I’ve been in Thailand for the last 2 weeks and ate Thai only twice.😅

Okay I don’t make much effort, it’s currently Chinese New Year so lots of Chinese food everywhere, but the one thing I didn’t expect was the amount of Japanese restaurants.

They have the same chain restaurants as Japan and it’s everywhere.

They also have Donki (popular goods store chain), Manekineko (karaoke chain), and even more Evisu (trendy high-end denim brand I wrote about here) stores than Japan.

Look at this picture, it’s written in Japanese (and Thai), you could almost think it’s Tokyo.

That’s the reason I started to look into why it’s like that and here are my findings.

A lot of Japanese expats

Thailand is the 4th country with the most Japanese expatriates after the USA, China, and Australia with ~80,000 expats.

But Bangkok is the 2nd city with the most Japanese expats after Los Angeles.

(It’s Japanese nationals, because yes Brazil has over a million Japanese-Brazilians but who aren’t counted as expats).

Massive investments

Japan is Thailand's largest foreign investor, with over 6,000 Japanese companies operating in the country.

It’s a reason why there are so many expats.

Another reason is because Thailand was one of the first countries Japan relocated its manufacturing factories in the 80s because labor became too cheap and they were looking for cheap labor (like the US did with Japan beforehand).

Japanese food is delicious

The number of Japanese restaurants in Thailand has risen from 1,803 in 2013 to more than 6,000 nowadays.

No wonder I had the feeling there were a lot of restaurants!

But as Japanese food became more popular, Japan-Thai fusion food also rose to prominence with things like Tom Yum Ramen, Tom Yum being a Thai soup.

Why Thai people love Japan exactly?

Ok so it’s not just the number of Japanese expats that is allowing so many businesses to run.

It’s because Thai love Japan.

But why?

In my research, I couldn’t find a single big reason. But here are a list of possible reasons:

• There’s no major resentment against Japan (like China or South Korea can have).

• Both cultures are influenced deeply by Buddhism which makes both cultures pretty compatible (different branches of Buddhism though).

• Japanese food is compatible with Thai tastes.

• Japan is aspirational for the new rich Thai people. They are mimicking Japan to become as successful.

• Starting in 2013, Japan allowed Thai nationals to stay 15 days without a visa and with the cheap yen, there has been a wave of tourists in Japan strengthening its influence in Thailand.

Going further