Early members of the manila Japanese community were unskilled and semi-skilled laborers

Later on the community engaged in entrep

Existence of Japanese prostitutes have been overlooked

JAPANESE INFLUX INTO THE PHILIPPINES

The number of Japanese who came into the Philippines in 1860s was small

They established consulates with the aim of trading with the nanyo (south seas) countries.

1st consul = 30 Japanese only

 1 official visit
 2 consulate employees
 4 businessmen
 12 acrobats
 15 sailors

Dec 31 1889 = 2 Japanese were recorded as consulate personnel; only 2 came

2 years later = 5 came; 4 in mnl, 1 in bulacan

Nov. 1893 – oct 1896 = 0 japanese

1894 = 34 Japanese live in mnl which are mostly obreros electrisistas

Japanese account discloses that 30 obreros electrisistas were sent to mnl in 1893:

 15 have alien registration papers from Spanish colonial govt

 16 Calle Uli Uli, San Miguel as their residence
 These electrisistas were: 2 carpenters and 5 comerciantes are living in the same address;
1 ironsmith, 3 cooks, 2 plumbers and 6 others reside in Binondo, ermita, or their
vicinities.

1896 (anti-spansh revolution)

 Atleat 28 Japanese residents: 15 in binondo, 17 worked in bazaars (Kaigai Boeki

Kaisha, Oi Bokkishin, Iijima Shoten)
 2 were diplomatic agents
 2 were servants

1897

 15 Japanese residents in Manila

 2 male officials
 7 males on business
 4 males without purpose
 2 females
  1 female listed in Ilo-ilo

Japanese military agent reported that there were 2 carpenters, 2 entertainers,

several were in the bazaar business, some were laborers in copra plantation, 1
worker in Kalookan Railway Station.

The Philippines were taken over by the US

- Colonial administration was implemented including pacification

- Japanese increased in volume

1900

 167 Japanese were reported to be in the island

1903

 1,215

1905

 2435

What caused the sudden surge of Japanese into the Philippines?

- Return of peace and order

- Many jobs required both skilled and unskilled workers became available
Cheap labor was needed for the following:
o Railways construction such as Kennon Road, and military barracks like Fort McKinley
for farming and for mining

1903 (report based on sex of the Japanese)

- 1215 Japanese were in the country

- 773 were males
- 442 were females

The Manila Japanese population was 991 of which 630 were males and 361 were females

Report of the US census of the same year

- 859 Japanese were all over the islands

- 442 males
- 417 females
- In manila report: 565: 229 Males and
336 females
- Japanese male immigrants left behind
their wife and kids
MURAOKA IHEJI AND HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

- His narration ends in 1937

- he have presumably died in some time after 1960
- the autobiography he wrote was published only in 1960, which had a delay due to turmoil
caused by World War 2
o turmoil: a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty; confusion;
commotion; disorder; chaos

* Since most of the prostitutes were uneducated, they did not put down in writing thir own
activities. And even if they had been literate, the shame over the nature of their work prevented
them from recording their lives candidly. Thus the autobiography of a brothel owner can be
considered as valuable historical material.

Yamazaki Tomoko, a well-known researcher on the Japanese prostitution abroad, had doubts
over Muraoka’s work. It was because neither of the prostitutes interviewed had him
remembered and the historical events that he wrote were inaccurate. Yano Tor, an authority,
shared same thoughts with Tomoko.

Jinshin Baibai (Buying and selling of humans) by Mori Katsumi

- relied heavily or Muraoka’s narrative

- this author considers Muraoka’s narrative credible since the name written in his works were
similar to the reports who actually went overseas.
- For him it is expected and normal for Muraoka to exaggerate the events, however this shall
not diminish the book’s value as a historical source

As far as this author is concerned, Muraoka's book still stands as reliable, particularly regarding
his descriptions of Manila and Legaspi. Mori's words of caution, however, are taken into
consideration.

1885

- Muraoka left Japan for Hong Kong; He served as a deckhand on British Ship
- The ship was decked to Tsientsin China, he moved from there to Shanghai, wherein he
allegedly went all over China as an assistant for Japanese military secret agent
- Upon returning to Shaghai, he have heard that over 500 Japanese prostitutes were confined
in Amoy, whom he decided to set free. He succeeded to free 50 of them, and sold them in
Singapore, Calcutta, Tonkin, Hong Kong and Hanoi.
- He movedin Singapore in 1890 and put up a brothel. (Brothel is a pl;ace where where man
can visit prostitutes.
- Muraoka recruited Japanese men who had committed crimes and who, in order to flee from
the clutches of Japanese law, had drifted from Japan to Singapore.
Muraoka would give these men pep talks exhorting them to lead normal, noncriminal lives.
One such speech follows:
All of you here have done harm to your own country. You have lost your Japanese national
character and ruined yourself by leading dissipated lives. I feel pity for you, to think that you
can no longer enter your ancestors' graveyards. However, there is still a way to involve you
 in enterprises for your country. . . . I can make you rich. With the money, you can pay back
your country, and become decent citizens. In order to achieve this, you must work with me
with all your efforts. I'll take care of you until you become independent, with your own
enterprises. In order to do so, you must break the law once more, and commit a crime for
the last time. Do you understand? If yes, let us beg forgiveness from our Emperor and pray
to the gods, so that you will be reborn, become again members of the Japanese nation.
This "last crime" was the recruitment of women from Japan and bringing them to Singapore.
- The procurers succeeded to get more prostitutes in the poor areas that economically
developed areas. They offered non existent jobs
- Muraoka's descriptions give us an idea of the state of the Japanese community in Manila at
that time. The Manila Japanese then were involved in four kinds of occupations, namely
store (bazaar) keeping, skilled labor (carpentry, furniture-making, fishing, etc.), office
personnel of Japanese firms (such as the Mitsui Bussan), and prostitution. Brothel
operations appeared to be the most prosperous. There were thirty-five such houses with
some 200 women. According to Muraoka, there were two brothels on Gibis (Guipit Street),
twenty-two on Bali Bali (?), ten on Baliki-Baliki (Balic-Balic) and one on Sorokan (Sulucan
Street).
- Muraoka established 2 businesses in Sampaloc: a store and a restaurant.
- 1908: he moved with 10 women to run a brothel.
- He settled in Legaspi where he put up hotel and bazaar
- 1924 – Japanse association in Bicol was organized with less than 20 members; Muraoka was
elected as the vice president whereas Mori Kinjiro was elected as president.
- 1937 – autobiography ended

Muraoka’s writings that was against other sources of data.

- Japanese consulate reported that there were 280 barmaids women, same year, US census
counted 260 prostitutes which was more than half of all such women found in Manila.
Whereas Muraoka’s description of the approximate number of Japanese prostitute were
much reliable

Yamaguchi Takezo is a vagran, he was sent back to Japan to avoid his actions of committing
fraud.

- Feb 1903, he recruited 5 farmors from Kyushu island for nonexistent job in Manila
- Furthermore, Rosenstock's business directory of 1903 shows that there was a Chinese and
Japanese goods dealer named Muraoka J. ("J" probably being a typographical error), whose
address was given as 10 Manrique, Sampaloc. The same surname, address and occupation
again appear in the 1905 directory, although the initial this time is "I" instead of "J." His
name disappears from the directory by 1909, the year after he had moved to the Bicol
region.

Muraoka’s stay in Legaspi was attested by the following:

 Travel account written by a Japanese in 1935 mentions the Muraoka Bazaar in

Legaspi
  Muraoka’s description of the Japanese Association in Bicol, the names of its
members and other local Japanese residents match with those recalled by a
Japanese old-timer interviewed.
 1938, Muraoka’s name is seen among Japanese residents in Bicol, treating people
with E.D.M. etetric treatment, an obscure medical equipment and he called himself,
a medical doctor. His address was given as P.O. Box 46, Legaspi, Albay.

PROSTITUTION AND THE BROTHEL BUSINESS

* It is difficult to trace when the Japanese women started to come to the Philippines.

Jan 1898, Japanese consul denied that there were Japanese prostitutes in the city. However, ten months
later existence of a brothel was reported. Kari Karieta (Calle Carriedo) was a coffee shop used as a front
shop of the brothel. The brothel had 2 Japanese prostitutes arrived from Nagasaki after having been to
Singapore and Ilo-ilo.

Before the arrival of massive numbers of people from Japan, prostitutes were mainly from European
countries like Russia and France.

In June 1899, four women who had arrived from Hong Kong on board a British ship were initially denied
entry by US authorities because they appeared to be prostitutes. Two were eventually allowed to land
because they had proper documentation, such as passports and guarantors. The remaining two were
returned to Hong Kong.

Pg. 11

Same year reports:

- Japanese prostitutes were in sampaloc

- A US corporal was arrested for striking and dragging (a hair of) a woman who refused to
serve him beer in a house of ill fame.
- Emilio Aguinaldo’s volunteers were said to hid from US authorities in brothels
- Harayama chanced upon one woman who’s on her way back to Japan. This girl was sent
home for accusations of assisting Japanese filipusters.

In 1902, Muraoka said that there were about 750 Japanese residing in Manila, in which 95% of them
went without proper documents and passport.

In 1901, there’s a Japanese girl who’s believed to have been smuggled into the country for immoral
reasons.

In 1902, the owner of the Japanese ship Daifuku Maru, which was sailing from Nagasaki to Manila, was
taken in for questioning when the ship picked up fifteen girls and a procurer off the port of Nagasaki.

1920, Tsunehara and Masuda were deported as they tried to bring in Japanse female.

If they were not imprisoned, the procurers were deported back to Japan upon arrest, as evidenced by
headlines such as "Yellow Slave Man Deportee" or "Deport Japanese for Slave Traffic".
Why such rampant smuggling?

1. Prostitution and brothels were illegal

2. Many women were kidnapped to be a prostitute. Some doesn’t even know that they were going
abroad

3. Operators and procurers wanted to cut down expenses in transportation

* Sometimes a single passport can be used by as many as 30 people.

It was reported in 1902 that every military post in the Philippines had ‘house of prostitution’