The History of Japan–Philippines Exchange and Japanese Residents in the Philippines

As of 2026-08-30 · Updated 2026-08-30 · Section: OFWs, Remittances & Filipinos in Japan · 日本語版

Over more than 400 years, the movement of people between Japan and the Philippines has formed "three" great waves. The first wave = the 17th-century Japanese quarters (Red Seal ships and the expulsion of Christians); the second wave = labor migration from the Meiji era through the pre-war years (the Benguet Road and Davao); the third wave = the "reverse flow" from the 1980s onward (Filipinos coming to Japan). All three waves were cut off artificially — by "war," "regulation," or "institutional change." Not one of them ended naturally. 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations. In May, President Marcos made a state visit to Japan, and the relationship was elevated to the Philippines' first-ever "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."

0. Eight points to grasp first

1. Japanese residents in the Philippines number about 12,600, while Filipinos in Japan number about 357,000. A gap of roughly 28 times. The "exchange" between the two countries is currently overwhelmingly a one-way flow from the Philippines to Japan.
2. The number of Japanese residents is not growing. It fell from about 16,900 in 2018 to 12,648 in 2024 — a roughly 25% decline over six years (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The statistics do not match the popular impression of a "Philippines relocation boom."
3. At its pre-war peak (late 1930s), the number of Japanese residents in the Philippines was about 24,000. There were more Japanese residents then than now.
4. Davao's "Japanese community" numbered about 20,000 and was the largest in the "outer South Seas" (Southeast Asia). It vanished entirely due to the war.
5. The biggest unresolved postwar issue is the second-generation Japanese descendants left behind in the Philippines. As of 2026, an estimated 600 or so people remain stateless, with an average age of 83.
6. The "entertainer visa" era of 1980–2004 created the entry point for Filipino migration to Japan. Following the 2005 tightening of regulations, entrants plunged over two years from 82,741 to 8,607.
7. The current mainstream route runs EPA (from 2009) → Technical Intern Training → Specified Skilled Worker (from 2019) → Employment for Skill Development (from April 2027) — all systems tied to labor.
8. 注 "Second-generation Japanese descendants left behind" and "JFC (Japanese-Filipino Children)" are entirely different issues. The former are the children of pre-war migrants (born in the 1930s–40s); the latter are the children of Filipino women who came to Japan from the 1980s onward and Japanese men. Conflating the two makes any discussion incoherent.

1. Timeline — key milestones to remember

2. The first wave — the 17th-century Japanese quarters and Takayama Ukon

There were "two" Japanese quarters, divided by religious order

This is the first point where people commonly get it wrong. Manila's Japanese quarter was not a single place.

• Among the Japanese quarters of the Red Seal ship trading era across Southeast Asia (Ayutthaya, Phnom Penh, Hoi An, and others), Manila was one of the central hubs, enjoying a degree of self-governance.
• As the shogunate tightened its suppression of Christianity, the Japanese quarter in Luzon was distinctive for its high proportion of exiled Christians.
• The 1636 ban on overseas travel cut off replenishment, and the Japanese quarters gradually blended into local society and disappeared. Dilao was relocated to Paco in 1762 and is said to have vanished a few years later.

注 "Takayama Ukon's statue stands at Plaza Dilao, so he must have lived in Dilao's Japanese quarter" is incorrect. Dilao's Japanese quarter was burned down once, seven years before Ukon arrived in the Philippines (1606–07), and no direct connection to Ukon has been confirmed. The statue was placed there much later, as part of a 1970s Japan–Philippines friendship project.

Takayama Ukon's death in Manila (1615)

• The eldest son of Takayama Tomoteru, a samurai lord of Settsu Province (born 1553). Baptized along with his mother in 1563, taking the Christian name Justo ("man of righteousness"). Lord of Takatsuki and Akashi Castles.
• After Azuchi Castle burned, he worked to protect Christianity, including relocating the Azuchi seminary to Takatsuki. Refusing to renounce his faith, he was expelled from Nagasaki to Manila under the 1614 expulsion edict, together with Naito Joan and about 300 others.
• Welcomed by the Spanish governor and others, he fell ill from the exhaustion of the voyage and the climate, and died about 40 days after arrival (February 3, 1615).
• In 2015, on the 400th anniversary of his death, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan submitted a petition for his beatification, which Pope Francis approved in 2016. A beatification ceremony was held at Osaka Castle Hall on February 7, 2017 (the papal representative was Cardinal Amato; roughly 10,000 attendees, including delegations from the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere). A notable feature is that the grounds for beatification were framed not as "martyrdom" but as "holding to his faith even at the cost of his position."

The origins of Plaza Dilao (the Japan–Philippines Friendship Park)

• In 1973, women's groups and others in Manila proposed a memorial park in front of the old Paco train station, on the site of the former Japanese settlement. The City of Manila provided the land for free, with cooperation from Takatsuki City, the Takatsuki Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Takatsuki Rotary Club.
• Takatsuki City donated the statue of Ukon in December 1975, and it was unveiled on November 17, 1977. Takatsuki and Manila became sister cities on January 25, 1979.
• The site fell into disrepair amid later political instability, but was refurbished during the Arroyo administration. It remains one of the few places where Japanese visitors can concretely feel "the starting point of Japan–Philippines relations."

3. The second wave — the Benguet Road and Davao

The Benguet Road (1903) — "labor migration," not "immigration"

To avoid Manila's oppressive heat, the United States developed Baguio as a mountain-resort capital, breaking ground on the Benguet Road (now Kennon Road) in 1901. Progress was slow due to the difficulty of construction, and in 1903, Major Kennon, who took charge as chief engineer, exceptionally admitted Filipino, Igorot, and Western laborers, along with Chinese and Japanese laborers — both nationalities otherwise subject to exclusion at the time.

A February 1905 report from Consul Narita Goro also states that the number "never exceeded 1,000" (as compiled by researchers such as Hayase).

• The road was completed in 1905 (about 41 km total). Most workers returned to Japan, but those who lacked the fare home stayed on in the hundreds, some of whom drifted to Davao. Baguio's Japanese population had fallen to under 150 by 1907.
• 注 The claim that "Benguet Road migrants formed the basis of the Japanese community" is an exaggeration. Academically, this is examined critically as "the myth of the Benguet migrants" — the actual numbers were not that large.
• Along Kennon Road (just below the Lion's Head), there is a memorial to Okinawan victims, and at Camp 3, a memorial to the 71st Kagoshima Infantry Regiment. The "Kennon Road Viewing Pavilion" opened on November 18, 1989.

Davao — abaca plantations and the "Davao Kingdom"

注 "Davao Kingdom" was a colloquial term used by the Japanese media of the time — not an independent state or an autonomous territory. It refers to the state of a Japanese economic enclave that had become disproportionately concentrated in one Philippine city.

• The Japanese cemetery at Mintal, a monument to Ota Kyozaburo, and the site of the former Japanese Association hall remain today. In 2017, Davao City reportedly committed 120 million pesos to redevelop the Mintal area, including plans for a museum.
• Local histories of Okinawan municipalities (such as the Kin Town history and the Ginoza Village record) contain numerous testimonies from Davao repatriates. The Davao migration was more Okinawan than "Japanese" in character.

4. The war — what cut the wave short

The Battle of Manila (February 3 – March 3, 1945)

注 (Corrected 2026-08-25 during cross-checking) The earlier draft's figures — "about 12,000 Japanese military" and "US military 1,020 killed, about 5,600 wounded" — did not match the figures in the companion "General History" §4 material. "About 12,000" mistakenly treated the Naval Defense Force subtotal as the overall total. Source: standard tallies for the Battle of Manila (1945) (US killed 1,010 / wounded 5,565; Japanese side about 16,000, of which the Manila Naval Defense Force accounted for 12,500 or more; civilians over 100,000). Civilian deaths stemmed from both deliberate killing by Japanese forces and US bombardment/air raids, and no confirmed breakdown exists (treat this as an estimate).

• The 14th Area Army had planned to declare Manila an open city, but this was not carried out due to opposition from the Navy and others; Rear Admiral Iwabuchi Sanji's Manila Naval Defense Force barricaded itself in the city, leading to about a month of urban warfare.
• Civilian deaths were not merely "collateral damage." Large numbers are said to have been killed indiscriminately on suspicion of being anti-Japanese guerrillas; combined with deaths from US bombardment, this is referred to as the "Manila Massacre."
• The 1995 memorial "Memorare Manila 1945" (in Intramuros) is inscribed with the names of 36 locations where civilians are said to have been killed. It is one of the first places Japanese visitors should visit in Manila.
• After the war, Yamashita Tomoyuki was held responsible and convicted at the Manila Military Tribunal, and Muto Akira at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

Repatriation, and the families left behind

• After the war, Japanese residents in the Philippines were forcibly repatriated to Japan by US forces. In households where a Japanese man had married a local woman, the Filipino wife and her children were left behind in the Philippines.
• Postwar anti-Japanese sentiment in the Philippines was extremely strong, and the families left behind hid, burned their marriage certificates, and changed their names to Filipino-style names to survive. This became the direct cause of the later "statelessness problem."

President Quirino's clemency (1953)

• Class B/C war-crimes trials were also held in the Philippines, resulting in 137 convictions. Of the 105 held at Muntinlupa Prison, President Quirino granted a pardon in July 1953, releasing and repatriating all of them.
• Quirino himself had lost his wife and three children to the Japanese military. He stated that he acted "so as not to leave hatred of the Japanese in the hearts of his children and countrymen."
• Historically, however, complex factors are also cited — Cold War dynamics, reparations negotiations, the November 1953 presidential election, and prison finances (Nagai Hitoshi, "Philippine Class B/C War Crimes Trials"). It should not be simplified into a purely heartwarming story.
• On June 18, 2016, a memorial to former President Quirino was erected in Hibiya Park, Tokyo (hosted by the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo).

5. Second-generation Japanese descendants left behind in the Philippines — an ongoing, unresolved problem

The numbers (as of end of March 2025, per PNLSC/Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Why they became stateless (three conditions overlapping)

1. The Japanese father died in the war or was repatriated, and the documentation showing the father–child relationship was lost (or destroyed by the mother).
2. At the time, both Japan and the Philippines followed patrilineal nationality principles. Without proof of the father's nationality, the child was neither Japanese nor Filipino.
3. Under the anti-Japanese sentiment of the postwar era, many could not identify themselves as "a Japanese person's child," and in many cases birth was never officially registered at all.

Procedures and developments in 2025–2026

• Recovering nationality requires a judicial procedure — a family court ruling granting permission to establish a family register. Proof is demanding and time-consuming, requiring items such as birth certificates, the first generation's marriage/death certificates, sworn witness statements, baptismal certificates, and certificates of statelessness.
• The Japan-government-commissioned "Survey of Second-Generation Japanese Descendants in the Philippines" continues. The 19th survey ran July 15, 2025 – March 25, 2026, with a 20th planned. Interviews with consuls-general are being conducted around the country for those seeking to acquire nationality.
• On April 29, 2025, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, visiting the Philippines, met with three descendants left behind in Manila, pledging to work toward "nationality acquisition and a temporary visit to Japan at the earliest possible date."
• In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an invitation program bringing descendants to Japan. The first case occurred on August 6, 2025, and in January 2026 Ms. Kaniwa Rosalina visited Japan, visiting her father's grave in Tottori Prefecture.
• On July 5, 2023, the Philippines' Department of Justice issued "Guidelines on Filipinos of Japanese Descent." Obtaining prior Bureau of Immigration recognition (a BI Order) now allows fines and fees associated with entering/exiting the country without a Philippine passport to be waived. One practical obstacle has thereby been removed.
• 注 Inomata Norihiro, representative director of PNLSC (the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center), argues that "only comprehensive relief through legislation, not further surveys, will solve this." Special legislation exists for Chinese war orphans left behind, but no equivalent basis in law exists for Japanese descendants left behind in the Philippines. This is the biggest structural problem.

The Federation of Nikkei-jin Associations in the Philippines

• Triggered by Japan's 1990 immigration law revision, which opened up a status of residence with no work restrictions for second- and third-generation Nikkei, Nikkei-jin associations became active around the country, and the national umbrella body, the Federation of Nikkei-jin Associations in the Philippines, was founded in 1992.
• In Davao, the Philippine Nikkei-jin International School and Mindanao International University operate, and Japanese cultural activities — taiko drumming, mikoshi (portable shrines), Bon Odori dancing, J-pop, and others — continue. A distinctive feature of Davao is that its Nikkei community is being revitalized around a "school" as its core.
• Fukushima Prefecture sent large numbers of pre-war migrants to Davao and organized a prefectural association; owing to that historical tie, a business association supporting Nikkei employment is still based in that prefecture today.

6. The third wave — the era of "reverse flow" (from the 1980s)

Entertainer visas and "Japayuki-san"

注 "Japayuki-san" was a Japanese media term of the era that now carries derogatory connotations. When used in reference material, its historical context should be made explicit.

• From the 1980s onward, the number of Filipino women coming to Japan as singers and dancers under the "Entertainer" status of residence surged. In reality, much of this work was hostess work in Philippine pubs.
• Against the backdrop of Japan being placed under scrutiny in the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report, the Japanese government drew up an "Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons" in December 2004, singling out the Philippines for review.
• A ministerial ordinance amending landing-permission standards was revised in February 2005 (taking effect in March). It eliminated the route via "entertainer qualification certificates" issued by an agency under the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment, requiring instead only 2 years of specialized education or 2 years of entertainment experience. In June 2006, "no likelihood of engaging in serving customers" was added, making pub work effectively impossible.

• A roughly tenfold drop in two years — the measure most credited with the sharpest numerical shift in the government's human-trafficking countermeasures — while Philippine pubs either shifted their sourcing to China and Romania or closed.
• Researchers such as Rhacel Parreñas have criticized how travel restrictions imposed in the name of "protection" instead undermined women's safe mobility. A similar restriction occurred in 1995 as well (registrants dropped from 34,819 to 15,967), followed by a recovery — a precedent for the later pattern.

International marriage

International marriage is also "declining." Describing the present using the image of the 1980s–90s misses the mark.

JFC (Japanese-Filipino Children)

• Children born to Filipina women who came to Japan from the 1980s onward and Japanese men. Estimated at about 100,000 across Japan and the Philippines combined (JFC Network estimate).
• Support organizations include the JFC Legal Team (April 1993), the JFC Network (May 1994), and its Philippine field office, Maligaya House (opened January 17, 1998; became an NPO in March 2006). Batis Center for Women and DAWN (Development Action for Women Network) are also considered among the three long-established organizations.
• Main activities: searching for fathers, negotiating acknowledgment (paternal recognition), claiming child support, mediation, and, when necessary, filing suit in Japanese courts.
• 注 Under Japanese law, the statute of limitations for a posthumous acknowledgment claim is 3 years after the father's death. In recent years, more consultations arise after the father's death, with many cases already past the 3-year window. Whether action can be taken while the father is still alive is decisive.
• The JFC Network has, since 2017, been requesting that the Philippine government include JFCs among the target group for pre-departure seminars run by the CFO (Commission on Filipinos Overseas), citing frequent cases in which JFCs who acquired Japanese nationality are recognized as trafficking victims upon coming to Japan.
• JFCs are sometimes referred to as "new Nikkei," but they are treated as an entirely separate category, both institutionally and historically, from the descendants of pre-war migrants (the second-generation left-behind group).

7. The current system — how Filipinos come to Japan

The overall picture of Filipinos in Japan (end of 2025, Immigration Services Agency)

The Philippines' growth (+4.4%) is modest compared with Nepal (+29.2%) and Indonesia (+33.2%). The accurate way to put it: "growing, but slipping in rank as it is squeezed by newer sending countries."

The Japan–Philippines EPA (entered into force December 11, 2008)

• The sole coordinating body for acceptance is JICWELS (Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services). Employment is direct with the receiving facility, with compensation and social insurance coverage equal to or better than for Japanese workers mandated.
• Even those who fail the exam are granted an extension of stay if they achieve a certain score (roughly half the passing threshold).
• Starting with the 37th (FY Reiwa 6) certified care worker national exam, the practical skills test was abolished, leaving only the written exam.

Specified Skilled Worker (from 2019) and Employment for Skill Development (from April 2027)

• The food-service field has reached its acceptance ceiling and is currently closed to new intake. Field-by-field cap management is the biggest practical variable.
• 注 Accepting Filipino workers always requires, in addition to Japan's own procedures, accreditation from the Philippines' DMW (Department of Migrant Workers, formerly POEA) / MWO (formerly POLO). The process is one step heavier than for other nationalities. Scheduling without accounting for this always causes delays.
• Employment for Skill Development takes effect April 1, 2027. It abolishes the Technical Intern Training stages 1–3 and consolidates them into a single 3-year Employment for Skill Development plan. A1-level Japanese is required before starting work, and A2-level by completion. New fields, including home-visit care, transport, and warehousing, are also covered. Technical Intern Training is expected to be fully phased out by around 2030, following transitional measures.
• Practical schedule: applications for licensing of Supervising and Support Organizations open April 15, 2026; applications for approval of Employment for Skill Development plans open September 1, 2026. From April 1, 2027 onward, no new Technical Intern Training plans may be approved.

8. Japanese residents in the Philippines today

Numbers and distribution

Japanese residents are on a declining trend. Contributing factors cited include repatriation during the COVID period, corporate staff cutbacks, and the aging of retiree migrants, but an official analysis could not be confirmed.

Community institutions

注 "Japanese schools in the Philippines" effectively means the single school in Manila. For families accompanied by children living in Cebu or Davao, the education options are an international school, or a supplementary school plus correspondence education. This is a practical fork in the road when considering where to be posted.

Retirement (SRRV)

• The system was revised effective September 1, 2025. It has been reported that the age requirement was lowered from 50-and-above to 40-and-above, and the deposit for those 50 and above was increased from US$20,000 to US$30,000.
• 注 Information on the SRRV is inconsistent. Age (35 or 40), deposit amounts, and category (Classic/Smile/Courtesy) vary across sources. It has repeatedly stopped and resumed accepting applications in the past, and it is essential to check the PRA (Philippine Retirement Authority) directly for the latest acceptance status and conditions. The figures in this article should also be treated as requiring on-the-ground confirmation.
• Working still requires a separate DOLE AEP (Alien Employment Permit) or an exemption certificate. Having the visa does not by itself permit work.

Language study abroad

• Cebu in particular has many Japanese-language schools catering to Japanese students, but 注 there is no reliable official statistic. An estimate — "roughly 8,000 Japanese study in Cebu each year" — circulates, based on figures obtained by local agents through the Japanese consulate querying Philippine immigration on Special Study Permit (SSP) issuance, but this dates to around 2019, and a published statistic showing the recovery in 2025–2026 is unconfirmed.
• For accuracy, one should check the Philippine Bureau of Immigration's SSP issuance statistics, along with JASSO and JAOS surveys.

9. Current figures on mutual travel

注 (Corrected 2026-08-25 during cross-checking) The earlier draft's figure of "7,840,728 total visitors to the Philippines, first half of 2025" was incorrect. The full-year 2025 total was 6,484,060 — a first half cannot exceed that total. The 6,484,060 figure (DOT, announced January 2026) as used in the companion "World Heritage and Tourism Resources" §1 and "Festivals and Annual Events" §12-1 materials has been adopted as correct. 注 The earlier draft's cited first- and second-place first-half-2025 figures — "United States 753,544 / South Korea 745,623" — are also low-confidence, since the block they belonged to was itself wrong. The confirmed full-year figures (South Korea 1,346,301 / United States 1,323,142) are given instead. Note that "World Heritage and Tourism Resources" §1 states that in the first half of 2026, the United States took the top spot for the first time, with 581,565, overtaking South Korea (DOT/BusinessMirror, July 2026). 注 Since March 2026, DOT has changed its tallying basis from "nationality" to "residence," so figures from 2025 and earlier should not be directly compared with 2026 figures.

The asymmetry of travel shows up here too. Filipinos visiting Japan number 885,000 a year, while Japanese visiting the Philippines number about 500,000 a year (2025: 502,546). In the Philippine tourism market, South Korea and the United States are each 2.6 times the size of Japan, which remains in 3rd place.

• Filipino visitors to Japan are concentrated in April–May, aligning with Holy Week (Easter) and school breaks. In 2025, April was up 32.8% and May up 22.7%. Japan's tourism industry should design its offerings around this seasonality.

10. Japanese-language education — the layer that forms the "foundation for exchange"

• TESDA established CEFR-aligned language competency standards (A1, A2, B1) in October 2023. These are designed to connect with the A1/A2 requirements under Employment for Skill Development, advancing the "infrastructuring" of Japanese-language study for employment.
• Japanese-Language Partners (Japan Foundation): the 12th cohort for the Philippines ran August 2025 – March 2026. The 13th cohort, 20 people, is dispatched August 2026 – March 2027. Recruitment for the 14th cohort takes place July–August 2026. An announcement has been made that the system and selection method will change starting with FY2026 recruitment / FY2027 dispatch.
• In higher education, Japanese is typically offered as an elective of roughly 50–100 hours within nursing, IT, tourism, hospitality, and engineering programs. The dominant pattern is "a specialization plus Japanese," rather than "a Japanese-language major."

11. 2026 — the 70th anniversary of normalized relations

"Troop exchanges" — a new kind of movement of people

• The Japan–Philippines RAA (Reciprocal Access Agreement): signed in Manila on July 8, 2024 → approved by the Diet on June 6, 2025 → entered into force September 11, 2025. The Philippines is the 3rd country, after Australia and the UK, with which Japan has concluded an RAA.
• Its first application was the joint Japan–Philippines humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise "Doushin-Bayanihan," held October 7–11, 2025 (Japan Air Self-Defense Force × Philippine Air Force).
• The Japan–Philippines ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement): agreement to begin negotiations reached at the April 2025 summit → signed in Manila on January 15, 2026 (by Foreign Minister Motegi and Foreign Secretary Lazaro). To be submitted as a treaty to the 2026 special session of the Diet.
• 注 The RAA already entered into force in September 2025. Writing "entered into force in 2026" would be incorrect. What is moving in 2026 is the ACSA.

12. 注 Points that are easy to get wrong

13. A perspective for writing about this material

• The movement of people between Japan and the Philippines shows an almost total discontinuity between "the era when Japanese went there" (up to 1945) and "the era when Filipinos come here" (from 1980 onward). Even though it is the same bilateral relationship, the people involved, their motivations, and the direction of travel have essentially swapped places. This discontinuity is the core of understanding Japan–Philippines relations.
• And both eras produced "people left behind." Pre-war migration left behind the second-generation descendants; the postwar reverse flow left behind the JFCs. Both groups struggle with the same single point: whether they can prove that their father was Japanese. This is the heaviest recurring undertone in the history of Japan–Philippines exchange.
• The 2026 70th anniversary has focused attention on security and economics, but the average age of the second-generation descendants left behind is 83, and only 134 people who have not yet obtained nationality remain alive. The real deadline of the 70th anniversary is these people's lifespans.

日本語の詳細版: 分野「日本との関わり」「日比の往来史と在比日本人」（本サイト日本語版）。