The majority of Japanese immigrants live in Brazil. Japanese emigrants first came to live in Brazil in 1908. Between 1908 and 1950, more than 250,000 Japanese citizens relocated to Brazil. In 2000, estimates indicated about 3.5 million Brazilian residents were Japanese-Brazilian — about 3 percent of Brazil's population. The Japanese population in Brazil is the largest in the world outside of Japan.
More Japanese Emigrant Facts:
- About 73 percent of the Japanese population in Brazil lives in Sao Paulo.
- In 2002, about 570,000 Japanese citizens lived in Western countries, including Europe, North America, New Zealand and Australia. About half of those were permanent residents of their adopted country.
- Conversely, there were about 123,000 Westerners permanently living in Japan.