Japanese in the United Kingdom include British citizens of Japanese ancestry (Japanese: 日系イギリス人, Hepburn: Nikkei Igirisujin) or permanent residents of Japanese birth or citizenship, as well as expatriate business professionals and their dependents on limited-term employment visas, students, trainees and young people participating in the UK government-sponsored Youth Mobility Scheme.
Background
History and settlement
Settlement first began in the late 19th century with the arrival of Japanese professionals, students and their servants. 264 citizens of Japan resided in Britain in 1884, the majority of whom identifying as officials and students.[3] Employment diversified in the early 1900s with the growth of the Japanese community, which exceeded five hundred people by the close of the first decade of the 20th century.[3]
As tensions escalated between Japan and the United Kingdom in the buildup to World War II, some Japanese left their home country to settle in Britain while many more returned to Japan. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and assault on Hong Kong in December 1941, 114 Japanese men including expatriate businessmen and merchant seamen were detained as enemy aliens on the Isle of Man.[4]
In the post-war era, new waves of immigration emerged in the 1960s, mainly for business and economic purposes. In recent decades this number has grown; including immigrants, students, and businessmen. In 2014 the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimated that there were 67,258 Japanese nationals resident in the United Kingdom[2] For British nationals of Japanese heritage, unlike other Nikkei communities elsewhere in the world, these Britons do not conventionally parse their communities in generational terms as Issei,Nisei, or Sansei.[5]
Parts of the United Kingdom, in particular London, have significant Japanese populations, such as Golders Green and East Finchley in North London. Derbyshire has a significant Japanese population due to its Toyota plant, and is twinned with Toyota, Aichi.[6] Similarly Telford is home to numerous Japanese firms.[7]
According to the 2001 UK Census, 37,535 Japanese born people were residing in the UK,[8] whilst the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that 50,864 Japanese nationals were calling the UK home in 2002.[9] In the 2011 Census, 35,313 people in England specified their country of birth as Japan, 601 in Wales,[10] 1,273 in Scotland[11] and 144 in Northern Ireland.[12] 35,043 people living in England and Wales chose to write in Japanese in response to the ethnicity question,[13] 1,245 in Scotland,[14] and 90 in Northern Ireland.[15] The Office for National Statistics estimates that, in 2015, 43,000 people born in Japan were resident in the UK.[16]
Japanese is the primary language of Japan, and the 2011 Census found that 27,764 people in England and Wales spoke Japanese as their main language, 27,305 of them in England alone, and 17,050 in London alone.[17] The 2011 Census also found that 83 people in Northern Ireland spoke Japanese as their main language.[18]
Locations of supplementary schools (hoshū jugyō kō) in the United Kingdom (red dots represent schools with MEXT funding with Wikipedia articles, blue dots represent those schools without Wikipedia articles, and green dots represent schools without MEXT funding (all without Wikipedia articles)
^Pearse, Bowen; McCooey, Chris (30 September 1991). Companion to Japanese Britain and Ireland. In Print Publishing. ISBN9781873047101. WINCHESTER (90) Shoei Centre (at King Alfred's College), Winchester, Hampshire In 1982, four years short of its centenary, Tokyo's Shoei Christian College for Girls opened a boarding college in Winchester. The new Japanese centre[...]
^ダービー日本人補習校 [Derby Japanese School]. Derby Japanese School. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015. c/o Derby College Broomfield Hall, Morley Ilkeston, Derby DE7 6DN UK
^"Contact". Kent Japanese School. Archived from the original on 11 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018. Classes are held from 10:00 to 12:30 every Saturday in Canterbury.
^"Home". Kent Japanese School. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
^""Contact Us". Manchester Japanese School. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015. Oughtrington Lane, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 0RB, UK (Language Centre at Lymm High School).
^"Shozaichi" 所在地 [Location]. North East of England Japanese Saturday School. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015. C/O Oxclose Community School, Dilston, Close, Oxclose, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE38 0LN
^"Google Sites" 概要. The Scotland Japanese School (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015. 1982年5月 三菱電機、日本電気、ダイワスポーツが中心となり、SDA(現在のSDI、スコットランド国際開発庁)の協力を得て、エジンバラ市のGraigmount High Schoolの教室を借り、生徒数11名、教師3名の複合3クラスでスタートし、その後2003年4月 に上記の所在地に移転、現在に至っています。
^"Home". Telford Japanese School. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015. c/o Lakeside Academy, Stirchley, Telford, Shropshire TF3 1FA
^"How to Find Us". Yorkshire and Humberside Japanese School. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.