Nigerians in Japan

Nigerians and other West African migrants began coming to Japan in the mid-1980s as migrant workers.{{harvnb|Kawada|2008|p=172}} Legal migrants often enter via student visas, which allow them to work for a limited number of hours each week.{{harvnb|Cybriwsky|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NvMOfX1XG3UC&pg=PA138 138]}} As of 2017 Japan has significantly eased restrictions on skilled immigrants gaining permanent right-to-remain visas, making them a logical follow-on from student visas.[https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-move-to-japan-2017-3?r=US&IR=T/ It just got easier to become a permanent resident of Japan] Business Insider. Chris Weller. 08/03/17. Retrieved: 17/05/18

There are a number of organizations for Nigerian immigrants in Japan. The Nigerian Union in Japan, the oldest one, was founded in 1990. The Nigerian Union restarted twice, most recently in 2010. The Imo State Union, founded in 2002, replaced it to become the largest and most active, and has formally applied for non-profit status under Japanese law.{{citation|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20110719zg.html|title=Japan's Nigerians pay price for prosperity: Facing apathy within and racism without, a disunited community struggles to thrive on society's periphery|first=Dreux|last=Richard|date=2011-07-19|access-date=2012-12-09|periodical=The Japan Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018190626/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20110719zg.html|archive-date=2012-10-18}}

Some Nigerian migrants during the 1980s found work in factories. Later, after the end of the Japanese asset price bubble reduced opportunities for such work, they shifted into the night-life industry in Tokyo's entertainment districts such as Kabukichō or Roppongi, a line of employment with a high level of public visibility. Many of the bars in these areas were previously owned by Chinese or Koreans, but during a police crackdown in 2002, closed down; Nigerians took advantage of the resulting business vacuum to open their own bars, and hired their fellow countrymen as workers.{{citation|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20070218pb.html|periodical=Japan Times|title='Africans in Japan' . . . not from the quill of Ishihara, thank God|last=Brasor|first=Philip|date=2007-02-18|access-date=2011-06-25}} Typically, Nigerians can be seen on the street as bouncers for scam bars or illegal touts who drug and rob tourists. Many of the migrants working in this industry are in training for or have completed qualifications for professional positions such as engineering in institutions in their home countries or in Japan, but were unable to find any other kind of work in Japan suited to their level of education.{{harvnb|Cybriwsky|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NvMOfX1XG3UC&pg=PA140 140]}} There are many Nigerian organizations in Japan. Most are affiliated with the Houston, Texas USA-based Nigerian Union Diaspora (NUD), which is the umbrella Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) for the economic and political empowerment of the people of Nigerian descent outside Nigeria.

From 2011 to 2016, American author Dreux Richard worked as The Japan Times' Special Correspondent covering the African community in Japan, publishing a series of feature articles on the Nigerian community in particular.{{Cite web|url=http://features.japantimes.co.jp/nigerians-in-japan/|title=Sincerely, Little Nigeria|last=Times|first=The Japan|website=features.japantimes.co.jp|access-date=2016-03-23}} The Japan Times' stories included coverage of civic organizations, cultural groups, religious institutions, the red light districts, marriage and family life, and claims of an emerging 'integration gap' separating well-integrated African immigrants from those struggling after arriving in Japan. Richard's book, 'Every Human Intention: Japan in the New Century' (2021), includes a lengthy account of the community's experiences.{{Cite web|title=Every Human Intention by Dreux Richard: 9781101871119 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/535667/every-human-intention-by-dreux-richard/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|language=en-US}}

In June 2019, long-term Igbo-Nigerian resident of Japan Gerald 'Sunny' Okafor starved to death during a hunger strike at the Omura Immigration Detention Center in Nagasaki.{{Cite news|last=Miyazaki|first=Ami|date=2019-06-28|title=Nigerian man dies after hunger strike in Japan detention center|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-immigration-hunger-strike-idUSKCN1TT0R4|access-date=2021-04-09}} Although the government's investigation cleared the detention center of wrongdoing,{{Cite web|title=Nigerian man 'starved' to death in Japanese immigration detention|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/10/01/Nigerian-man-starved-to-death-in-Japanese-immigration-detention/7611569946152/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=UPI|language=en}} subsequent investigations by journalists revealed severe administrative negligence{{Cite web|title=How the media failed Japan's most vulnerable immigrants|url=https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/how-the-media-failed-japans-immigrants|access-date=2022-02-22|website=Japan Today|date=22 February 2022 |language=en}} by the detention center and Japan's immigration authorities, as well as a cover-up of this negligence carried out with the assistance of the Nigerian Embassy in Japan.{{Cite book|last=Richard|first=Dreux|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U5_mDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22gerald+sunny+okafor%22&pg=PT439|title=Every Human Intention: Japan in the New Century|date=2021-02-23|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-87112-6|language=en}}

Sweeping immigration reforms proposed by the Japanese government for 2021 are based primarily on the government's controversial investigation of Mr. Okafor's death.{{Cite web|last=Brasor|first=Philip|date=2021-03-13|title=Immigration reform fails to resolve asylum contradictions|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/03/13/national/media-national/immigration-reform-asylum/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=The Japan Times|language=en-US}}

{{further|:Category:Japanese people of Nigerian descent}}

• Ado Onaiwu, football player
• Andy Ologun, K-1 kickboxer and mixed martial artist
• Bobby Ologun, gaijin tarento
• Louis Okoye, professional baseball player
• Powell Obinna Obi, football player
• Solomon Sakuragawa, football player
• Leo Kokubo, football player
• Joel Chima Fujita, football player
• Henry Heroki Mochizuki, football player

{{reflist|3}}

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• {{citation|author=川田薫 [Kawada Kaoru] |script-chapter=ja:ナイジェリア人移住者の生活と資本形成に関する日米比較——関東と米国テキサス州の移住者の事例から |trans-chapter=USA-Japan comparison of life and capital formation among Nigerian migrants: based on migrants in Kanto and Texas|date=December 2008|series=Intriguing Asia|volume=117|pages=172–179|isbn=978-4-585-10414-8|script-title=ja:日本で暮らす外国人 |trans-title=Foreigners living in Japan |publisher=Bensey Publishing|oclc=294935624|ref=CITEREFKawada2008}}
• Summary presentation available online: {{citation|author=川田薫 [Kawada Kaoru]|url=http://www.gakkai.ne.jp/jss/research/point/04/004_072.pdf|journal=Annual Meeting of the Japan Sociological Society|volume=81 |script-title=ja:日本と米国におけるナイジェリア人移住者のコミュニティと資本形成に関する事例報告——関東地域と米国テキサス州の移住者からの聞き取り調査から |trans-title=Community and capital formation among Nigerian migrants in Japan and the United States: based on research among migrants in Texas and Kanto | date=November 2008 |access-date=2011-06-25}}
• {{citation|author=和崎春日 [Wazaki Haruka]|script-title=ja:滞日アフリカ人のアソシエーション設立行動と集会活動 |trans-title=Group activities and association formation activities among Africans staying in Japan|url=http://ir.nul.nagoya-u.ac.jp/jspui/bitstream/2237/10560/1/%E5%92%8C%E5%B4%8E%E3%80%80%E6%98%A5%E6%97%A5%E3%80%80p.1-19.pdf|script-journal=ja:名古屋大学文学部研究論集 |volume=54| date=March 2008 |pages=1–19|access-date=2011-06-25}}
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• Richard, Dreux (2021), Every Human Intention: Japan in the New Century, Pantheon Books, ISBN 9781101871119

• {{citation|author=川田薫 [Kawada Kaoru]|year=2006|script-title=ja:在日ナイジェリア人のコミュニティの共同性の構築─イモ州同郷人団体がつなぐイボ民族の生活世界 |trans-title=Structure of cooperation among Nigerians in Japan: Imo State migrant organisations and Ibo people's lives|script-journal=ja:生活学論叢 |volume=11|pages=127–138}}
• {{citation|author=川田薫 [Kawada Kaoru] |script-title=ja:在日ナイジェリア人のコミュニティの形成――相互扶助を介した起業家の資本形成 |trans-title=Community formation among Nigerians in Japan: Mutual assistance through entrepreneurial capital formation|journal=Kantoh Sociological Association Annual Review|number=20|date=July 2007}}
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• [http://www.nigerianunionjapan.net/ Nigerian Union in Japan]

{{Nigerian diaspora}}

{{Igbo topics}}

{{Immigration to Japan}}

{{Ethnic groups in Japan}}

Japan

Japan

Category:Immigration to Japan

Category:Crime in Japan