Japanese Uruguayan

Infobox Ethnic group
group=Japanese Uruguayan
"Japonés Uruguayo"
flagicon|Japanflagicon|Uruguay
poptime=456
popplace=Montevideo
langs=Rioplatense Spanish, Japanese
rels=Christianity, Mahayana Buddhism, Shinto
related=Japanese people, Japanese Americans, Japanese Canadians, Japanese Mexicans, Japanese Paraguayans, Japanese Brazilians

Japanese Uruguayan (Spanish: "Japonés Uruguayo", Japanese: "Nikkei Uruguaijin") is a Uruguayan with Japanese ethnicity.

History

The first Latin American country that Japanese people settled was Brazil. But when Brazil decided to halt Japanese immigration in 1930s, Uruguay started were one of the countries to welcome the Japanese settlers, this is to populate the unpopulated areas. Most of them remained, mostly in the capital Montevideo. When World War II began, hostility was put against them, especially and , and Japanese-language teaching in schools, especially newspaper and book publishing in this language, was prohibited. Many of them were imprisoned to the United States. After the end of the war, hundreds of Japanese refugees were still permitted by Uruguayan government to settle. In recent decades, many Japanese settlers arrived especially as businessmen to profit in the country. Japanese Uruguayans are now respected by white Uruguayans and become assimilated to the mainstream society. They are also an important part of Uruguayan culture.

Language

Most Japanese Uruguayans only speak Spanish. Only a selected number can speak Japanese, while those who attained higher education speak English. There are many Japanese Uruguayan schools that offer English-language teaching to the recent Japanese residents.

Religion

The majority of Japanese Uruguayans are Roman Catholic Christians, while the rest are Buddhists.

Prominent Japanese Uruguayans

Bárbara Mori