There have been strong links between Japan and Peru since the
1899, when the Japanese started to emigrate to
Peru. About 100,000 people in Peru have Japanese ancestors. These links became even stronger when Alberto Fujimori,
whose parents were Japanese immigrants, was elected President of Peru in
1990.
Nowadays, Japan provides loans and technical assistance to
Peru. Japan is also called for help in dangerous situations: in 1992,
during an attempted military coup, President Alberto Fujimori took
refuge at the Japanese ambassador's residence.
Japan and Peru had to face a common crisis when the leftist
rebels of Tupac Amaru occupied the same Japanese ambassador's
residence in December 1996, and held 71 hostages, including the
ambassador, during four months. The sieged ended with a raid by the
Peruvian security forces.
The last episode in the Peruvian-Japanese relationship at the time
of this writing (November 22, 2000), is the resignation of Alberto
Fujimori who reportedly flew to Japan to escape the justice of
Peru.