Filipinos of Japanese descent celebrated their native culture this week, with an annual "matsuri"-style festival on the southern island of Mindanao, aiming to foster links between the two cultures.
"Our Philippine-Japan festival serves as an avenue to spread awareness to the public about the great contributions of the Japanese in the creation of Davao City, and in uplifting the economic status of Filipinos, especially the Filipino-Japanese descendants," said Ines Mallari, president of the Federation of Nikkei Jin Kai Philippines, the nation's main association of ethnic Japanese.
Japanese workers arrived in the Philippines in significant numbers in the early part of the 20th century, when laborers helped to build Kennon Road, a trunk route in the northern Philippine province of Benguet on Luzon island.