Liceo Mexicano Japonés, A.C. (; , or , 'Japan-Mexico Institute') is a Japanese school based in the Pedregal neighborhood of the Álvaro Obregón borough in southern Mexico City, Mexico. It is a school for Japanese Mexicans and the sons of Japanese temporary workers who are often brought to Mexico by companies like Nissan. There is also a section for Mexicans with no Japanese origin or descent, but Japanese is taught beginning in kindergarten and the system is in both languages until high school. Carlos Kasuga Osaka, who served as the director of Yakult Mexico, founded the school and served as its chair. Within any Nikkei community, it was the first transnational educational institution. María Dolores Mónica Palma Mora, author of , wrote that the school is a "central institution in the life" of the Japanese Mexican group. , the author of the master's thesis "The Japanese Immigrant Community in Mexico Its History and Present" at the California State University, Los Angeles, stated that Japanese parents chose the school because they wanted to "maintain their ethnic identity and pride, to implant a spiritual heritage that they claim is the basis for success, and to establish close ties with other Nikkei children who live in distant areas." many Nikkei and Japanese persons come to the school to study its management techniques and problems. History Over one decade of organizational activity occurred before the school's opening. The merger process forming the school began in 1974. It was a merger of a preparatory school, and three of Mexico City's four part-time Japanese schools. The proposals to build the school were controversial in the Mexico City Nikkei community, and Watanabe stated that the school's importance and that of the Asocación Mexicana Japonesa "is indicated by the fact that the establishment and management of them has been the source of much strife among the community members." Because of this, about 12 police officers protected the July 1967 annual general meeting to protect it from rioting, and the general meeting had received threats of violence. Watanabe stated that after the Liceo Mexicano Japones was completed, "the antagonism subsided and unity in the community seems to prevail at present." The founding of the school occurred after a visit to Mexico by Prime Minister of Japan Kakuei Tanaka. The Government of Japan donated 300 million yen to finance the school's construction in 1975. Tanaka later placed the school's first