Japanese Peruvians migrate to Japan in search of better life

Published: 2006-02-02

LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- A century ago, thousands of Japanese fled economic hardship in their homeland and arrived on the arid shores of Peru, where they went to work on cotton and sugar plantations or set up small businesses. Now their descendents have reversed the tide and are flooding back into Japan in search of a better life. When the first wave of migration to Latin America began, "Japan was very poor," said Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, who was in Lima for celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first immigrants from the Japanese island of Okinawa. "Now Japan is growing and prosperous, and third- or fourth-generation migrants come to Japan because they cannot find jobs here." There are nearly 1 million Catholics in Japan, and more than half are immigrants from countries such as Brazil, the Philippines, Peru and Korea. Many people who emigrate to Japan from South America in search of jobs are of Japanese descent, and most are Catholic.

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