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There are roughly 200 Trinidadians and Tobagonians scattered across Japan’s 47 prefectures- few enough to fit inside two Tokyo train cars. But their presence, alongside millions of other foreigners, is currently the subject of a small but uncomfortable debate occurring within the Asian giant on whether they should be welcomed at all.

T&T immigrants living in Japan make up only a fraction of its 3,768,977 foreign population (according to figures released by the Japanese Immigration Services Agency in 2024).

Many came to teach English through Japan’s well-known Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, which boasted at least 86 Trinidadian participants this year, according to its website.