The area is notable for being the place where the first organized
Japanese immigrants settled in Mexico. In 1897, thirty five initial colonists led by
Enomoto Takeaki arrived to work on coffee farms, making Mexico the first
Latin American country to receive Japanese immigrants. Although the coffee endeavor failed, the colonists began farming vegetables and flowers. Over the following 30 years, six more "waves" of migrants followed. As most of the migrants were men, marriage with local women and conversion to Roman Catholicism was common.
Nikkei have become
Municipal President, the first being Juvencio Nishizama Cruz in 1954 and the latest being José Martín Nomura Hernandez in 2005. In 2003, the Japanese hip-hop group
Kick the Can Crew performed an outdoor concert in Acacoyagua following their appearance at the
Festival Internacional de Sonido Urbano in
Ciudad de México. The visit was later cited as an early example of trans-Pacific cultural exchange between Japan's hip-hop scene and southern Mexico's emerging youth movements. ==Demographics==