Filipinos in Yamagata Prefecture have a registered population of 881 individuals as of 2022, making them the 40th largest group of Filipinos in Japan by prefecture, ahead of Aomori and behind Miyazaki.[1]
International marriages between Filipino women and Japanese men in Yamagata Prefecture have been the subject of many studies,[2] including from human rights[3] and feminist[4] perspectives.
Major cities
Almost a quarter (196 people) of the Filipinos in Yamagata Prefecture reside in the capital city of Yamagata.[1:1]
The next biggest cities where Filipinos are found are Tsuruoka with 196 residents and Yonezawa with 100. The rest are spread out among the remaining cities, towns and villages.[1:2]
Cities of Yamagata Prefecture with sizable Filipino population.[1:3][5] Darker color indicates higher population.
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Yamagata Prefecture
Yamagata Prefecture (山形県, Yamagata-ken), located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu, has a population of 1,028,055 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km². Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the north, Miyagi Prefecture to the east, Fukushima Prefecture to the south, and Niigata Prefecture to the southwest.[6]
Yamagata is the capital and largest city.
Map of Japan with Yamagata Prefecture in red.[7]
Population by city, town and village
Although thinly spread out throughout the prefecture, Filipinos can be found in almost all cities, towns and villages, except for Oguni Town.[1:4]
| City, town or village | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| All | 881 | 844 |
| Yamagata | 196 | 203 |
| Tsuruoka | 100 | 69 |
| Yonezawa | 99 | 92 |
| Sagae | 50 | 52 |
| Sakata | 44 | 39 |
| Shinjō | 39 | 37 |
| Obanazawa | 35 | 34 |
| Murayama | 32 | 31 |
| Higashine | 28 | 23 |
| Tendō | 26 | 23 |
| Ōishida Town | 24 | 25 |
| Kahoko Town | 22 | 25 |
| Kaminoyama | 22 | 22 |
| Nan’yō | 20 | 19 |
| Shirataka Town | 17 | 17 |
| Nagai | 14 | 13 |
| Shōnai Town | 13 | 22 |
| Yuza Town | 13 | 11 |
| Ōe Town | 11 | 4 |
| Tozawa Village | 10 | 10 |
| Takahata Town | 10 | 10 |
| Asahi Town | 9 | 9 |
| Sakegawa Village | 8 | 8 |
| Ōkura Village | 7 | 7 |
| Kawanishi Town | 7 | 6 |
| Kaneyama Town | 6 | 6 |
| Mamurogawa Town | 4 | 4 |
| Mogami Town | 3 | 10 |
| Yamanobe Town | 3 | 3 |
| Iide Town | 3 | 3 |
| Funagata Town | 2 | 3 |
| Nakayama Town | 2 | 2 |
| Nishikawa Town | 1 | 1 |
| Mikawa Town | 1 | 1 |
| Oguni Town | 0 | 0 |
Historical population
The Filipino population of Yamagata Prefecture has not changed much since 1984, and is clearly very small compared to Tokyo.
Population of Filipinos in Yamagata Prefecture and Tokyo from 1984 up to present.[8][9]
People, news and events
Two Filipino women were sentenced to prison terms of 18 months, suspended for three years, for violating Japan’s immigration law. The women entered Japan as cooks but had worked as employees of a cosmetic manufacturing company.[10] (January 2020)
One Filipino woman was killed and another was in a critical condition Saturday after both were hit by a car while walking home from work in Yamagata City.[11] (March 2019)
Bittersweet tales of former Japayuki and Filipinas married to Japanese husbands, two of whom live in Yamagata.[12] (November 2014)
The Catholic community in Shinjō City in Yamagata Prefecture, the majority of which are Filipinos, acquires their own place of worship.[13] (October 2010)
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. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Filipino-Japanese Marriages (PDF). Bauzon Leslie E. Ateneo de Manila University Philippine Studies. 1999. Retrieved 18 February 2024. ↩︎
Marriage Brokerage and Human Rights Issues. Fujimoto Nobuki. December 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2024. ↩︎
Mixed Marriage in Japan -the Feminist Critical Perspective and Regional Counterargument (PDF). Sakura Yoshihide. 28 February 2002. Hokkaido University. Retrieved 18 February 2024. ↩︎
Cities of Yamagata 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. ↩︎
Yamagata. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia. Retrieved 18 December 2023. ↩︎
Map of Japan with Yamagata 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 Yamagata and Tokyo. © reon (Timog.net) CC-BY-SA-3.0. ↩︎
In first, Japan court uses remote link to sentence Philippine nationals amid decline in number of interpreters. The Japan Times. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2024. ↩︎
Filipino woman killed, another injured after being hit by car in Yamagata city. The Japan Times. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2024. ↩︎
Filipinos in Japan: True stories. Lopez Bernie. Philippine Daily Inquirer. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2024. ↩︎
This is the day, for Shinjo. Kukuchi Isao. 31 October 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2024. ↩︎
