Filipinos in Tokyo have a registered population of 34,425 individuals as of 2022, the second largest group of Filipinos in Japan by prefecture, ahead of Kanagawa and behind Aichi.[1]
Tokyo has historically had the most population of Filipinos than any prefecture in Japan. However, Aichi Prefecture in central Japan, a major manufacturing area, overtook it in 2015.
Major special wards and cities
Filipinos are concentrated in the special wards (equivalent to cities) in central Tokyo, at the borders with Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa.
Adachi Ward at the border with Saitama Prefecture has the largest number of Filipinos in Tokyo with 3,803 residents, followed by Edogawa Ward at the border with Chiba Prefecture with 3,083 and Ōta Ward at the border with Kanagawa Prefecture with 2,707.[1:1]
Other major wards are Katsushika (1,765 Filipinos), Kōtō (1,639 Filipinos) and Itabashi (1,522 Filipinos).[1:2]
The city of Hachiōji in western Tokyo, at the border with Kanagawa, is home to 1,430 Filipinos.[1:3]
Special wards and cities of Tokyo with sizable Filipino population (Tokyo Islands are not depicted).[1:4][2] Darker color indicates higher population.
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Tokyo Metropolis
Tokyo (Japanese: 東京, Tōkyō), officially the Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to), is the capital of Japan and the most populous city in the world with a population of over 14 million residents as of 2023. The Tokyo metropolitan area, which includes Tokyo and nearby prefectures, is the world’s most-populous metropolitan area with 40.8 million residents as of 2023.[3]
Despite being the most populous prefecture, Tokyo is the third-smallest in area, above only Osaka and Kagawa, which makes it the densest, with 6,100 inhabitants per square kilometer.[3:1]
Tokyo is part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan’s largest island. Despite being known as a city, Tokyo Metropolis is a prefecture made up of (city-level) special wards, cities, towns and villages.
Chiba Prefecture borders it to the east, Yamanashi to the west, Kanagawa to the south, and Saitama to the north.
Map of Japan with Tokyo Metropolis in red.[4]
Population by special wards, cities, towns and villages
Filipinos are found in all special wards, cities, towns and villages of Tokyo , except for the island villages of Kōzushima and Mikurajima in the Pacific Ocean.
| Ward, city, town or village | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| All | 34,425 | 33,027 |
| All special wards | 25,448 | 24,401 |
| Adachi Ward | 3,803 | 3,670 |
| Edogawa Ward | 3,083 | 2,930 |
| Ōta Ward | 2,707 | 2,529 |
| Katsushika Ward | 1,765 | 1,631 |
| Kōtō Ward | 1,639 | 1,588 |
| Itabashi Ward | 1,522 | 1,513 |
| Hachiōji City | 1,430 | 1,344 |
| Sumida Ward | 1,334 | 1,263 |
| Nerima Ward | 1,156 | 1,118 |
| Setagaya Ward | 996 | 905 |
| Minato Ward | 965 | 953 |
| Kita Ward | 853 | 814 |
| Shinagawa Ward | 798 | 779 |
| Taitō Ward | 769 | 723 |
| Machida City | 697 | 684 |
| Shinjuku Ward | 690 | 710 |
| Fuchū City | 582 | 556 |
| Nakano Ward | 555 | 540 |
| Arakawa Ward | 542 | 542 |
| Meguro Ward | 534 | 515 |
| Suginami Ward | 519 | 498 |
| Toshima Ward | 517 | 496 |
| Ōme City | 473 | 449 |
| Fussa City | 421 | 381 |
| Tachikawa City | 403 | 382 |
| Akishima City | 398 | 404 |
| Musashimurayama City | 393 | 385 |
| Nishitokyo City | 330 | 307 |
| Chōfu City | 328 | 316 |
| Kodaira City | 305 | 291 |
| Higashimurayama City | 303 | 278 |
| Shibuya Ward | 299 | 289 |
| Hino City | 283 | 294 |
| Hamura City | 282 | 262 |
| Higashikurume City | 273 | 264 |
| Tama City | 265 | 226 |
| Higashiyamato City | 250 | 264 |
| Kiyose City | 210 | 212 |
| Mizuho Town | 205 | 199 |
| Bunkyō Ward | 202 | 199 |
| Mitaka City | 183 | 184 |
| Akiruno City | 157 | 145 |
| Inagi City | 144 | 156 |
| Chūō Ward | 141 | 138 |
| Koganei City | 135 | 134 |
| Komae City | 132 | 122 |
| Kokubunji City | 112 | 110 |
| Musashino City | 105 | 105 |
| Kunitachi City | 76 | 71 |
| Chiyoda Ward | 59 | 58 |
| Hachijō Town | 38 | 39 |
| Hinode Town | 28 | 25 |
| Miyake Village | 13 | 14 |
| Okutama Town | 11 | 10 |
| Ōshima Town | 5 | 6 |
| Ogasawara Village | 3 | 4 |
| Hinohara Village | 2 | 1 |
| Toshima Village | 1 | 1 |
| Niijima Village | 1 | 1 |
| Kōzushima Village | 0 | 0 |
| Mikurajima Village | 0 | 0 |
Historical population
The size of the Filipino population in Tokyo has been overtaken by Aichi Prefecture in 2015.
Population of Filipinos in Aichi Prefecture and Tokyo from 1984 up to present.[5][6]
People, news and events
Getting to know the Filipino diaspora in Japan through two events held in Tokyo: Sinulog, a religious festival in honor of the Santo Niño held in Meguro Catholic Church, and the Philippine Festival, held in Yoyogi Park and organized by the Philippine Assistance Group, a non-profit organization composed of Filipino communities in Tokyo. (January 2024)[7]
Police arrested Adachi Ward resident Hazel Ann Baguisa Morales (30), a Philippine national with an unknown occupation, on suspicion of abandoning the corpses under the floorboards of a house in the same ward. She denied the charge. (January 2024)[8]
Takenotsuka in Adachi Ward, “dubbed Little Manila,” is known for having many Philippine pubs and restaurants. The area also has relatively cheap public housing, making it attractive to Filipino immigrants, and offers convenient access to the industrial area of Saitama, where many Filipino laborers work. (August 2022)[9]
Filipino woman files suit seeking a total of 1.65 million yen in damages against the Japanese language school in Shinjuku, Tokyo where she was studying as an international student, after she asked the nursing care facility where she worked part-time to improve her working conditions and was unilaterally ordered to drop out and return to her home country. (July 2019)[10]
References
第３表 市区町村別 国籍・地域別 在留外国人 (Table 3: Foreign Residents by City, Ward, Town, Village and by Nationality/Region. 3 December 2022) (XLSX). e-Stat政府統計の総合窓口. Immigration Services Agency of Japan (7 July 2023). Retrieved 13 December 2023. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Cities of Tokyo with sizable Filipino population. © reon (Timog.net) CC-BY-SA-3.0. Original graphic © lincun (Wikipedia Commons) CC-BY-SA-3.0. Data used: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan. ↩︎
Tokyo. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 December 2023. ↩︎ ↩︎
Map of Japan with Tokyo in red. © lincun (Wikipedia Commons) CC-BY-SA-3.0. Data used: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan. ↩︎
都道府県別 国籍（出身地）別 外国人登録者 (Registered Foreigners by Prefecture and Nationality (Place of Birth) 1984 to 2023) e-Stat政府統計の総合窓口. Immigration Services Agency of Japan. Retrieved 18 December 2023. No available data for the years 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 1993. ↩︎
Population of Filipinos in Aichi Prefecture and Tokyo. © reon (Timog.net) CC-BY-SA-3.0. ↩︎
Getting to know the Filipino diaspora in Japan. Malasig Carol RH. Manila Bulletin. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024. ↩︎
Filipino woman arrested after couple found slain in Tokyo. Masuyama Yuji, Endo Minami, Nagatsuma Shomei. Asahi Shimbun. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024. ↩︎
Takenotsuka: A Little Manila in Tokyo. Wagaya Japan. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2024. ↩︎
"夢の国"だと信じた日本で見せた悔し涙。留学生の彼女に学校は「事実無根」 (Tears of regret for the girl in Japan, a country she believed to be a “dream country.” School says allegations are ‘groundless’). Kensuke Seya. Buzzfeed News. 7 July 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2024. ↩︎
