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Japanese in Tunisia

Around 177 Japanese nationals live in Tunisia — diplomats, JICA volunteers, teachers, businesspeople and families who keep the friendship between the two countries alive day to day.

Japan's presence in Tunisia was built over more than half a century. Japan opened its embassy in Tunis in 1969, and as early as 1974 Tunisia joined the Japanese volunteer programme. Today the Japanese community — some 177 people — gathers around the embassy, JICA and the friendship associations.

The community & the embassy

The Embassy of Japan in Tunisia, opened in 1969, is the institutional heart of the community; it works alongside JICA, Japanese companies and the friendship associations (including AATUJA). Japanese residents take regular part in cultural events — taiko, ikebana and tea-ceremony demonstrations — and in Japan's national-day celebrations.

Half a century of volunteers

Since 1974 — Tunisia was the 3rd Middle-Eastern country to join the programme — 532 Japanese volunteers have been deployed (372 junior, 160 senior). They have served in health, electronics, sport, music, agriculture and Japanese-language teaching, including 16 martial-arts masters (judo, karate, kendo) since 1976. Many left a lasting mark on their field in Tunisia.

Seto ⇄ Nabeul, sister cities

Since 2004, the city of Seto (Aichi Prefecture), a Japanese home of ceramics, has been twinned with Nabeul, Tunisia's pottery town. United by a shared craft, the two cities exchange delegations and cultural projects; the 20th anniversary of the twinning was celebrated in 2024.

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Sources: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (residents, 2024); Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 50th-anniversary publication (volunteers).