Japanese people in Belgium

• Japanese Belgians
• 日系ベルギー人 (Japanese)
• Belgisch Japans (Dutch)
• Japonais en Belgique (French)

The Japanese School of Brussels
Total population
4,931 (2017)
Regions with significant populations
Brussels Antwerp
Languages
French Dutch Japanese
Religion
Shinto Buddhism Christianity Irreligion
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Japanese

Japanese people in Belgium or Japanese Belgians (Japanese: 日系ベルギー人) are Belgian citizens of Japanese ancestry.

History

The Japanese started to arrive in considerable numbers in Brussels 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.[1]

The Japanese Garden of Hasselt

In Hasselt there is a Japanese garden, donated to the Flemish city by the city of Itami, Japan.[2][3] It is the largest Japanese garden in Western Europe, extending for 2.5 hectares.[4] There are other Japanese gardens in Belgium, such as the one in the city of Ostend.[5][6] There is a good relationship between the city of Ostend and the Japanese company Daikin, located in the industrial area of Ostend, and whose company buildings can be seen along the Ostend-Brussels highway.[7] In Laeken, Brussels, there is a Japanese tower, built between 1900 and 1904 by order of King Leopold II.[8][9] Also in Brussels there is a Japanese international school, the Japanese School of Brussels, founded in 1979[10] over a Japanese Saturday school opened in 1974.[11] In Auderghem, near the Japanese School, there is a street named Avenue Nippone [fr] ("Nipponic Avenue"—Nippon means "Japan" in Japanese),[12] opened and named thus in 1986, due to its proximity to the school.[12] There are Japanese magazines published for Japanese Belgians.[13]

Demographics

As of 2021 there were about 6,000 Japanese living in Belgium.[14] In 2016 there were 2,754 Japanese in Brussels alone.[1] In 2016, most (71%) of the Brussels Japanese lived in the southeast of the Brussels Region, more precisely in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Auderghem and Watermael-Boitsfort.[1] 62% of the Japanese community in Belgium lives in Brussels.[1]

The Japanese community of Belgium was by 1992 one of the largest in Europe.[1] The number of Japanese in Belgium is currently stagnating compared to the rising numbers of other Asian nationalities such as the Chinese and Indians.[1]

Notable people

Yumi Lambert

• Yumi Lambert (1995), model[15]

See also

• Belgium–Japan relations
• Japanese community of Brussels
• The Japanese School of Brussels
• Japanese people in France
• Japanese people in Germany
• Japanese people in the Netherlands

References

1. Casier, Charlotte (November 2017). "Chinezen, Indiërs en Japanners in het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest" (PDF). FOCUS. 21. Brussels instituut voor Statistiek en analyse: 1–9.
2. "A Japanese garden in Belgium". www.cruisetotravel.com.
3. "Japanese Garden of Hasselt". www.smarksthespots.com.
4. "The Japanese Garden, the perfect spot for a peaceful and cultured meeting". www.visithasselt.be.
5. "Japanese Garden Shin Kai Tei - Nature". www.oostende.org.
6. "Japanese Garden". www.visitoostende.be.
7. "Takashi Sawano 's Shin Kai Tei". www.royalpalaces.be (in Dutch).
8. "The Japanese Tower at the Royal Domain in Laeken: A remarkable application of Japanese lacquer techniques in Belgium". www.iiconservation.org. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
9. "A ing's Dream: The Chinese Paviliion and the Japanese Tower in Laeken (Brussels)". www.theartssociety.org. 7 February 2023.
10. "沿革史." (Archive) The Japanese School of Brussels. Retrieved on 9 January 2014. Table: 西暦: 1979, 元号: 4, 月, 4: "全日制日本人学校開校　文部省派遣　脇坂譲校長着任(３代)(本目英世氏は全日制教頭とする)この年より全日制校長が補習校の校長を兼務する"
11. Conte-Helm, Marie. The Japanese and Europe: Economic and Cultural Encounters (Bloomsbury Academic Collections). A&C Black, 17 December 2013. ISBN 1780939809, 9781780939803. p. 104.
12. "L'avenue Nippone - 1160 Auderghem". EBRU.
13. "Aoitori het medium voor de Japanse gemeenschap". www.aoitori.be.
14. "Number of residents from Japan living in Belgium from 2013 to 2021". Statista.
15. Satenstein, Liana (1 December 2014). "Meet 7 New Faces of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show". Vogue. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2023.