Indians in Japan

Indians in Japan consist of those with Japanese citizenship and those with foreign citizenship.

As of December 2023, there were 48,835 Indian nationals living in Japan. Indian nationals in Japan are often employed in IT, engineering, management, finance, and scientific research, and other office jobs where the English language is used.^[1][2][4] Today, in the 21st century, Indian migration to Japan has undergone a major increase and Japan is seeing an influx of professionals from India.^[5] Indian nationals are the third largest nationality group from the subcontinent, preceded by Nepali and Burmese nationals and followed by Sri Lankan nationals.^[6]

A significant percentage of the Indians in Japan are from north east India. Although these may often have more Asian face shapes, they identify very heavily with India and the Indian people, and consider themselves to be Indian. They have unique and long-standing cultural relations with Japan. People from other South Asian countries such as Nepal and Myanmar may also have more Asian face shapes, but again they identify very heavily with India and the Indian people.^[7][8][9] Nepali people are the largest South Asian nationality group with 176,336 Nepalis living in Japan, followed by Burmese with 86,546.^[1][2]

A significant number of the Indians in Japan also descend from the large Indian populations in Hong Kong and South East Asia such as Thailand and Singapore.^[10][11]

India is also the largest source of tourism to Japan after East Asian countries.^[12]

In an opinion poll published by the Pew Research Center, India was the major Asian country most liked by Japanese people, with a majority of people holding favorable views, while Japan was the major Asian country most liked by Indian people, with a majority of people again holding favorable views.^[13]