are Belgian citizens of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

ancestry.

History

The Japanese started to arrive in considerable numbers in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in the 1950s. At this time the Belgian-Japanese economic partnerships had started. By 1992, the Brussels Japanese community was already one of the largest in Europe. 20100710 hasselt15

In Hasselt there is a

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desi ...

, donated to the Flemish city by the city of Itami, Japan. It is the largest Japanese garden in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, extending for 2.5 hectares. There are other Japanese gardens in Belgium, such as the one in the city of Ostend. There is a good relationship between the city of

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

and the Japanese company Daikin, located in the industrial area of Ostend, and whose company buildings can be seen along the Ostend-Brussels highway. In Laeken, Brussels, there is a Japanese tower, built between 1900 and 1904 by order of

King Leopold II * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

. Also in Brussels there is a

Japanese international school ''Zaigai kyōiku shisetsu'' ( 在外教育施設 "Overseas educational institution"), or in English, Japanese international school or overseas Japanese school, may refer to one of three types of institutions officially classified by the Ministry ...

, the Japanese School of Brussels, founded in 1979 over a Japanese Saturday school opened in 1974.Conte-Helm, Marie. '' The Japanese and Europe: Economic and Cultural Encounters'' (''Bloomsbury Academic Collections''). A&C Black, 17 December 2013. , 9781780939803. p
104
In

Auderghem Auderghem (former Dutch spelling, now used in French; pronounced ) or Oudergem () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). Located to the southeast of the region, along the Woluwe valley and at the entrance to t ...

, near the Japanese School, there is a street named ' ("Nipponic Avenue"—''Nippon'' means " Japan" in

), opened and named thus in 1986, due to its proximity to the school. There are Japanese magazines published for Japanese Belgians.

Demographics

As of 2021 there were about 6,000 Japanese living in Belgium. In 2016 there were 2,754 Japanese in Brussels alone. In 2016, most (71%) of the Brussels Japanese lived in the southeast of the Brussels Region, more precisely in

Woluwe-Saint-Lambert Woluwe-Saint-Lambert () or Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe ( Dutch, ) is one of the nineteen municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It is a prosperous residential area, with a mixture of flats and detached, semi-detached and terraced hou ...

Woluwe-Saint-Pierre Woluwe-Saint-Pierre () or Sint-Pieters-Woluwe () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by Etterbeek, Auderghem and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, as well as th ...

, Auderghem and

Watermael-Boitsfort Watermael-Boitsfort () or Watermaal-Bosvoorde () is a residential suburb of the city of Brussels in Belgium, and one of the 19 municipalities which form the Brussels-Capital Region. The municipality has a total area of of which 58 percent is cov ...

. 62% of the Japanese community in Belgium lives in Brussels. The Japanese community of Belgium was by 1992 one of the largest in Europe. The number of Japanese in Belgium is currently stagnating compared to the rising numbers of other Asian nationalities such as the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and Indians.

Notable people

YumiLambertSS14PhilosophyChristopherMacsurak

* Yumi Lambert (1995), model

References

{{Japanese diaspora

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Belgium–Japan relations

History

Demographics

Notable people

See also

References