Sep 10, 2025
Is the Japan boom over in Ireland?
From the time I first lived in Japan in 2000, Ireland was experiencing a 'Japan boom'. By the time I was getting married I was able to have a Japan themed hens party in my home country, Ireland, thanks to the prevalence of karaoke rooms and Japanese restaurants. And they had started to offer Japanese as a subject in secondary school. But something happened in recent years and more and more Japan themed establishments are closing. Several Japanese restaurants have closed and I don't think there are any karaoke rooms left in Dublin.
I don't even think it was the pandemic, because the restaurants were still there in 2023. I think part of the reason maybe because there is currently a Korea boom in Ireland. Korean restaurants have replaced Japanese ones. K-Pop has replaced karaoke. There is a large and very popular Korea festival in summer. Trade is on the increase between the two countries (Ireland and Korea).
Trade does remain good between Ireland and Japan and relations are better than ever with the opening of Ireland House Tokyo, which was the most expensive capital project Ireland has ever undertaken outside the country, at a cost of 21 million euro. The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland visited Japan in July to open Ireland House Tokyo and visited the Irish Pavilion at Expo 2025 while he was there.
I don't know exactly why the Japan boom is over in Ireland. Or indeed if it is over or just experiencing a dip, but I miss having Japanese food and entertainment options in Dublin. I am also sad that Japanese is no longer readily available as a subject in secondary school anymore. What about in your home country?
Former nickname was "Saitama". Changed it to save confusion on place review posts! Irish, 20+ years in Japan! I also write on my personal website: insaitama.com
3 Comments
genkidesu
on Sep 10
I think Australia is definitely still Japan-booming, I'll write a blog about it so I don't take up too much space here!
TonetoEdo
on Sep 13
I had a peek at the statistics. Ireland has only about 3,000 Japanese nationals. And I couldn't find any statistics about Irish people with Japanese roots. Maybe it's difficult to sustain the boom when there aren't enough people to represent the culture? My home country, Canada, has a long (and at times discriminatory) history of Japanese immigrants. Some families have five or more generations. Temples, community organizations, and industries support the descendants. Vancouver has a strong East Asian community, so it's easy to find ingredients for Japanese food, and Japanese restaurants are everywhere.
BigfamJapan
on Sep 14
@TonetoEdo that's very interesting and it makes perfect sense. When I was in university there may have been more Japanese people in the country at the time because my university offered three different degrees with Japanese, now they only offer one. There was a Japanese school at the time too, but it closed in 2003.