By Xiaochen Su
African citizens are a rare breed in contemporary Japan, despite the rapid internationalization of the country’s population. While foreign workers in Japan exceeded 1.5 million in 2018, tripling in one decade, government figures show that less than 7,000 Africans, 3,000 of whom from Nigeria, reside in Japan. The lack of a significant African diaspora in Japan, especially when compared to more established host societies like the US, UK, and France, means that it is difficult for Africans to acquire information about the country.
The lack of African residents in Japan is an opportunity for those from the continent willing to go. For many years, Japan has been drumming up increased economic and people-to-people exchanges with Africa, notably through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, held since 1993. For Africans who take concrete steps toward moving to Japan, they would avail themselves to chances for personal development untapped by many of their compatriots thus far.