PH and Japan beyond World War II

The ongoing state visit of the Japanese Emperor and Empress is a time to reexamine the long and complex relationship between the Philippines and Japan that was disrupted by the horrors of World War II. The two countries’ historical and cultural relations actually predate the establishment of diplomatic relations on July 23, 1956.

Many Filipinos are surprised to learn that “halo-halo,” the famous summer cooler of shaved ice, milk and sweetened beans, bananas, etc.—a riot of tastes and colors mixed together—traces its origins to the Japanese shaved-ice treat “kakigori.” Even the childhood game “Jak en Poy,” in which hands form to pit rock, paper and scissors against each other, can be traced to the Japanese “jankenpon.”

The cultural relations between the Philippines and Japan can also be seen in two everyday Filipino words: “katol,” referring to the green antimosquito coils, came from the Japanese “katorisenko”; and “tansan,” referring to the bottle cap, originated from the bottled Japanese carbonated water sold in the Philippines before World War II under the brand name “Tansan.”

In 1567, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first governor-general of Spanish Philippines, reported to the King of Spain that Japanese vessels and traders were in the port of Cebu. In 1570, Martin de Goiti reported to Legazpi an encounter with 20 Japanese in the place known as Maynila. Since this was one year before the establishment of Spanish Manila as capital of Filipinas, it is safe to presume that Japanese traders were familiar to Filipinos even before the Spanish conquest.

Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa, governor-general in 1582, dispatched a Spanish squadron from Manila to drive away Japanese pirates who had established a fort in Cagayan, Northern Luzon, and used it as a base to raid nearby coastal towns. Another Japanese settlement in Agoo conducted a brisk trade in deerskins that alarmed the Spanish, who feared the extinction of deer and banned the export of deer hide in 1598.

While textbook history makes reference to the Parian, the Chinese ghetto outside Intramuros, not much is known about the Japanese ghetto in Dilao. Filipino students are not taught about the embassy from Hideyoshi that arrived in Manila in 1592 carrying a letter demanding tribute and a threat to invade the Philippines. Governor-General Gomez Perez Dasmariñas responded quickly by dispatching the Dominican friar Juan Cobo as ambassador to Japan; Cobo brought many gifts, including a trained black elephant that amused Hideyoshi and stayed the invasion.

Unfortunately, Cobo died during his return voyage to Manila, so Dasmariñas dispatched a second ambassador, the Franciscan Pedro Bautista, who brought more impressive gifts that included: a spirited Mexican horse, a Spanish vestido or suit, a big mirror, and a gilded escritorio or writing desk. Hideyoshi reciprocated by extending hospitality to the embassy from Manila with a tour of the palaces of Kyoto, Fushimi and Osaka. Then Hideyoshi ceded land in Kyoto where the Franciscan friars built a small church and leprosarium that attracted many Japanese to convert to Christianity.

Despite the guarded welcome extended to the embassy in the beginning, Bautista and his companions were the first to suffer martyrdom during the persecution of Christians in Japan. Bautista was the most prominent among those that were crucified in Nagasaki in February 1597 and canonized in 1862, but he is largely forgotten today with the focus on his companions—the first Mexican saint Felipe de Jesus and the first Japanese saint Paul Miki.

The relations between the Philippines and Japan in the 17th century are a neglected field of historical study. In 1609 Governor-General Rodrigo de Vivero was shipwrecked in Japan en route from Manila to Acapulco. Vivero and many others were rescued by Japanese fishermen in Onjuku, making the Philippines but a footnote in an event that marked the beginning of Mexico-Japan relations. We learn about the galleon trade but do not realize that Japan was in the path of the nautical highway crisscrossed by Spanish galleons that travelled from Manila to Acapulco and back, carrying traders and missionaries in an enterprise that is now considered an early example of globalization.

An attempt to establish direct relations between Japan and Europe that would bypass Mexico and the Philippines was undertaken by Date Masamune of Sendai, who sent what is now known as the Hasekura mission that sailed from Sendai to Mexico onward to Spain and the Vatican in the years 1613-1620. Although Hasekura was received by the Spanish king in Madrid and the pope in Rome, the mission was a failure. Hasekura’s last stop before his return to Japan was Manila—a transit of two years. It is significant that the only existing manuscript in Hasekura’s hand, now preserved in the Sendai Museum, is a letter written in Manila which was referred to as “Ruson” (Luzon).

While we should never forget the dreadful pages of history written in the blood of Filipinos during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, we would do well to cast the net further to complete the history of the long cultural relationship between the two countries.

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