Iranians in Japan - Migration History

Migration History

As early as the 17th century, it was known that some of Persian merchants living in the Ayutthaya Kingdom (modern-day Thailand) had contacts with the Japanese community there, inspiring them to travel to Nagasaki for purposes of trade. Ever since the murder of Yamada Nagamasa in 1630, Japan's bakufu government had banned trading contact with Thailand's Ayutthaya Kingdom, but the trade continued clandestinely, on Ayutthaya ships manned with Chinese and Persian sailors.

The number of Iranians in Japan began to expand significantly in 1988, after the cessation of hostilities in the Iran–Iraq War. Demobilized Iranian soldiers became involved in shuttle trade, buying electronics in Tokyo and smuggling them back to Iran to sell at high prices; due to a mutual visa exemption agreement between Japan and Iran, concluded in 1974, they were able to enter and exit Japan freely. As word spread about the favourable economic conditions in Japan, increasing number of Iranians took advantage of visa-free entry to find jobs and settle in Japan; they were attracted by wages which remained high compared to Iran even after the 1990 bursting of the Japanese asset price bubble, and relatively lax enforcement of immigration policy. In those days, Iran Air had only one flight per week going to Tokyo; during the peak period, prospective migrants had to book their tickets several years in advance. However, in 1992, prompted by worsening economic conditions, Japan terminated the visa-free agreement with Iran, and began serious efforts to deport illegal overstayers. Though small numbers of Iranians turned to people smugglers to gain entrance to Japan, the total size of the Iranian population in Japan would shrink dramatically over the following decade, as the number of new migrants remained small compared to the number of deportations.