Japanese Spaniards

Infobox Ethnic group
group= Japanese Spaniard
"Japonés Español"
flagicon|Japanflagicon|Spain
poptime=
popplace=Madrid, Barcelona
langs=Spanish, Catalan, Japanese
rels=Christianity (Roman Catholicism), Mahayana Buddhism
related=Japanese, Japanese Mexicans, Japanese Paraguayans, Japanese Peruvians, Japanese Uruguayans, Asian Latin Americans

Japanese Spaniard (Spanish: "Japonés Español", Japanese: "Nikkei Supeinjin") is a Spanish-born person with ancestry from Japan or a Japanese-born person residing in Spain.

History

Japanese people arrived in Spain as World War II refugees who escaped their country at the end of the war. They were lucky because they were warmly accepted by the Spanish population and government. Between 1970s and 1980s, settlers of Japanese blood from any country of Latin America lived in Spain to set free from financial suffering or political oppression. In recent decades, many Japanese settled as businessmen to invest in Spain.

There are currently just over one hundred thousand Spanish Japanese residents, many living within Spain's metropolitan areas such as Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.

Language and Religion

Most Japanese Spaniards speak only Spanish and Catalan (in Barcelona). Only a selected number can speak Japanese. In religion, they are equally divided between Christians and Buddhists.

Prominent Japanese Spaniards