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Presently there are about 1,000 Jains in Singapore, about 95 per cent of them being from the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Singapore Jain Religious Society has been running a “Jain shala (school) every Sunday morning. A chartered bus shuttles the children from their homes to the Sthanak and back. The Society library has religious and cultural books in Gujarati, Hindi and English. Ladies have their satsang every week. The members also use the Sthanak premises for marriages and other social activities (http://www.sirs.org.sg/history.html). Besides the Singapore Jain Religious Society, there are three more Jain associations in Singapore, namely Jain Sangh of Singapore at 54 Arab Street; Jain Sangh in Katong; and Singapore Jain Society on 150 South Bridge Road. The Society is managed by a committee which is elected annually at a general body meeting.
In Hong Kong there are about 500 Jains, mainly Gujarati and Rajasthani. Most of them migrated to Hong Kong in 1980s, and are mainly engaged in diamond trading business. The Hong Kong Jain Sangh had founded a Jain temple in 1996. The Jain Centre of Hong Kong Ltd. (4-B, 4/F Wealthy Hts, 35-37 Macdonnel Road) and the Jain International (38a, Macdonnel Road, 4th Floor) are two more Jain associations in Hong Kong.
In Japan, the Jain community is relatively small consisting of about 50 families, but a Mahavir Swamy Jain Temple exists in Kobe since 1984. The idol of Bhagwan Mahavir was flown from Bombay in 1984 and the panch kalyanak pratishtha was held in April month of the same year. However the formal opening ceremony of the temple was held on 1 June 1885. The temple is located at Ijinkan quarters of Kitancho, Chou-Ku-Kobe, Japan.
Thailand hosts a major Jain community in Southeast Asia. It consists of 500 families of which about 100 families belong to the Digambar Jain sect and the rest to the Swetambar sect. The Digambar Jains have got an association called the Digambar Jain Federation, Bangkok, whereas the Swetambars are organised through an association named Bangkok Jain Sangh. Most of the Jains in Thailand are reportedly doing business in gems and jewellery. A majority of them lives in Bangkok which now boasts of two Jain temples - one
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Jains in India and Abroad
