in the world,
the Nikkei community began to receive great attention.
• Many wondered how somebody from a community whose number
represents only 0.3% of the Peruvian population could became
President of the country
• In addition the Nikkei community at that time was seen as a “closed”
community.
• Much has contributed the Nikkei community to Peru in various fields.
For example there are great artists like the poet José Watanabe and
the painter Tilsa Tsuchiya

27. • The Nikkei cuisine is represented by Humberto Sato, Toshiro Konishi
and lately Mitsuharu Tsumura of Maido restaurant
• Angelica Harada, the "Little Princess of Yungay", is an icon of Peruvian
folklore
• Peru is the country with the third largest number of people of
Japanese origin in the Americas
• Thanks to the Nikkei community in Peru relations with Japan are quite
strong too

28. El Comercio newspaper, May 2, 2019

31. https://www.pe.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_es/00_000298.html

32. Bibliography
• Aquino, Carlos: “El Perú y los Japoneses”, Nagoya International
Center, 1993
• Aquino Carlos: “Relaciones Peru-Japon: Diplomacia, Inmigración,
Economía y Política, 1994, 89 pp.
• Aquino Carlos: “Migración de Peruanos a Japón”, Revista Pensamiento
Critico,, No. 13, paginas 7 a 21
• Aquino, Carlos:
• CAPECHI: http://www.capechi.org.pe/_5_1.html
• https://www.livinginperu.com/120-years-of-japanese-immigration-to-
peru-are-celebrated/