Okinawan Studies: BLOG / News

Okinawan Immigrants in the Philippines

In 2003 The Manila Shinbun ("The Manila Newspaper"), a daily newspaper written in Japanese and published in Manila, Philippines, had a series of 10 articles on the Okinawan immigrants and their descendants. 

The first story, "Hometown" for the second generations of Okinawans," depicts the lives of the second generation of Okinawans in Davao (a city in the Philippines). 

The Okinawa Prefecture Peace Memorial Foundation  (沖縄県平和記念財団) has sponsored a tour to visit Davao, which helped the descendants to visit Okinawa and Okinawans to visit their ancestors and relatives in Davao. The SunStar reports,

"The Japanese turned Davao into a 'thriving economic zone and abaca a major Philippine commodity' by the Commonwealth Period, University of Hawaii-Manoa Professor Patricio Abinales wrote in his book "Making Mindanao: Cotabato and Davao in the formation of the Philippine Nation-State" published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press in 2000. "The colonial state benefitted immensely from this transformation, reaping unexpected revenue earnings from the (Davao) province's tax payments which by 1932-33 exceeded those of Zamboanga, the erstwhile top contributor from Mindanao," Abinales wrote. ... Seventy more arrived in July 1905. Oshiro Kozo and Oki Kizo of the Ohta Development Company were Okinawans who were responsible for recruiting laborers from their native Okinawa for Ohta,' architect and fellow writer Michaelangelo Dakudao in an unpublished paper. Dakudao is the grandson of Dr. Santiago Dakudao Sr., a landlord and host of throngs of Japanese who worked in Tugbok here before World War II broke out. He also took his post-graduate studies in architecture in Japan."

Estremera, Stella, A. (January 12, 2017). Davao as furusato: [T]he shared history of Davao and Japan. The SunStar. Retrieved from http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/feature/2017/01/12/davao-furusato-shared-history-davao-and-japan-519877  

Prof. Patricio Abinales' book titled Making Mindanao: Cotabato and Davao in the formation of the Phillipin nation-state is available in Hamilton Library.