Might just be happening to me, but whether it's in other parts of Japan or another part of the world, if I meet a Japanese expatriate or immigrant they're disproportionately likely to be from the Chubu area (Nagoya, Aichi, Gifu, Kanazawa, etc...). Anybody else noticing this? What reason do you think there could be?
Japanese from Chubu region (Shizuoka Prefecture) so I can explain.
Chubu region (especially Aichi and Western Shizuoka) is industrial belt of Japan and many world renowned Japanese companies are headquartered there. Aichi is home to Toyota, Brother, Denso etc. Western Shizuoka is home to Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha etc. Manager level staff who work in these companies have many opportunities to be posted abroad to overseas branches and also go for frequent business trips abroad. My father had two stints working abroad, in the US and Bangkok, working for one of those companies.
Not a Japanese, but Toyota and its biggest Tier 1 parts suppliers are based out of Aichi/Nagoya, and a lot of people get dispatched overseas to set up and manage the companies' overseas plants and other operations.
Can confirm. I was one of them in Toyota-shi 20 years ago for about 3 years, then moved back to Toyota engineering office in Michigan. Nagoya has also had a large Brazilian population, many of them who work in automotive part manufacturing.
I visited Nagoya as a tourist last year, and there were so many fewer foreign tourists in general Nagoya area compared to Tokyo or Hida-Takayama Shirakawa-go. But I did see quite a few Brazilian workers in Nagoya restaurants, who all spoke native Japanese.
Yup this is me and my coworkers here in the states. The economy is bad but Toyota always does well and they rotate people out every 5-6 years unless you become a local employee so there’s always new people coming from HQ
Personal example that fits the other comments. My Japanese husband and me were transferred to the UK. We normally live in Aichi/Nagoya.
With us there are about 20 other Japanese transfers + their families. All from Nagoya/Aichi.
Edit: he works for a big Japanese mechanical engineering company that has its headquarters in Aichi.
So where are you located that you are meeting these people?
Rotating between NYC, Tokyo, and Sydney
NYに住んでるけど東京とその周りの人は東京の方がいいやって帰っちゃうんだよねー 給料を加味しても何かあるのだろう。
ロンドンではそんなことなかったんだけどなー
物価と治安かなあ>東京の方が良いやってなりそうな理由
Japanese people from Chubu in Tokyo or Osaka aren't expats, immigrants...or even disproportionately represented. They're just Japanese people from Chubu who moved to the big city along with tons of people from Chugoku, Shikoku, and Hokkaido.
Chubu expats in other countries today might be disproportionately represented in areas with significant Japanese offshore manufacturing, but not in any cultural or financial capitals which are predominantly expats from Kanto or Kansai. Historic pre-war immigrants from Japan was predominantly agricultural workers from Kyushu and Okinawa.
And Hiroshima
I may have some insight into this. I have absolutely no data but I feel like it has a lot to due with Nagoya being a big city hence higher population, and Toyota. Toyota is a fortune 500 company and is also very global. And like any global company they send senior level Japanese staff to local plants and offices, often moving their family with them. And when Toyota makes a plant, majority of the big suppliers move as well, also bringing staff and their families with them. Toyota has a long history of doing so and has plants in every continent at this point, all stemming from Aichi so the Toyota and supplier staff and family are pretty much everywhere in the world.
Not the case at all in the bay area (between San Francisco and San Jose California.)