Japanese Australians (日系オーストラリア人, Nikkei Ōsutoraria-jin) are Australian citizens and residents who claim Japanese ancestry. Japanese people first arrived in the 1870s (despite a ban on emigration in place until 1886). During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Japanese migrants played a prominent role in the pearl industry of north-western Australia. By 1911, the Japanese population while small groups had grown to approximately 3,500 people. With the outbreak of .war in the Pacific in 1941, most Japanese in Australia were interned and then deported when the war ended. At the end of the war only 74 Japanese citizens and their children were permitted to remain in Australia. Not until the 1970s did the Japanese population recover to the levels at the start of the 20th Century. As of 2011,