Dry cleaners, handheld fans and identity: Japanese in Buenos Aires

by Stefanía Cardonetti.

Among the diverse objects on display at the Museum of Immigration of Buenos Aires, one finds a collection of Japanese-style handheld fans. They offer a snapshot into the lives of Japanese immigrants to Argentina.

Although Argentina was not a major destination of for people leaving Japan in pursuit of work and economic opportunities, Japanese immigrants nevertheless did form small communities in many parts of Argentina starting in the late nineteenth century and throughout the 20th century. According to government records, between 1897 and 1941, 5,398 Japanese immigrants arrived in the country, and they came mainly from Okinawa and Kagoshima.

Recently-arrived Japanese family

Within this movement, the experiences of migrants were diverse. There were many who settled in outskirts of cities and who contributed to the development of modern agricultural techniques. Many others settled in urban areas and worked in warehouses, cafés, or drycleaners. This last vocation is the one most associated with the professions of Japanese immigrants in the Argentine popular imagination. Many Japanese men and women had learned it from previous experiences in domestic service, and it did not require much initial capital to start the venture. The trade was often passed from generation to generation and reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. It is no coincidence that the Japanese Garden of Buenos Aires was also founded in the 1960s, a gift from the Japanese community to the city.

Although not obvious at first glance, the fans on display in the museum’s permanent exhibit reveal a way that Japanese migrants found their way into the Argentine labor market and some particularities of that integration. Firstly, one side of the fans includes iconic landscapes and images of Japan. On the other side, one can read “Miss Japan” along with the exact address of a drycleaner and the surname of its owner, Mr. Ikei. That is to say, this object is both a keepsake and an advertisement that the drycleaner gave to his customers, a very common courtesy in Argentine stores, especially during the holidays.

Japanese Handheld Fans

In some way, the customer who received this fan after picking up their clothes took home a piece or symbol of Japanese culture. According to Japanese traditions, such handheld fans combined aesthetics and functionality. It is an object with multiple roles in Japanese society; it could be part of the protocol within the political or courtly sphere, a wedding gift or a key element within a ritual dance performance. With these customary uses in mind, the Japanese immigrants living in Argentina added a new one, gifts to clients to retain and thank them for their support of a family-run business.

Japanese drycleaners were and are extremely popular; in 1929, there were more than 200 such drycleaners in Buenos Aires, a phenomenon that years later gave rise to the creation, along with people of other backgrounds, of the Union of Drycleaners. Today it is considered a profession at risk of extinction; it is said that in 2018 there were 250 drycleaners in the city of Buenos Aires and that in 2023 there are now fewer than 120.

Despite the current situation, which is the result of both historical and political factors, in their heyday these business were an important part of Japanese identity in Buenos Aires and a way of successfully integrating into a new society. As often happens amongst immigrants, people experience mixed identities, related to their homeland and to the place that welcomed them. These fans symbolize a way of reaffirming a place in Buenos Aires society while not abandoning aspects of their culture of origin, which in this case is something these drycleaners highlight and remember with their customers.

Despite being a numerically small community, the museum invites us to value the powerful presence of the Japanese migration with a history of everyday life of the second half of the twentieth century. The museum has other samples of how Argentine food has been influenced by Japanese cuisine in recent years. Some Japanese immigrants came to occupy a notable place in Argentine sport through the professionalization of judo and karate. In short, it is a migratory group that, while integrating into Argentine society, has left their mark in various aspects of everyday life.


Further reading:

Celeste De Marco, “Colonización agrícola japonesa en Argentina. Estudio de dos casos en la provincia de Buenos Aires (1950-1960),” Revista de migraciones internacionales vol. 8 no.4 (2016): 137-165. https://migracionesinternacionales.colef.mx/index.php/migracionesinternacionales/article/view/629

Cecilia Onaha, “Características de la inmigración japonesa en la Argentina,” Revista Canela, vol. XIX (1997): 21-38.


Dry cleaners, handheld fans and identity: Japanese in Buenos Aires

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