page_title: Japanese community of London
section_title: 20th Century
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese community of London / Retail / 20th Century
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 山中商会ロンドン支店
context_page_description: Japanese nationals residing in London, in common with members of the wider Japanese community in the United Kingdom, include business professionals and their dependents on limited term employment visas, trainees, young people participating in the UK government sponsored Youth Mobility Scheme, students, as well as Japanese emigrants and their descendants who have settled in the city.
  In terms of cultural assimilation there is a wide spectrum of experience: from Japanese immigrants who have made London their permanent home to company employees and their families transferred on short-term assignments whose social networks are often limited beyond the Japanese expatriate community.
  In 2001 over half of people born in Japan who lived in Britain had their homes in Greater London.
context_section_description: Japanese owned stores and businesses have been operating in London since the late 19th century. Yamanaka & Co., a prominent Asian art dealership founded by Sadajirō Yamanaka opened premises in New Bond Street in 1900 and was granted a Royal Warrant by George V in 1912. In 1913 Mikimoto opened its first cultured pearl boutique outside Japan.
  In 1993 when the expansion of the Japanese business community in London was at its height, Yaohan Plaza in northwest London was opened as a Japanese community targeted shopping centre. The mall was subsequently sold in 1999 to a Malaysian company changing its name to Oriental City, and offering pan-East Asian food retail and a restaurant foodcourt. The centre was finally closed in June 2008.  In the 1990s Sogo also operated an outlet close to Piccadilly Circus mainly catering to Japanese package tour groups. In the early 1990s according to the Economist magazine, London had eight Japanese food shops and over 60 Japanese restaurants.
  For much of the late 20th century retail establishments dedicated to serving the specific needs of the Japanese community in London remained relatively few in number reflecting both the smaller size of the overall Japanese population in the United Kingdom as well as the growing availability of Japanese retail products from established British retail outlets.
caption: Yamanaka & Co.'s premises at 127 New Bond Street
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