Japanese Argentines

Japanese Argentines or Japanese Argentinians (Spanish: nipo-argentinos; Japanese: 日系アルゼンチン人, Nikkei Aruzenchin-jin), are Argentine citizens of Japanese ancestry, comprising Japanese immigrants and their descendants born in Argentina. Japanese migration to Argentina began in 1908 with the arrival of immigrants from Okinawa and Kagoshima. The first Japanese entered the country via Brazil and succeeding groups of immigrants tended to reach Argentina through the neighboring nations. In the pre-war years, Japanese Argentines were concentrated in urban small businesses, especially dry cleaning and cafes in Buenos Aires (see es: Café El Japonés), while some worked as domestic servants, factory workers and longshoremen. A minority of Japanese Argentines also engaged in horticulture, floriculture and fishery. There is an important Japanese community in the city of Belén de Escobar where they settled and specialised in floriculture.

Between the 1960s and 1970s, more Japanese immigrants arrived in the country. Many were attracted by the economic opportunities in agriculture. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs there are 100,000 nikkei and 11,711 Japanese nationals in Argentina for a total of 100,711 people.