The first Latin American country that Japanese people settled was Brazil. But when Brazil decided to halt Japanese immigration in 1930s, Uruguay started were one of the countries to welcome the Japanese settlers, this is to populate the unpopulated areas. Most of them remained, mostly in the capital Montevideo. When World War II began, hostility was put against them, especially German Uruguayans and Italian Uruguayans, and Japanese-language teaching in schools, especially newspaper and book publishing in this language, was prohibited. Many of them were imprisoned to the United States. After the end of the war, hundreds of Japanese refugees were still permitted by Uruguayan government to settle. In recent decades, many Japanese settlers arrived especially as businessmen to profit in the country. Japanese Uruguayans are now respected by white Uruguayans and become assimilated to the mainstream society. They are also an important part of Uruguayan culture.
Language
Most Japanese Uruguayans only speak Spanish. Only a selected number can speak Japanese, while those who attained higher education speak English. There are many Japanese Uruguayan schools that offer English-language teaching to the recent Japanese residents.
Religion
The majority of Japanese Uruguayans are Roman Catholic Christians, while the rest are Buddhists.
Masterson, Daniel M. and Sayaka Funada-Classen. (2004), The Japanese in Latin America: The Asian American Experience. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. 10-ISBN 0-252-07144-1/13-ISBN 978-0-252-07144-7; OCLC 253466232
Japanese diaspora and Japanese expatriates