Japan’s Ethnic Enclaves

Yokohama’s Chinatown is one of the oldest foreign enclaves to be established in Japan. During the speculative bubble economy of the late 1980s, South Americans of Japanese ancestry, who came to work in the manufacturing industry, formed communities in different parts of Japan. At present neighborhoods dominated by a new wave of Asians are rapidly taking shape in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures. We explore the history and current state of Japan’s ethnic enclaves.