Latin America is home to the world's largest Japanese community, numbering 1.65 million. Meanwhile, in Japan, a Japanese community of 240,000 South American people is forming as Japanese workers who immigrated there since the 1990s have settled there. Japanese people are Japanese immigrants before and after the war and their descendants, but now there are more families with non-Japanese spouses, and the community is becoming quite diverse. Japanese people are often connected to Japan through the Japanese language and culture, but the degree of inheritance varies greatly depending on the country and generation. Japanese communities in South America and Japan are aware of each other's existence, but many do not have a good understanding of the actual situation of each community. As a result, they are often unable to play the role of a "bridge" that the Japanese government and companies expect them to play.

I often have the opportunity to explain the realities of the Japanese communities in South America and Japan to Japanese trainees and international students. When doing so, I always try to explain the general differences between the countries before talking about the communities.

When comparing Latin America and Japan objectively, the number of Japanese companies and expatriates in Latin American countries cannot be ignored, but it is easier to understand if you use gross domestic product, per capita income, area, and population as standards. Therefore, in lectures and speeches, I use a world map (Figure 1) to first help students understand how small a country Japan is.

Figure 1 World map ( http://free-world-map.com/jp/globe/194_earth.html )

Japan is the world's third largest economic power (gross domestic product (GDP): 530 trillion yen, per capita income: 4 million yen), but its total territory is only 370,000 km2, with a population of 120 million people (in fact, one-third of that total area is habitable). In contrast, the United States, which has the world's largest GDP, has a territory 26 times that of Japan, but a population only 2.7 times that of Japan. China, the world's second largest country, has a population 10 times that of Japan, but its territory is 26 times the size of Japan. This alone shows that "Little Japan" is a presence that cannot be ignored in the world at all.

The population of Latin America (excluding the Netherlands and British territories in the Caribbean) is 600 million, nearly five times that of Japan, but their GDP is roughly the same as Japan's, and their average income is only one-quarter of Japan's. Even Peru, which has seen remarkable economic growth, has a GDP of only 23 trillion yen (just under 5% of Japan's). Compared to the gross prefectural product of Tokyo (92 trillion yen), which is slightly smaller than the area of ​​the capital city of Lima, it is only one-quarter of that, and there is a seven-fold difference in per capita income. Furthermore, Brazil, which is said to be the economic powerhouse of South America, has an economic power comparable to that of the Tokyo metropolitan area, but its GDP is about half that of Japan, and its average per capita income is less than one-third. In terms of economic disparity, infrastructure development, and education levels, it is nowhere near Japan.

When I explain these data to Nikkei trainees, international students, Japanese students, and children of Nikkei in an easy-to-understand way, most of them are astonished and sometimes confused. It may be difficult for Japan to maintain and expand its national power in the future, but it is clear that Japan has the production capacity, productivity, and competitiveness. It may not be surprising that Latin American countries, and indeed the world, respect and envy Japan.

We can also compare the share of traded goods and the amount of investment. Latin America is known as an important supplier of mineral resources and grains to Japan and the world, and exports ^a large amount of these.1 With regard to soybeans, the combined production of Brazil and Argentina accounts for 44% of the world's production (120 million tons), easily exceeding the 82 million tons of the United States, which has the largest production in the world. Latin America also has a large share of the shipping and export volume of corn, wheat, and rice. In recent years, unlike before, non-traditional products (products other than primary products or products processed from raw materials) have been entering Japan in large numbers, such as Brazilian chicken, Mexican pork and beef, Peruvian papayas, and Chilean salmon on store shelves. This is also evidence of the expansion of exports from Latin America to Japan.

However, Japan's exports and imports to Latin America account for around 4% of its total (exports: $30 billion, imports: $25 billion, 2015 statistics), and direct investment accounts for 6% (according to 2014 JETRO statistics, of the $120 billion invested, $7.1 billion was invested in Latin America). The number of Japanese companies operating in Latin America is incomparably small compared to other Asian ^countries2 . However, China has had a large presence in every country, including Japan, over the past decade or so. China is either the first or second largest export destination for Japan, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

As business exchanges increase, interest in those countries and regions grows, and cultural and academic exchanges also naturally increase. As a result, the number of exchange student agreements between Japanese universities and universities in Latin America has recently increased. Ideally, these exchanges should have been active 10 years ago, and if exchanges had been deepened from then, the results may have strengthened relations in various fields today.

Of course, the political and economic situation in South America cannot be ignored. The economies of Latin American countries have been sluggish for the past two or three years, and the great power of Brazil is facing major challenges, such as the adoption of a resolution to impeach the president ahead of the Rio Olympics.

It will be interesting to see what impact this situation will have on future relations with Japan and on the Japanese community.

In any case, many Japanese people in Latin America admire Japan. However, many of them who come to Japan for work, study, or training do not understand much about Japan's structure, national power, traditions, etc. Even if it is impossible to understand everything, in order to become the so-called "bridge," it is necessary to understand not only your own country or region, but also Japan more objectively based on these statistics. By doing so, various possibilities for future activities will become clear. Even if they get a job in Japan after studying abroad, join a Japanese company in their home country or somewhere in South America, or develop a business, they will surely be able to make a more rational choice by grasping the overall picture.

Notes:

1. Yano Tsuneta Memorial Association, World Statistics Atlas 2014-15, 2014.

In recent years, the advancement of automobile-related companies into Mexico has been remarkable. As of 2014, there were 761 Japanese companies registered as locally incorporated companies in Mexico with 9,106 Japanese nationals, 533 companies with 54,377 nationals in Brazil, and 39 companies with 3,585 nationals in Peru. Meanwhile, there were 31,279 Japanese companies with 133,902 nationals in China, and 1,016 Japanese companies in the United States.

Latin America: Business information and support services from JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization)

Japanese Statistics (Japan External Trade Organization JETRO)

2. Chapter 2: Diplomacy by Region - Section 3: Latin America (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)

© 2016 Alberto J. Matsumoto