Chinese in Japan
Chinese people in Japan
| Total population |
687,156
0.53% of the Japanese population (2010) |
| Regions with significant populations |
|
Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and other major cities |
| Languages |
|
Japanese, Mandarin, Hoochew, Hokkien, Shanghainese, Cantonese, and English
|
| Related ethnic groups |
| Overseas Chinese |
| Chinese people in Japan |
| Japanese name |
| Kanji |
華僑 |
|
|
| Alternate Japanese name |
| Kanji |
在日中国人 |
|
|
Chinese people in Japan consist of migrants from the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, and the previous imperial dynasties to Japan and their descendants. They have a history going back for centuries.
Most Chinese people, or descendants of Chinese immigrants, who are living in Japan reside in major cities such as Osaka, Yokohama, and Tokyo, although there are increasingly also significant populations in other areas as government immigration policies increasingly attract workers to 'training programs', universities seek increasing numbers of international students and Chinese people see business opportunities. Japan's first recognised Chinatown was in Nagasaki, developing in the 1680s when economic prerogatives meant that the Shogunal government needed to restrict and control trade to a greater extent than previously. Before this, there had been a large number of Chinese communities in the west of the country, made up of pirates, merchants and also people who fitted into both categories. In the 19th century, the well-known Chinatowns of Yokohama and Kobe developed, and they are still thriving today, although the majority of Chinese people in Japan live outside Chinatowns in the regular community. The communities are served by Chinese schools that teach the Chinese language, and a small but increasing number of Japanese people study Chinese in both public schools and private academies.
The Chinese community has undergone a dramatic change since the PRC allowed more freedom of movement of its citizens, but it should be noted that citizens of Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong nationality are not counted in these figures. A study that was conducted in 1995 estimated that the Chinese population of Japan numbered 150,000, among whom between 50,000 and 100,000 could speak Chinese. In 2000, Japanese governmental statistics revealed that there were 335,575 Chinese people in Japan. Current demographic statistics reveal that these numbers have reached over 600,000 legal immigrants, although there is probably also a significant population, although of unknown number, of illegal immigrants. A significant number of Chinese people take Japanese citizenship each year and therefore disappear from these figures. As Japanese citizenship, like France, does not record ethnicity, once a person has naturalised, they are simply Japanese, so the category of Chinese-Japanese does not exist in the same was as it would in a country which recognises ethnicity. Therefore, the numbers of Japanese people who are of Chinese descent is unclear.
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Wikipedia
