Bangladeshi migrants in Japan

           Anamika Sultana (Ph.D.)

Japan has gradually become an optimal destination for migration to Bangladeshi people. Currently, Bangladeshi migrants have spread all over Japan. Most of the Bangladeshi migrants live in Tokyo and surrounding areas. Some of them live in remote area from Tokyo. According to “Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan”, 17,463 Bangladeshi national foreign residents in Japan as of 2020.

Bangladeshi migrants to Japan were very young. More than 80 per cent are aged 30 or less and those aged less than 25 years comprise 30 per cent of the total (Mannan, 2014:34). Compared with Bangladeshis in other destinations, those going to Japan were young, better educated and from relatively well-off families (Mahmood, 1994:514). The majority that migrated to escape unemployment and support their families.

Bangladeshis in Japan work mainly for small and medium-sized enterprises, industrial sectors, construction sector and services sector (Mahmood, 1994: 515), manufacturing plant, restaurant worker (Mannan, 2014: 37). The businesses of Bangladeshi migrants in Japan can be broadly categorized into two types: a typical calling card, used car, electronics and ethnic magazines businesses or typical halal food enterprises, restaurants, and travel agencies. Some Bangladeshi migrants are students who came to Japan for higher education and educated professionals. Other types of students are ‘self-funded’ in language and vocational schools in Tokyo.

Migrants from Bangladesh almost exclusively came to Japan to do unskilled labor, and thus are almost male. Men outnumber women by ratio of nearly four-to -one. The Bangladeshis in Japan are mostly Munshiganj, Bicrompur of Dhaka, and others are from all districts of Bangladesh.

References  

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan,https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/bangladesh/data.html

Mahmood, R., A., (1994).

 Adaptation to a new world: experience of Bangladeshis in Japan, International Migration, Geneva, Switzerland, 32(4). 

Mannan, A., Md., (2014). 

Current Situations of Bangladeshi Immigrants in Japan: A Case of the Munshiganj Community, Research Project Report, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Chiba University (282), 31-39, 2014-02-28