The Tale of a Mexican, a German, and a Japanese who crossed the oceans

The Franz Mayer Museum , the Japanese community in Mexico, the Japanese Embassy and the Mexico-Japan Association celebrate the 120 anniversary of the Enomoto Migration, which was the first group of Japanese citizens to arrive in Mexico and Latin America.

The Enomoto colony was comprised of 36 Japanese men who embarked with the idea of establishing “a Japan outside Japan.” They received support from Mexican President Porfirio Díaz (1830-1915) and were expected to not only be a presence in the country, but also an economic force which could produce coffee for international trade.

Dr. Víctor Kerber Palma

delivered a speech to the conference titled “ Why Enomoto chose Chiapas? ” at the museum's library. He is currently professor at the Center for Japanese Studies in Guadalajara . He studied International Relations at the College of Mexico (COLMEX) and did his Masters degree and PhD at the Sophia University in Tokyo . He was also appointed Consul of Mexico in the city of Osaka .

According to Kerber, a Mexican, a German, and a Japanese were key players to make the migration possible during the 19th century : Matías Romero, Moritz Wollheim and Enomoto Takeaki.

The tale of the Mexican

Matías Romero had lands in the southern state of Chiapas , where he wanted to undertake a “utopia,” a liberal community which produced goods to export to Asia . He tried to create the infrastructure necessary to begin trade, but his efforts did not thrive.

In addition to commerce, his interest in Asia was related to his condition, since he was epileptic, so he had a keen enthusiasm for Chinese medicine , as well as Confucian ethics .

While in Chiapas, he interacted with the German colony, called “ New Germany ,” which was established after 1848 . They were exiles who left their country due to the European revolutions . They survived and actually prospered as coffee producers . There, Romero met Moritz Wollheim and both built a close friendship.

After being appointed Mexican Ambassador to the United States from 1882 to 1898 , Romero regarded the American prohibition to accept more Chinese migrants as an opening to invite Asian workers to Mexico. He also saw Japan as the base country to monitor the rest of the Asian continent.

In Washington , he met Japanese Minister Munemitsu Mutsu , with whom he negotiated and signed the Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty in 1888 . It was the first equal treaty that Japan signed with a non-Asiatic country, in a time when Japan was forced to sign a series of unequal pacts with the West.

The tale of the German

Moritz Wollheim

was 20 years old when the German revolutions of 1848-1849 took place in his native country. After arriving to Mexico as an exile, he joined the Mexican Foreign Service with the help of his friend Romero.

He was part of the delegation who traveled to Japan to negotiate with the Minister of Foreign Affairs , who at the time was Enomoto Takeaki . With the unexpected death of the Mexican Minister, Wollheim was in charge of the negotiations.

The Japanese Minister told them about their interest to send their citizens to Mexico. For his part, Wollheim told him about Chiapa's great potential as producer of coffee, which worked so well for the German colony.

The tale of the Japanese

Enomoto Takeaki

went through a lot of diverse experiences before being Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was sent to Europe from 1862 to 1867 to carefully study Western military technology. At that time, the Second French Intervention in Mexico was taking place, so the latter nation was constantly mentioned in the European press.

Jules Brunet

, a French Army officer who fought in the Battle of Puebla and became a close friend of Enomoto, planted in him the idea of Mexico as a “ cornucopia .” Thus, Enomoto conceived Mexico as a country with great trading potential.

When he returned to Japan, the Shogun Tokugawa was thrown out and Emperor Meiji was restored in power. Enomoto resisted the change and became a rebel; however he was saved because of his knowledge on Western military, which could be useful for the new government. He then was appointed Navy Minister, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Minister of Education , and lastly Foreign Minister from 1891-1892 , just in time to receive the Mexican delegation.

The fate of the colony

After negotiations between both parts, Commander Kusakado was chosen to lead the colony, which after their arrival, suffered from many diseases and poor harvests due to barren soil, resulting in a complete failure and the dissolution of the colony.

Years later, the colony was re-founded in order to organize a socialist commune , following the thought of Charles Fourier . Nonetheless, there were disputes and power struggles, so the cooperative dissolved again in 1921 . Many of the Mexican-Japanese who still live in Chiapas are descendants of these pioneering settlers.

Although this first attempt was not successful, it laid the foundations for further Japanese colonies which came not only to Mexico, but the rest of Latin America. It also planted the seed to the blooming relation between Japan and Mexico in terms of trade, education, and culture .

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