Some notes on the Japanese community in Manila: 1898-1941

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary study of the origin, growth and development of the Japanese mercentile community in Manila - a subject that has full of possibilities - but the details and qualifications of some of the general observations must await further extensive research. The long period of enforced Japanese isolation completely cut off the commercial and diplomatic relations between Tokugawa Japan and the Philippines. Whatever trading concessions and mercantile interests the pre-Tokugawa merchants obtained in Manila were lost during the two and a half centuries of seclusion. As Japan awoke from her deep slumber and emerged slowly as a modern state in the second half of the 19th century, she began with fresh vigor to renew her contacts with the Philippines. The initiative in resuming normal relations came partly from the Meiji government.