Japanese Restaurants in Latin America: 2025 Hiring Data

MAFF counts about 15,300 Japanese restaurants in Latin America in 2025, up 20% from about 12,900 in 2023, the fastest growth of any region. Mexico (7,430) and Brazil (4,520) hold 79% of the region between them, but they moved very differently: Brazil added 1,670 restaurants, the second largest gain in the world after Indonesia, while Mexico grew only 4%. For an employer, Brazil is the market where staff will be contested; Mexico is large but mature, and its Japanese-descended (Nikkei) population makes local hiring more realistic there than almost anywhere else in the world.

1. Latin America in the 2025 count

MAFF counts about 15,300 Japanese restaurants in Latin America, up from about 12,900 in 2023, an increase of about 2,400, or roughly 20%. MAFF attributes it to growing demand for Japanese food driven by the influence of Japanese anime and similar culture. MAFF's Latin America includes Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. The region now has more Japanese restaurants than Oceania, the Middle East and Africa combined, and is about half the size of North America.

2. A decade of fast growth

Shares are our calculation from MAFF's totals. The count has grown more than fivefold since 2013 and more than doubled between 2021 and 2023 alone. It is the only region that grew by more than 2,000 restaurants in both of the last two surveys.

3. Mexico and Brazil, moving in opposite directions

Mexico (7,430) and Brazil (4,520) together account for 11,950 restaurants, 79% of the listed Latin American total. Mexico is the fourth largest market in the world in MAFF's count and Brazil the eighth, but the two moved very differently.

Beyond the top two, Ecuador and Bolivia more than doubled, each adding around 150 restaurants, and both are now bigger than Peru in MAFF's count. Central America grew too: Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala and El Salvador together went from 250 to 380. Colombia fell 100 (−19%), the largest fall in the region, and Chile, Argentina, Peru and the Dominican Republic slipped slightly. MAFF gives the anime explanation for the region as a whole and no reasons at country level.

4. The full country table

MAFF lists markets with 10 or more restaurants, rounded to the nearest ten. We keep this table to markets with 50 or more restaurants in 2025; smaller markets swing on tiny absolute numbers (Ecuador and Bolivia "more than doubling" is about 150 restaurants each).

Ten further markets with fewer than 100 restaurants each (Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, El Salvador, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Nicaragua, the Bahamas, plus Barbados newly listed) total about 500 restaurants in 2025. Jamaica was listed with 10 in 2023 and does not appear in 2025. Country figures only exist from 2023, so each country has just two data points.

5. Japanese communities and the Nikkei factor

Brazil has the largest Japanese national population in Latin America: Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs counted 49,037 Japanese nationals there as of 1 October 2025, seventh in the world. That figure counts Japanese citizens only. It does not include Brazilians of Japanese descent (Nikkei) who hold only Brazilian nationality, so it understates the Japanese heritage community by a wide margin; Brazil is home to the largest Nikkei population outside Japan.

For hiring, that distinction matters. A Japanese-descended cook in São Paulo may speak Portuguese as a first language and hold full local work rights, which makes local hiring far easier than bringing someone from Japan. Full country and city nationals figures are on our Japanese nationals abroad page. For the region as a whole, recruitment runs in Portuguese and Spanish, not Japanese; Japanese-language community channels reach only the smaller pool of Japan-born residents.

6. What it means for your hiring plan

• Brazil is the growth market, and staff will be contested. A 59% rise in two years means many new kitchens looking for experienced Japanese cuisine cooks at the same time. See our Brazil guide and São Paulo guide.
• Mexico is the largest market but a mature one. Hiring there is likely to be closer to the US pattern of replacing and poaching than to building from scratch. See our Mexico guide.
• Where Nikkei communities are large, test local hiring first. A Portuguese or Spanish-language advertisement aimed at Nikkei cooks with existing work rights is usually faster and cheaper than sponsoring a chef from Japan.
• Smaller markets need a training plan. In Ecuador, Bolivia or Central America, experienced Japanese cuisine cooks are likely to be scarce. Budget for one experienced lead and a structured programme for local staff; see training local staff in Japanese cuisine.

General information, not investment, legal or immigration advice. Restaurant counts are MAFF's rounded figures as published; shares and percentages are our own calculations from those figures.