Jamoncillo, raspados, chamoy and jacarandas are some of Japan's contributions to Mexico.

▲ In the mid-19th century, Japan began to open up to the world after 200 years of isolation under the Tokugawa regime, and Mexico was one of the first countries with which it established diplomatic relations. Jacaranda trees arrived in the country in the early decades of the 20th century, brought by migrant Tatsugoro Matsumoto; here, a postcard of the Alameda Central. Archive photo

Omar González Morales

La Jornada Newspaper, Monday, July 21, 2025, p. 5

The Japanese community in Mexico is behind many culinary, material, and industrial creations that have led to significant progress. These contributions include the Japanese peanut, chamoy, abalone fishing, raspados (scraped rice), jamoncillo (jamoncillo), and the arrival of jacaranda trees.

Foreigners found refuge in this country from racism and xenophobia after numerous armed conflicts.

In an interview with La Jornada, anthropologist Sergio Hernández Galindo, a specialist in Japan at El Colegio de México, spoke about the importance of that community in Mexico and the significant cultural exchange that persists to this day, which has flourished into a harmonious diplomatic relationship between the two nations.

In 1853, the United States, led by Commodore Matthew Perry, forced Japan to open up to the world after 200 years of isolation under the Tokugawa regime. That society modernized, and Mexico was one of the first countries with which it established diplomatic relations , the expert commented.

The migrants saw many opportunities: wages in Mexico were better, and at the time, the country needed labor to cover its territory. Meanwhile, Japan was experiencing overpopulation, and this led to several exoduses, ultimately ending up in the United States. The first wave was in 1897, when a group of settlers arrived in Chiapas with the goal of creating a coffee-growing community. The project failed, but they moved to other places, where they worked as miners, laborers, and apothecaries , Hernández Galindo explained.

After the outbreak of World War I, Japanese society became more technologically advanced, but their participation in the conflict made them targets of xenophobia and racism. The United States government viewed them as an advance party of the imperial army, spies, and invaders.

In the following years, more migrants arrived in Mexico; about 1,000 worked in sugar mills, especially in Oaxaca; others joined the mining industry in Baja California and Chihuahua, as well as the cotton industry; and still others joined the fishing industry; their experience in abalone fishing, a technique unknown on the Mexican coast, is notable. By 1910, there were already about 10,000 workers , the anthropologist indicated.

In 1920, Venustiano Carranza's government asked the Japanese to send more skilled workers ; doctors, veterinarians, and dentists arrived. In return, the Americans closed their borders, forcing travelers to move to South American countries.

The Japanese created small businesses; they brought shaved ice to Sinaloa, making it with ice-crushing machines imported from Asia. In Sonora, they also promoted businesses that modernized the industry to export cotton , the researcher stated.

At that time, jacaranda trees arrived in Mexico after the government of Pascual Ortiz Rubio (1930-1932) asked the Japanese to donate cherry trees to plant on the city's main avenues as a symbol of friendship. However, for them to bloom, a much more abrupt change in temperature between winter and spring was required.

Tatsugoro Matsumoto, a migrant who had traveled between Peru and Mexico, popular during the Mexican Revolution for his designs that blended the harmony of vegetation with construction, brought jacaranda trees from Brazil that closely resembled falling cherry blossoms. This is how the Roma neighborhood, one of Mexico City's most exclusive neighborhoods, became a colorful place thanks to the trees that now cover the Alameda Central in the Historic Center.

During World War II, Japanese residents of the United States were persecuted and interned in camps. Mexico was asked to do the same, but President Manuel Ávila Camacho refused, requiring only that they register on a list to determine their activities and legal status.

In the town of Ures, the Tanaka family, specialized in sweets, created jamoncillo, and in San Luis Potosí, businessman Kiso Tsuru developed a pharmaceutical industry that led to the invention of Vitacilina.

The investor was also instrumental in the support Mexico received from Japan after the nationalization of oil, following the boycott by the United States and the United Kingdom, as the Japanese did not give up buying fuel from Mexico.

In the 1940s, Yoshigei Nakatani, a worker at the Nuevo Japón stores in downtown Mexico City, created Japanese peanuts, which led to his opening of the Nippon company. The product was a worldwide success. Another Japanese brand, Nishikawa, is still in circulation today.

During the 1960s, chamoy arrived in Mexico when several families, most notably the Hasugas, experimented with the recipe for umeboshi (a popular sweet in Asia) and adapted it: instead of ume plum, they used apricot.

Photography also changed. With the arrival of companies like Fuji in 1963 and Canon in 1968, photography became more accessible to the public. That year, during the Olympic Games, the Japanese company Kay built the iconic rings for the competition; its inflatable pool life preservers also became popular.

Gastronomy was transformed with the arrival of sushi, whose popularity exploded in the 1980s. Previously, only specific dishes contained raw fish, but now it's one of the most sought-after foods.

“At the end of the 20th century, the Japanese government focused on creating a policy called Cool Japan; it began to export a friendly vision of the country, a tourist attraction that would generate income after the crisis unleashed by the economic bubble of the 1990s. This new cultural push highlighted the art of manga, anime, and the video game industry, which remains at the forefront today.

These discoveries are examples of the cultural closeness between Japanese and Mexicans , concluded Sergio Hernández Galindo.