They are presented below in the order they were published.

A fun food moment with the Japanese ambassador

Got 1 min? Japanese ambassador hands out tamales in Mexico City

How nearshoring can bring increased Japanese investment in Mexico

Japanese investment in Mexico predicted to expand in 2024

How a Japanese royal gardener changed Mexico City’s spring landscape forever

Tatsugoro Matsumoto, the man who colored Mexico City purple

A profile on a Japanese Buddhist minister in Mexico City

From businessman to Buddhist minister: meet Kochi Todaka

Meet a Japanese artist inspired by Oaxaca’s textile traditions

Japan, art, fashion combine to support the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

Get deeper into the history of the Japanese immigrant behind this Mexican snack

Is there anything Japanese about Mexico’s popular Japanese peanuts?

This Japanese artist captures life in the highlands of Chiapas

Chiapas through the eyes of Akio Hanafuji, who came to paint and never left

Don’t forget to check out all the “Japan in Focus” articles Mexico News Daily published this week. And if you missed them, take a look back at our previous Global Mexico series on Australia, India and the United Kingdom.

The post Retrospective: Japan on Mexico News Daily appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Chef Asai is known for running two very successful ventures: First, one of the most authentic Japanese kitchens in the capital, with an outpost in Mérida. Second, an engaging TikTok account where he experiments with new recipes, using fresh ingredients from the local tianguis and imports from Japan. His dishes are a fascinating fusion of beloved Mexican classics like blue corn, mole, nopales, and dried chiles, incorporated with Japanese wagyu, miso, and sushi. 

A scroll through his social media accounts takes you down a mouthwatering rabbit hole of his personal kitchen “experiments,” filmed in quick succession, taste tested by the king himself, and then rated. Not normally one to keep entertained by reels or TikTok, I found myself glued to the screen. I spent far too long watching him effortlessly concoct colorful plates of blue corn shrimp tempura served with lime and salt (which he proceeded to rate a measly 3 out of 5, leaving me to feel relatively sure that we do not have similar palettes) and lime ramen with chicken whose decadent-looking broth sparkled with freshly squeezed lime and an anchovy base (which he rated 5 out of 5). Chef Asai also tested a spring roll stuffed with huitlacoche and topped with salsa verde (rated 3.5 out of 5), and his version of Mole Tokatsu, fried pork stuffed with nopales and Oaxacan cheese, smothered in a miso-mole sauce (which he rated a 6 out of 5 and described as “a toda madre”, aka freaking awesome).

Every once in a while, a recipe will be deemed good enough to carve a permanent spot on the restaurant’s menu, delighting repeat diners who swear by his culinary magic. But despite Asai Kaiseki Cuisine’s current popularity, it wasn’t always an easy ride. 

Bringing Japanese food to Mexico

“I started by offering just a tasting menu and the diners weren’t expecting that. They wanted California rolls.” Asai notes, adding that introducing Mexico to authentic Japanese food was (and still often is) a challenge. Consumers are looking for dragon rolls, salmon and avocado rolls, and all sorts of maki rolls with cream cheese — bites that really don’t exist in Japan.

To top it off, traditional Japanese ingredients are either difficult to find or incredibly expensive to import. This may have partly influenced Japanese cuisine chefs to incorporate Mexican flavors into their menus. Chef Asai commonly uses nopales, sal de chapulín, and sal de jamaica to spice things up. 

The Japanese-Mexican fusion trend doesn’t cease to exist outside the walls of Chef Asai’s coveted culinary coves. Santo in Roma Norte includes seared hamachi & Oaxacan chocolate nigiri on the menu. Crudo in Oaxaca City serves nori-wrapped tacos. North of Los Cabos, visitors can chow down on a teriyaki chicken and pineapple roll wrapped in a Baja-sourced basil leaf at Noah. 

And you can do the same, right in your kitchen.

Using inspiration from various Japanese restaurants in Mexico City and food blogs, I’ve compiled a short list of easy-to-make gastronomic delights that will whisk you away to a vibrant izakaya in Osaka for a few blissful moments before zipping you back to a lively square in Guadalajara.

Nopal nigiri (inspired by Asai Kasai Cuisine)

Ingredients:

2 cups sushi rice (bought or homemade with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt) cooled to room temperature

2 – 3 nopal cactus paddles 

Wasabi (paste or freshly grated)

Soy Sauce

Instructions:

Scrape nopales free of thorns and rinse. Boil until tender and the slimy texture has evaporated. Let cool and slice into strips about 2 inches long and 0.75 inches thick.

Shape sushi rice into 12 mounds about 1.5 inches long and 0.5 inches thick.

Put a dash of wasabi on top of each rice mound.

Wrap a strip of nopal over the rice mound.

Optional: If desired, add a slice of sushi-grade white fish or cooked shrimp rubbed with chili on top of the nopal.

Serve with soy sauce for dipping.

Miso and Chile Poblano Sauce 

Ingredients:

2 poblano peppers

2 tablespoons white or yellow miso paste

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt to taste

Water (as needed)

Instructions:

Preheat the broiler in your oven. Place poblano peppers on a baking sheet and broil, turning occasionally, until skin is charred and blistered.

Transfer roasted peppers into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let steam for about 10 minutes. 

Peel off the charred skin, remove seeds, and chop flesh into tiny pieces.

In a blender or food processor, combine peppers, miso paste, rice vinegar, honey or agave nectar, minced garlic, and olive oil.

Blend until smooth, adding water if needed.

Serve over grilled meat or roasted vegetables.

Chicken Teriyaki (recipe by Chef Asai)

Ingredients: 

1 chicken breast

Flour for dusting

1 tsp Oil

Salt and pepper

60ml sake

60ml soy sauce

40g sugar

Instructions:

Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper. Coat with flour and sauté in a little oil. When half cooked, add the sake, soy sauce, and sugar, and continue cooking until caramelized.

Japanese Tuna Tacos

Ingredients:

1.5lb sushi-grade tuna

1/4 cup ponzu sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Ponzu-wasabi mayo 

12 — 14 corn tortillas

Limes to taste

Optional: shredded cabbage, carrot, and lettuce slaw

Instructions:

In a plastic bag, marinate raw tuna in ponzu sauce and chill for 1 hour

Grill or sear fish for about 3 minutes or until cooked on the outside and rare on the inside. Turn once.

Make ponzu-wasabi mayo by mixing 1/2 cup mayo, 2 tbsp ponzu, and 1 tsp wasabi paste.

Serve on warm tortillas with a drizzle of ponzu wasabi mayo.

Squeeze lime and add slaw if desired. 

Have you thought of a way for Mexico to reinvent Japanese food? Let us know in the comments!

Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog, or follow her on Instagram.

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But as this piece by Bethany Platanella revealed, the two countries do have certain things in common, including a reverence for ancient grains — rice in Japan, corn in Mexico — and a penchant for public displays of religious devotion.

In this Japan and Mexico data comparison — the latest edition to our “Japan in Focus” and Mexico in Numbers series — you’ll see that the two countries have some other similarities, as well as some significant differences.

Population

Japan and Mexico currently have similarly-sized populations, but they are set to diverge in coming years.

Population of Japan 

The Japanese government estimated in October 2023 that the population of Japan was 124.35 million, a reduction of 595,000 people or 0.48% compared to a year earlier.

The Japanese population has, in fact, been in decline for over a decade as the number of deaths exceeds the number of births.

In 2023, Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research said that the country’s population is “projected to decrease to 87 million in 2070,” a decline of 30% compared to the current level.

“According to the assumption of this revision, the total population will fall below 100 million in 2056, a delay of 3 years from the previous projection,” the institute said.

“The pace of population decline is expected to slow down slightly, mainly due to the increase in international migration,” it added.

Population of Mexico 

The population of Mexico was just over 126 million at the time of the last census in 2020 and exceeded 131 million last year, according to the National Population Council.

In contrast to Japan, the population of Mexico is growing, albeit at a rate that has slowed over the past decade.

On World Population Day last July, the National Population Council said that Mexico’s population “will continue growing slowly” in the coming decades before reaching a peak of 147 million in 2053.

Subsequently, “for the first time in history,” Mexico’s population will start to decline, the council said, adding that in 2070 the population is projected to be 141.4 million.

If the projections for Japan and Mexico are right, Mexico’s population will be 62% larger than that of Japan in 2070, whereas it is currently only about 5% bigger.

Area and other geographical data 

In area, Mexico is more than five times larger than Japan.

Mexico’s territory covers 1.96 million square kilometers, making it the 13th largest country in the world, while the area of Japan is 377,975 square kilometers, making it the 61st largest country in the world.

While Mexico is divided into 32 states (including Mexico City), Japan has 47 prefectures including the Prefecture of Tokyo, the national capital.

Japan is made up of four main islands — Honshu,Kyushu, Hokkaido and Shikoku — as well as more than 14,000 smaller ones, most of which are uninhabited. The country’s fifth biggest island is Okinawa Main Island, located south of Kyushu in the East China Sea.

While Mexico can’t compete with Japan in an island-counting contest, it does have a significant number — more than 1,300.

Mexico’s largest inhabited island is Cozumel, located in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Playa del Carmen, but the country’s biggest island overall is Tiburón Island, located in the Gulf of California off the coast of Sonora.

Mount Fuji, a national symbol of Japan, is the country’s highest peak with a summit of 3,776 meters. Located on the island of Honshu, the active volcano commonly known as “Fuji-san” is two-thirds the height of Mexico’s highest mountain, Pico de Orizaba, an active stratovolcano on the Veracruz-Puebla border. Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl, has a summit of 5,636 meters.

Economy 

Mexico became the the 12th largest economy in the world in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while Japan ranked fourth.

The IMF estimates that the nominal GDP of Japan was US $4.21 trillion last year, making the Japanese economy about 2.35 times the size of the Mexican economy. Mexico’s nominal GDP was $1.79 trillion in 2023, according to the IMF.

Wealth, as measured on a per-person basis, is three times higher in Japan.

Per-capita GDP in Japan was US $34,017 in 2022, according to the World Bank, while the figure for Mexico was $11,496.

Mexico’s economy grew 3.2% last year while the GDP of Japan increased 1.9%.

Earthquakes 

Earthquakes are common in Japan and Mexico, both of which are situated along the Ring of Fire, described by National Geographic as “a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.”

According to earthquakelist.org, which tallies earthquakes based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey as well as the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, there were 1,839 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher in Mexico, or within 300 kilometers of Mexico, in 2023.

Mexico thus ranked second for the total number of earthquakes last year behind Indonesia.

Japan ranked fifth with 903 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher.

In 2024, Mexico and Japan currently rank first and second, respectively, for the total number of earthquakes. A 7.5-magnitude quake shook Japan on the first day of 2024, claiming over 250 lives.

The world’s fourth most powerful earthquake in recorded history was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which struck off the Pacific coast of Japan with a magnitude of 9.

The temblor, which triggered a tsunami, claimed close to 16,000 lives, making it the third deadliest earthquake in recorded Japanese history after the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 and the Sanriku earthquake of 1896.      

In Mexico, the 2017 Chiapas earthquake, which measured 8.2 on the Richter scale and claimed around 100 lives, was probably the country’s most powerful quake since it became independent in the early 19th century.

However, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed at least 10,000 people, is Mexico’s deadliest temblor on record.

Almost 200 years before that tragedy, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.6 struck the territory now known as Mexico. The 1787 New Spain earthquake, which caused a tsunami, could thus be considered Mexico’s most powerful known earthquake.

Legislatures 

Mexicans will go to the polls this Sunday to elect a new president and 628 federal lawmakers so it’s an opportune time to compare the size of the General Congress of the United Mexican States (its official name) to that of the National Diet of Japan.

Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, has 500 seats, while Japan’s House of Representatives is slightly smaller with 465 seats.

Voters in Japan, like those in Mexico, elect representatives directly, and via a proportional representation system.

Mexico’s Senate has 128 seats while Japan’s upper house, the House of Councillors, has 248.

Thus Japan has a total of 713 federal lawmakers, 13.5% more than Mexico’s 628.

While Mexican presidents are limited to serving a single six-year term, there is no limit to the number of times a Japanese prime minister can be reelected. A single term for a Japanese prime minister lasts a maximum of four years.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites 

Mexico has a total of 35 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 10 more than Japan.

Among Mexico’s UNESCO sites are the historic center of Mexico City, the Maya city of Chichén Itzá, the Pinacate Desert, the Luis Barragán house and studio in Mexico City and the whale sanctuary of El Vizcaíno in Baja California Sur.

Among Japan’s 25 UNESCO sites are Mount Fuji, the Itsukushima Shrine, the Shiretoko National Park and “hidden Christian sites” in the Nagasaki region.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

This article is part of Mexico News Daily’s “Japan in Focus” series. Read the other articles from the series here. 

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Mexico News Daily’s “Global Mexico” series is dedicated to highlighting the political, economic and cultural relationships between Mexico and other countries around the world. 

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down for a one-on-one meeting with the Japanese ambassador to Mexico, Noriteru Fukushima as part of our “Japan in focus” week. Below I share some highlights and takeaways from our 90-minute conversation about Mexico and Japan, and the future of their relationship. 

1. Ambassador Fukushima was born in Mexico City (in Polanco) and has lived in Mexico multiple times throughout his life. However, Fukushima actually had to give up his Mexican citizenship in order to become Japan’s ambassador. 
2. Mexicans love to travel to Japan. Mexico is the country with the highest percentage increase in tourists to Japan since the pandemic. Currently there are direct flights between Japan and Mexico operated by two airlines, Aeroméxico and All Nippon Airways (ANA).
3. There are more than 7,000 Japanese restaurants in Mexico, ranking fifth among countries with the most Japanese eateries in the world.    
4. The beautiful jacaranda trees that we enjoy every spring in many parts of the country were introduced in the 20th century by two Japanese expats — Tatsugoro Matsumoto and his son Sanshiro — who started a gardening business in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. 
5. The Japanese are huge fans of Mexican lucha libre wrestling. In fact, there is currently a Japanese luchador wrestling in Mexico named Shigeo Okumura.
6. Mexicans are some of the biggest fans of Japanese anime anywhere in the world — and have been now for many years. On a very personal note, my first job out of college nearly 30 years ago was creating and selling billions (that number is not a typo!) of Tazos to Mexicans of all ages working with the Sabritas company. At one point we were selling over 100 million Tazos per week in Mexico alone. By far the most popular characters were those of Japanese anime.
7. There are currently about 1,500 Japanese companies across many industries with operations in Mexico. This number has increased by over 200 companies in just the past few years. Over 50% of the companies are in the manufacturing sector, including the automotive industry.  
8. There are nearly 10,000 Japanese citizens currently living in Mexico (the 3rd largest population in Latin America after Brazil and Argentina) and around 79,000 Nikkei (people of Japanese descent) who call Mexico home. 
9. The first people-to-people exchange between Mexico and Japan began over 400 years ago — with the first diplomatic relations dating back over 130 years. The first Japanese to arrive in Mexico came to the southern state of Chiapas over 100 years ago to work in the coffee plantations. The next waves came to the states of Coahuila for mining and Baja California for fishing.
10. This year Japan and Mexico celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Japan-Mexico Training Program for the Strategic Global Partnership. Over 5,000 students and young engineers from Mexico and Japan have exchanged through and benefited from this unique government-to-government scholarship program. Many business, academic and government leaders furthered their studies through this program.
11.  Since 1999, Japan has ranked fourth in terms of foreign direct investment in Mexico. Ambassador Fukushima sees huge potential for further investment by Japanese companies in important industries including in the automotive sector. 

Ambassador Fukushima has seen a lot in both countries over the years. He ended our conversation with an optimistic tone and expectations. Optimistic due to the opportunities that lie ahead, the strong historical foundation, and the deep ties of the relationship between the two countries. Mexico has potential and prospects due to its geographic importance in relation to nearshoring.

On a personal level, I have a deep respect for Japanese culture and companies. As a resident of Mexico and a big proponent of a strong Japan-Mexico relationship, I am excited to see what is to come for these two countries. 

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for over 27 years.

This article is part of Mexico News Daily’s “Japan in Focus” series. Read the other articles from the series here. 

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In the residential part of Cuauhtémoc borough, you’ll encounter some of the city’s best sushi and ramen restaurants, not to mention a ryokan hotel that is all but hidden by a lively Spanish tapas bar next door. The area is unofficially known as Mexico City’s Little Tokyo District thanks to Edo Kobayashi, the Tijuana-born founder of Nippon hits like Rokai and Tokyo Music Bar. But wait a minute – Japan? Tijuana? Mexico City?

To make it make sense, we need to take it back to 1609, when the Spanish galleon San Francisco was making its way from Manila (the Philippines was part of New Spain at the time) to Acapulco.

The vessel was likely carrying silks and spices in exchange for silver and other precious medals, but it wrecked off the coast of Japan. The crew was rescued by Japanese fishermen, and a few months later, they sailed again to Acapulco, but this time on a Japanese ship with representatives from the land of the rising sun. This marked the moment of “first contact” between the two nations.

With the 19th century came Mexico’s independence and the Meiji Restoration in Japan, a tumultuous time when centuries of societal structure was reconfigured to make way for more Western-style policies. This led to the first wave of Japanese immigrants to Mexico in Chiapas in 1897.

Over the years, Japanese communities in Mexico flourished and by the 1920s they expanded north to regions like Baja California, Sonora and Sinaloa. There are records indicating that approximately 1,000 Japanese nationals resided in Mexico City at this time. 

There are at least 10,000 Japanese living in Mexico today, the majority working in the auto industry and residing in Querétaro, Guanajuato, and León. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Marie Sato, deputy director of Mexico City’s Fundación de Japón en México and Japan native. I noted her excellent command of Spanish and asked about her experience learning the language. She explained to me that vocal similarities in pronunciation has made articulation quite easy.

Mexicans too seem to find the Japanese language intriguing — according to Ana Solis, Activities Coordinator at the foundation, their free online language classes have more Mexicans enrolled than any other nationality worldwide.

On a more personal note, I recently took advantage of the direct flight from Mexico’s Benito Juárez International Airport to Narita International in Tokyo. Mexico is always on my mind and it’s hard to shut off my internal comparison mechanism.

While exploring different parts of Japan, I was pleasantly surprised by a few noteworthy similarities:

1. Rich and distinctive cuisines. Different ingredients, equally ancient, same reverence. There is so much love and pride behind their cuisines, it’s hard to ignore the similarity.
2. Wrestling. Professional wrestling in Japan is a big deal. In the 1970s, Mexican Lucha Libre fighter Mil Mascaras debuted in the island nation. The Japanese were so taken by his acrobatic combat style and mask that wrestlers began traveling to Mexico to train in the Lucharesu style. Soon after came Tiger Mask, the popular comic book character that lived the life of a masked wrestling superhero. In 2003, pro wrestler The Great Sasuke was elected as an Iwate Prefectural Assembly legislator and often donned his mask along with a suit and tie to legislative sessions.
3. Public displays of devotion. Shinto and ancient Mesoamerican religions revere many gods and devotees are at liberty to practice elements from multiple religions. Each country is brimming with unexpected altars or other small areas of worship on the street or in parks.
4. Ancient grains. Corn in Mexico and rice in Japan are much more than just a source of calories. These grains have shaped each country’s cultural identity, harboring deep historical significance. 
5. Work ethic. According to the World Economic Forum, Mexicans work more hours per year than any other country. The Japanese are also known to abide by a “live to work, not work to live” mentality — to the point of fatally overworking themselves. Both Mexicans and Japanese see work as virtue, and staying late is seen as a gesture of loyalty and commitment.
6. Family as a pillar of society. In both Mexico and Japan, family comes before all else. Japan’s official registry regards the household to be the basic unit of society (koseki), rather than the individual. This is similar to Mexican society, where parents, siblings and elders are seen as contributing greatly to one’s identity, and whose needs are often prioritized before those of the individual.

Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog, or follow her on Instagram.

This article is part of Mexico News Daily’s “Japan in Focus” series. Read the other articles from the series here. 

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While we tend to think of the country as having a monolithic mestizo heritage (a blend of Indigenous and Spanish), there are important additions left behind by groups of immigrants that have shaped the country’s culture, art and its cuisine. 

Middle Eastern immigrants brought tacos árabes to Puebla which would go on to become Mexico’s most ubiquitous taco — tacos al pastor. Lebanese immigrants brought the kibbe to the Yucatan, now a popular roadside street food, and in Mexico City, one Japanese immigrant invented what would become one of Mexico’s most beloved snacks — cacahuates japoneses or Japanese peanuts.

Yashigei Nakatani: From Japan to Mexico

Japan and Mexico have diplomatic ties stretching back to the 1800s when both countries signed a Treaty of Friendship, Trade and Navigation. By the time World War II rolled around, there was already a nascent Japanese population in Mexico — in Manzanillo, many were fishermen, in Guadalajara Japanese workers came to work on the railroad, and of course, many arrived in Mexico City, the country’s capital which held the most economic opportunities for recent immigrants. 

When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States pressured the Mexican government to move Japanese immigrants away from the ports and the borders, and many in the community were deported on the alleged suspicion that they were spies.

That was the case with Heijiro Kato, the factory owner and boss of Yoshigei Nakatani Moriguchi, a young immigrant working in Kato’s button factory in Mexico City.

Nakatani had been in Mexico since 1932. He arrived and rented a room in the capital from his future mother-in-law, in the downtown neighborhood of La Merced, determined to make something of himself in his new adoptive city.

Nakatani soon met and fell in love with his landlady’s daughter Emma Ávila, who spied him singing on the rooftop of the building they shared and began to teach him Spanish. By 1941, they had five children and when Nakatani lost his job at the factory, he needed to find a way to make an income fast.

A new variation on a Japanese confection

Growing up in his hometown of Sumotoshi, Nakatani had learned how to make traditional Japanese sweets and candies. He figured he would try his hand at selling confections, so he and his wife started making muéganos, a Mexican candy made from flour, nuts, and coated in honey. Selling them out of their house on Carretones Street in the Merced, the candies were a hit, so they decided to expand and try to replicate a popular snack from Nakatani’s childhood — peanuts covered in a coating made from rice flour with soy sauce, and a touch of sugar.

Rice flour wasn’t available, so he replaced it with wheat flour, but the resulting snack was as good as the original — slow-toasted until perfectly golden brown, with slight salty spice and a hint of sweetness.

Everyone in the family eventually formed part of the business — his children helped to design the logo, pack the peanuts into their tiny cellophane bags, and run the machinery that they would eventually acquire to keep up with demand. In the neighborhood they were known as “the Japanese guy’s” peanuts and so Nakatani decided to name his business Cacahuate Nipón in the 1950s.

A family business and legacy

Business boomed and by 1970, Cacahuate Nipón officially incorporated and moved out of their space in the Merced neighborhood to produce on a larger scale. Unfortunately, the recipe for Japanese peanuts was never patented and during the 1980s, Cacahuate Nipon faced competition from big industrial corporations that were also making the snack, placing them in some of the country’s biggest convenience store chains.

The family overcame this challenge by expanding production to other popular sweets, like chamoy candies. They were extremely successful and were bought by Totis (part of La Costeña) in 2017, after which they started a new company called Dulces Komiru.

More recently, continuing the culinary legacy of his family, chef Eno Nakatani, grandson of Yashigei Nakatani, opened Fideo Gordo, a Japanese-Mexican noodle shop in Mexico City’s fashionable Colonia Roma.

Here he makes fusion dishes like ramen in birria broth and pork chicharrón topped with shrimp ceviche. Fideo Gordo is just one of the newest examples of Mexico’s great gastronomic melting pot, inspired by the many cultures that have expanded the country’s palate to the delight of locals and visitors alike.

Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at www.mexicocitystreets.com.

This article is part of Mexico News Daily’s “Japan in Focus” series. Read the other articles from the series here. 

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Today, 50 years after the first episodes were shown on Mexican television, anime has become an important part of Mexican culture. Anime streaming giant Crunchyroll estimates Mexico to be its fourth largest market worldwide. The country was an early adopter of the art form and has developed an intense cultural obsession that continues to this day.

How did anime first come to Mexico?

While Mexico and Japan have diplomatic ties dating back centuries, the story behind how anime first arrived in Mexico is rather simple. In the 1970s, then Televisa president Emilio Azcárraga Milmo bought the rights to show Japanese cartoons in Mexico because it was the cheapest option. With no domestic animation industry and the cost of importing cartoons from giants Warner Brothers and Hanna Barbera eye-wateringly high, Milmo looked across the Pacific for content.

These early titles included classic Japanese series such as Astroboy, Kimba the White Lion and Mazinger Z. The imported cartoons proved extremely popular, and Mexican interest in anime grew. 

Fast forward a decade to the 1980s and toy giant Bandai decided to take a chance on this new Mexican market. Fresh off the success of exporting “Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac” to the Spanish market, Bandai hoped to reproduce this success in Latin America. They exported action figures and merchandise from Europe to Mexico, offering TV Azteca the chance to air the series for free, as long as they agreed to run commercials for the new toys alongside. This was a riotous success. 

Mexico’s undisputed champion: Dragon Ball Z

The rush to show the best anime was now on. TV Azteca offered classic series like Sailor Moon, while Televisa imported Ranma ½ — but the biggest hit of all was Dragon Ball Z. The classic show arrived in 1996, and quickly became Mexico’s anime of choice. Thanks to a Latin American Spanish dub, it was possible for audiences across Mexico to enjoy the show without the need for subtitles, which further enhanced its popularity. There have been suggestions that Dragon Ball Z is more popular in Mexico than in its native Japan. Regardless of whether that is true, Dragon Ball, and its subsequent spin-off series, have become one of the most ubiquitous elements of Mexican popular culture today.

It is hard to overstate the subsequent effect that Dragon Ball has had. Taquerías, microbuses and street stalls across the country are bedecked in merchandise to this day. Popular images from the show have become memes. Characters’ catchphrases are used in conversation. When creator Akira Toriyama died earlier this year, there were rumors that warring cartels had ceased hostilities to honor the legendary animator (which turned out to be false). However, large crowds did gather to perform signature “spirit bomb” moves from the show in Toriyama’s honor. 

When the show ended in 2018, the city of Ciudad Juárez attempted to broadcast the finale to a gathering of 15,000 people. The event caused a diplomatic spat between Mexico and Japan after animation studio Toei — and the Japanese Embassy in Mexico — denounced the events for copyright infringement. Fortunately, Mayor Armando Cabada stepped in and reached an agreement with Toei, and the day was saved. 

While globally, Dragon Ball Z has been superseded by smash hits like Pokémon, Naruto, Bleach and One Piece, Akira Toriyama’s classic series remains etched in the national psyche. 

How Mexico has influenced anime

Mexico’s infatuation with Japanese culture is not just a one-way street. There are several anime series that either feature or take place in Mexico. 

• Netflix’s Seis Manos is set in 1970s Mexico and follows the story of a group of martial artists who take on the cartel in the fictional town of San Simon. The series also stars voice acting from veteran Danny Trejo. 
• El Cazador de la Bruja, the story of two girls traveling south to Peru to avenge a murder, primarily takes place in Mexico. The Japanese-made series is considered a homage to Mexican culture, with several songs about tacos. While there is no Spanish language dub, El Cazador de la Bruja is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
• A story of pre-Columbian Mexico, Onyx Equinox follows the story of Izel and her sister Nelli, who are tasked by the gods to save the city from falling into the underworld. The show is a Crunchyroll exclusive.

With shows of all types continuing to be smash hits with audiences, it is unlikely Mexico will tire of this popular Japanese cultural export any time soon.

By Mexico News Daily writer Chris Havler-Barrett

This article is part of Mexico News Daily’s “Japan in Focus” series. Read the other articles from the series here. 

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More than 300 crew members, including the governor-general of the Philippines — part of New Spain at the time — were rescued by Japanese fishermen and taken to Japan, where they would spend a period of months before sailing to Acapulco on a Japanese ship in 1610.

Twenty-two Japanese representatives, including the merchant Tanaka Shōsuke, joined the voyage to Acapulco, becoming some of the first known Japanese people to travel to the Americas.

During the time he spent in Japan, the Philippines governor, Rodrigo de Vivero, met with the Japanese shogun of that time and the two men, according to Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), “attempted to establish, through a treaty, the frameworks for a mutually convenient economic and political relationship” between Japan and New Spain, whose capital was Mexico City.

“The shipwreck of San Francisco is significant,” the SRE says, “because it brought about the first direct negotiation between a high-ranking official of New Spain …[and] the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, maximum leader of Japan at that time.”

While the establishment of the independent country of Mexico was still more than 200 years away in 1609, that first meeting between the Philippines governor and the Japanese shogun is considered the “first contact” between Mexico and Japan and is therefore said to mark the commencement of “exchange,” if not ties, between the two countries.

Celebrations to mark 400 years of friendship between Mexico and Japan were held in both countries in 2009 and 2010, and the Mexican president at the time, Felipe Calderón, visited the East Asian constitutional monarchy in the latter year.

“During these four centuries … [Mexico and Japan] have systematically strengthened their economic, political and cultural ties while forging a solid friendship based on mutual understanding and cooperation,” Calderón wrote in a op-ed published by The Japan Times during his visit.

In this article — the first of Mexico News Daily’s “Global Mexico: Japan in Focus” series — I will examine how the relationship between Mexico and Japan has evolved over the centuries, and take a look at the state of bilateral affairs today.

A brief history of Mexico-Japan relations 

Known as Sakoku or “closed country,” Japan’s isolationist foreign policy came to an end in the early 1850s when the United States sent warships there and forced Japan to enter into a Treaty of Peace and Amity.

According to Mexico’s Embassy in Japan, the decision to end the isolationist policy “was received with interest in Mexico,” which at the time had been an independent country for some three decades.

In 1888 — 279 years after “first contact” was made — Mexico and Japan signed a Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation in Washington D.C.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes the pact — with which bilateral relations were formally established — as “Japan’s first ‘equal’ treaty with a Western country.”

Mexico’s president at the time was the iron-fisted Porfirio Díaz, while Japan’s leader was Kuroda Kiyotaka, the country’s second prime minister.

In an article alongside Calderón’s piece in the Japan Times, Mexico’s Embassy in Japan said that the 1888 treaty “was a key support for Japan in the renegotiation of unequal treaties held with Western powers.”

“For Mexico, it was the first diplomatic instrument with an Asian country by which it renewed its old bonds with that continent,” the article continued.

Trade between Mexico and Japan increased in the subsequent years.

In 1897, less than a decade after the treaty took effect, 35 members of “the so-called Enomoto Colonization Party” settled in Chiapas, “marking the first organized emigration from Japan to Latin America,” according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

The Japanese emigrants tried to grow coffee in Chiapas, but failed, according to an article on the Discover Nikkei website, which researches Japanese migration.

“Some people fled after just a few months,” but six Japanese people who stayed went on to form an association in Acacoyagua, Chiapas, that was involved in a range of activities in Chiapas including the education of children at the first Japanese school in the Americas, according to Discover Nikkei.

“In 1902, Tsunematsu Fuse and his wife … arrived and educated second generation Japanese and Mexicans. They also made a great contribution to the local community by compiling a Spanish-Japanese dictionary, laying waterworks and building bridges,” the article said.

Meanwhile, bilateral relations between Mexico and Japan chugged along, and the two countries signed another treaty in 1924 that “updated” some of the points in the 1888 one, according to the SRE.

Less than two decades later, the bilateral relationship came to a halt.

In 1941, amid World War II, Mexico suspended its diplomatic relations with Japan and shut down its missions in that country in response to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

More than a decade passed until the two countries reestablished diplomatic relations in 1952, when famed writer Octavio Paz was dispatched to Tokyo as Mexico’s ambassador for a brief period.

Two years later, Mexico and Japan signed a cultural agreement that paved the way for exchange and collaboration in a range of areas.

In 1959, Mexico welcome a Japanese prime minister for the first time when Nobusuke Kishi visited, while Mexican president Adolfo López Mateos traveled to the Land of the Rising Sun in 1962 to open a new Mexican Embassy.

In the 1950s and ’60s, several major Japanese corporations including Marubeni, Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo began operating in Mexico. Others would follow in subsequent decades.

During the first two decades after bilateral relations were reestablished, “trade and financial transactions as well as investment flows between the countries grew significantly,” according to the Mexican Embassy, while in the 1970s, the relation “registered a qualitative jump” when Mexico became a significant exporter of oil to Japan.

In 1977, the Liceo Mexicano-Japonés, a school, opened in Mexico City, allowing more collaboration and exchange between citizens of Mexico and Japan.

The following decade, during the Latin American Debt Crisis, Japan provided significant monetary support to Mexico.

According to the SRE, Japan was Mexico’s second largest international creditor in 1987 with 29 Japanese banks providing loans totaling US $16.11 billion or 15% of Mexico’s total foreign debt at the time.

In 1989, the Japanese government lent Mexico more than $2 billion, an amount higher than the sums Mexico received amid the debt crisis from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, according to the SRE.

The loan helped Mexico provide “the necessary guarantees” to creditors as it attempted to restructure its debt, the Foreign Ministry said.

The bilateral relationship in the 21st century 

Trade

Mexico and Japan today have a significant commercial relationship, with two-way trade worth more than US $24.5 billion in 2023, according to Mexican government data.

Mexico shipped exports worth $3.97 billion to Japan last year, while Japanese imports were worth $20.6 billion. Mexico was thus left with a trade deficit of $16.63 billion with Japan in 2023.

Mexico’s top export to Japan last year was copper ores and concentrates, which brought in $402 million in revenue. Among Mexico’s other exports to Japan are machinery, pork, tuna, tequila and fruit.

Japan’s top export to Mexico in 2023 was motor vehicles, which brought in $1.95 billion in revenue. Japan also exports a range of other products to Mexico, including auto parts and audio and video equipment.

Japan had a 3.45% share of Mexico’s import market last year, according to the Bank of Mexico, while Mexico’s share of Japan’s market was just 0.67%.

The commercial relationship between the two countries grew significantly after an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that liberalized bilateral trade took effect in 2005.

In 2015, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that trade between Mexico and Japan had increased 71% since the trade pact went into force, while Mexico’s exports to Japan doubled. Trade between the two countries has continued to grow since then.

In addition to having their own EPA, Mexico and and Japan are both signatories to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact to which 11 countries are party.

Investment 

Japan was the fourth largest foreign investor in Mexico in 2023, with investments totaling $2.9 billion. It was one of two Asian countries among the top 10 investors in Mexico last year, the other being South Korea.

Japan was also the fourth largest foreign investor in the first quarter of this year, with investments totaling $1.43 billion.

Japan’s ambassador to Mexico, Noriteru Fukushima, said last December that nearshoring was expected to increase Japanese investment in Mexico by up to 66% in 2024.

“Many from Japan want to know what is happening in Mexico, what’s going to be done in Mexico, what Mexico is going to be like because many companies are coming because of nearshoring,” he said at the 33rd Mexico-Japan Business Plenary Meeting.

According to the Economy Ministry, Mexico received a total of $34.2 billion in foreign investment from Japan between January 1999 and December 2023.

Around 1,300 Japanese companies operate in Mexico including large automakers such as Toyota and Mazda, air conditioner manufacturer Daikin, tire manufacturer Bridgestone and electronics company Sony.

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry has operated in Mexico for the past 60 years.

Among the Mexican companies that operate in Japan are fruit and vegetable producer and processor Grupo Altex and KidZania, owner of an international chain of family entertainment centers.

Multilateral cooperation 

Mexico and Japan collaborate in a number of international forums including the G20, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, and the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, or OECD.

According to the SRE, Mexico has worked “hand in hand” with Japan in the G20 to “build agreements and find collective solutions to the common problems the world faces.”

135 years of diplomatic relations 

In 2023, Mexico and Japan celebrated 135 years of diplomatic relations with a range of different activities and events.

In January of last year, Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister at the time, met with Yoshimasa Hayashi, who was Japan’s foreign minister between 2021 and 2023.

“The relationship with Japan is a strategic and deep relationship … because of history and culture, and because today there are 1,300 Japanese companies in Mexico, and thousands of jobs. … We have a shared future and what we want is to broaden it,” Ebrard said at the meeting.

For his part, Hayashi said that “Japan and Mexico are strategic global partners who share fundamental values based on a solid friendship and trust.”

The two countries current foreign ministers, Alicia Bárcena of Mexico and Yōko Kamikawa of Japan, met in Brazil earlier this year at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

“Secretary Bárcena … expressed Mexico’s high appreciation and great confidence in its relationship with Japan, and her expectations for further investment in Mexico by Japanese companies, especially bearing in mind the importance of nearshoring and relocation, in electric mobility and large-scale infrastructure projects in Mexico,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said in a statement.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

To read more of the Global Mexico series, check out our India in Focus, Australia in Focus and United Kingdom in Focus stories. 

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