OLAN Emboscado, tour guide and researcher of the Davao City Tourism Operations Office’s Tourism Circuit Development Project, leads the Furusato Davao Tourism Circuit Familiarization Tour on Friday, March 13. (Photo via Ivy Tejano)
By Ivy Tejano
Published Mar 15, 2026 05:13 pm
DAVAO CITY – The city government of Davao is deepening its tourism offerings with the new Furusato Davao Tourism Circuit, giving stakeholders, locals, and visitors a closer look at the city's Japanese heritage and historical landmarks during the 89th Araw ng Dabaw celebration.
A familiarization tour on March 13 allowed tourism stakeholders, cultural advocates, and media practitioners to revisit Barangay Mintal, once known as "Little Tokyo," home to one of the largest Japanese communities in the Philippines before World War II.
Organized by the Davao City Tourism Operations Office, the tour showed the history of Davao's Japanese community, the impact of the war, and their lasting contributions to the city, making the site a tourist spot and an important cultural landmark.
According to Olan Emboscado, tour guide and researcher of the Tourism Circuit Development Project of the CTOO, Japanese migration to Davao City started in 1903, when American abaca planters brought workers from Japan.
Suda Ryosuke led the first group from Kagoshima Prefecture. "They came to the city in search of a better life," Emboscado said. "Japanese later worked as abaca farmers and managed plantations across the area."
History said that some of the Japanese married Filipinas and started families in the city, where they found opportunities that improved their lives compared to what they had in Japan. The Japanese community in Davao grew and prospered.
Many settlers became successful abaca farmers and plantation owners. One of them was Ohta Kyosaburo, who established an abaca plantation in Mintal and is often called the "Father of Abaca Development."
Before World War II, many Japanese settlers lived in the Mintal–Calinan–Toril area, where fertile land supported large abaca plantations. The circuit development project team is still studying the history of the settlers in the Calinan and Toril areas.
At its peak, Davao had about 20,000 Japanese migrants, the largest Japanese community in Southeast Asia at the time. The area had Japanese schools, offices, stores, hospitals, photo studios, and more. They become influential in the city.
The abaca became one of the world's most in-demand export products. The Japanese introduced a machine called hagutan, which helped strip abaca fibers faster and produce more for export, especially for ropes used by merchant and naval ships.
Davao City was later created, in part, to limit Japanese influence in the area. In 1937, the Municipality of Davao and the Municipal District of Guianga—where many Japanese plantations were located—were merged to form the city.
According to history, early city mayors were appointed rather than elected because the government feared that the large and influential Japanese community might gain control of local elections.
However, the community's prosperity ended during World War II. After Japan's defeat and the liberation of the Philippines, many Japanese immigrants were sent back to Japan, except for their Filipino spouses and children.
With strong anti-Japanese sentiment after the war, several families hid in remote areas. They tried to conceal their Japanese identity to avoid discrimination and possible persecution, leaving remnants of the past.
Relations between the Philippines and Japan later improved, especially after the 1962 visit of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko to the Philippines. In 1968, 80 former Japanese immigrants returned to Davao for an emotional visit to the place they once called home.
Every August, groups of Japanese visitors travel to Davao City and visit the Mintal Public Cemetery to pay respects to their ancestors. Mintal, a barangay near Calinan, was once home to a large Japanese community and was often called Little Tokyo.
In 1980, second-generation Japanese descendants, known as Nikkei Jin, formed the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai Inc. The organization aims to restore the identity and history of Japanese descendants in the Philippines who were affected by the war.
One of its strong supporters is Uchida Tatsuo, a Davao-born Japanese businessman who later found success in Japan. In 1994, he helped establish the Imin Museum inside the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai School in Calinan District.
The museum was renovated in 2019 through funding from the Japanese government's cultural assistance program, along with support from PNJK and the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai International School.
The tour also highlighted the former Santa Ana Port on Ramon Magsaysay Ave., Davao City Hall on San Pedro St., originally built in 1926, which, along with the Kyosaburo Monument in Mintal, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
Emboscado said the three landmarks, which bear historical markers installed by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), are recognized for their significance in Davao City's history.
"These sites remind the people of Davao and visitors, as well, of the people, events, and partnerships that shaped modern Davao," Emboscado said, also acknowledging Ohta Development Co.'s contribution to the city's early development.
Grace Plata, tourism relations specialist of the CTOO and focal person for the Tourism Circuit Development Project, said this familiarization tour is the first of three they are conducting for the newly launched tourism circuits in the city.
"It allows our partners, stakeholders, and visitors to experience the routes while we further enhance storytelling based on fact research and visitor experience," Plata said, adding that CTOO continues to refine such experience through ongoing research.
Plata said the upcoming circuits will feature other historical chapters, including the Furukawa and Toril communities, with key sites such as the Memorial to Datu Bangcas in Alambre, Toril, honoring one of the area's early local leaders.
The launch of Furusato Davao is part of the city government's broader effort to diversify tourism experiences, strengthen Davao City's position as a key destination in Mindanao, and honor its rich multicultural history.
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