國際青年商會

2023年6月5日

當1923年的關東大地震一個世紀以前,許多商人立足於印度次大陸失去家園在橫濱,導致大約70家公司逃往西方神戶港口形成了在日本最大的印度社區之一。故事很多的積極作用這樣的公司繼續在日本戰後的經濟成功,作為中介機構的“日本製造”的產品在亞洲市場。現在100年後,火炬已經傳遞給一個新的、年輕一代的印度人尋求加強日本與祖國的關係,這已經成為一個強國。來自科比印度社區的人們聚集在一個周日的服務在2023年3月的錫克教神廟。(共同社)7.9級關東大地震發生之前不久中午9月1日,1923年。東京和關東地區的其他地方,包括橫濱,遭受了重大損失。Fazil Toorabally 75居民從郊區的科比,講述了一個老故事從他的祖父,他聽到一個在現在的印度西部古吉拉特邦,從橫濱科比商業原因搬遷前巨大的關東大地震。他說,祖父,他是從事絲綢貿易和其他企業在神戶和橫濱,在科比告訴他,印第安人——主要是那些逃離橫濱由於災難——被城市敦促返回。“他們希望他們回到橫濱”Toorabally說。Fazil Toorabally(左)和他的妻子Nishat看看Ashiya老家庭照片,兵庫縣,2023年3月。 (Kyodo) Records in the Yokohama Archives of History go as far as to call the Indians who had gone to Kobe "indispensable for the economic recovery" of Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, lying along Tokyo Bay. But over the years, many stayed in Kobe. Having Japan's oldest Islamic place of worship, the Kobe Mosque, which opened in 1935, as well as social clubs, the city became "a good place to live" for Indians who valued tradition, Toorabally said. Sikh and Jain temples were also built, and the Indian population in Kobe reached about 1,000 in the 1980s -- at one time, the largest Indian community in Japan. After the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, Toorbally and others cooked curry for the disaster victims. "In Japan, the only places Indians weren't rare were Roppongi and Kobe," Kiran Sethi, 57, a turban-wearing trader who lives in Kobe, said with a laugh, referring to Tokyo's popular nightclub scene filled with bars and hostess clubs. Kiran Sethi, an Indian trader who served as president of the Junior Chamber International Kobe, is pictured in Kobe in March 2023. (Kyodo) Sethi was involved in importing Perrier, the French carbonated mineral water, and in 2003 became the first foreign national to serve as president of the Junior Chamber International Kobe, a branch of the international nongovernmental nonprofit for young people. During the nation's period of rapid economic growth, Japanese companies such as Panasonic Holdings Corp. and Sharp Corp. spread their wings from the Kansai region to the rest of the world. "Products from Kansai were transported to Asia through the network of Indian merchants," Sethi said with pride. In recent years, the development of manufacturing in Asia has meant challenges for Indian merchants in Kobe. India ranked fifth worldwide in gross domestic product in 2021. As of 2022, roughly 40,000 Indians, including IT professionals, lived in Japan, mainly in Tokyo. Although their presence in Kobe has waned throughout the years, those of Indian descent in the city have been there in some cases for three or four generations. At a regular Sunday service held at a Sikh temple in Kobe, "awaokoshi," a specialty of Osaka made of millet rice that has become a familiar treat in the community, is distributed to worshippers to give as offerings. On a spring day at the University of Hyogo in Kobe, Anushka Shukla, 21, from Bhopal, central India, spoke of her aspirations for her future in Japan. Since she arrived in 2019, she has been studying business administration and will seek employment in the country. Anushka Shukla, a student from India who is studying at the University of Hyogo, visits the Port of Kobe, western Japan, in March 2023. (Kyodo) Although Shukla is a strict vegetarian, which is common in India, she says "it helps" that there are restaurants in Kobe that serve Indian vegetarian cuisine. Toorabally and others of the earlier generations of Indians in Japan call the young, talented people such as Shukla who have only come in recent years "New Indians." As the seeds of foreign culture brought about by the Great Kanto Earthquake have grown, Japan's relationship with the Asian powerhouse has only deepened. Toorabally's wife, Nishat, 69, who introduced Shukla to the study abroad program in Kobe, said her fervent wish is to "keep Japan's connection with India strong."