Early years (1820–1945)

The first recorded account of Japanese contact in Palau occurred in 1820, when a coastal sailing ship was blown off course and eight surviving men spent five years in Palau until 1825.^[7] Japanese traders began to establish settlements from the mid-19th century onwards, and by 1890 two Japanese trading stations had been established.^[8] Many of these traders married the daughters of local chieftains and raised local families. When Japan annexed Palau from Germany in 1914, Japanese settlers and their descendants acted as state liaison officials and interpreters for the Japanese military administration.^[9]

Koror during the Japanese administration

Under the South Seas Mandate, a civilian government was established on April 1, 1922,^[10] with its headquarters at Koror, replacing the military administration. The civilian government initiated a programme to identify and collectivise unused land between 1923 and 1932 for redevelopment. Much of this land was used to build new industrial estates and expand towns to accommodate immigrants from Japan and Okinawa.^[11] In Japan, the government actively encouraged the Japanese and Okinawans to resettle in Micronesia, including Palau, and began establishing farming settlements. The first farming settlement was established at Ngaremlengui in 1926, but the settlers encountered problems with its humid tropical environment and abandoned it by 1930, although later settlements were established more successfully.^[12]

As the Great Depression resulted in massive unemployment in the late 1920s and 1930s, more Japanese and Okinawans migrated to Palau. Immigrants brought along their families and sought employment in various professions. The Japanese immigrants held administrative posts, while the Okinawans and a few Koreans^{[fn 4]} worked as labourers in the agricultural, fishery and mining industries.^[13] By 1935, the Japanese constituted at least 60%^[14] of Palau's population and were concentrated in urban areas such as Angaur and Koror. Some Japanese settlers took Palauan wives or mistresses, and there was a sizeable minority of mixed Japanese-Palauan^{[fn 5]} children towards the later years of the Japanese administration.^[15]

The Japanese navy expanded their military facilities from 1937 onwards. More labourers from Japan and Korea were employed to construct the facilities to complete the facilities within a short period of time. The number of indentured labourers rose to more than 10,000 throughout Micronesia, and placed a heavy strain on the islands' scarce resources. Many Okinawan and Japanese labourers and permanent settlers were repatriated back to their homeland.^[16] Japanese men were conscripted into regular services, and Palauans who held administrative posts in the police force were reallocated jobs in the agricultural sector.^[17] The Japanese civilians played an important role in the islands' propaganda activities. As food resources were cut off from Japan, many Japanese encountered greater difficulties in dealing with starvation than their Palauan counterparts, who were more knowledgeable with tropical survival skills.^[18]

Postwar years (1945–present)

Following the Surrender of Japan to the Allied forces, Japanese military personnel and civilians were repatriated to Japan between 1945 and 1946, although some 350 labourers and technicians were permitted to remain behind to carry out repair works to Palau's infrastructure.^[19] However, offspring of Japanese-Palauan intermarriages were allowed to remain, although a few migrated to Japan with their fathers.^[20] In the 1950s, Japanese-Palauans^{[fn 6]} formed an organisation, Sakura-kai to assist Japanese-Palauans and Japanese youths who were abandoned by their parents to search for their parents and kinsmen who were forcibly separated as a result of forced repatriation of Japanese settlers back to Japan. The organisation became a cultural organisation from the 1980s onwards, as most Japanese-Palauans had reunited with their Japanese families or voluntarily chose to leave certain family separations as they were.^[21]

Palau's interaction with Japan was kept to a minimal level during the post-war years, although Okinawan fishermen occasionally visited Palau for catches from the 1960s onwards. A few Japanese nationals resettled in Palau in the 1970s, and married local Palauans.^[22] In the 1980s, Japanese businessmen set up businesses in Palau, and by 1995 there were 218 Japanese nationals residing in Palau. Of these, about half of them expressed a desire for permanent residency in Palau and a few married Palauan or Filipino women.^[23] However, the majority brought their families from Japan along, and maintained frequent contacts with Japan.^[22] Some settlers from the 1980s also consisted of former Japanese settlers who were repatriated back to Japan after World War II. Former settlers who returned to Palau usually consisted of individuals over 60 years of age, and often worked as tour guides or restaurateurs in Palau.^[24]

Many Japanese-Palauans assumed key positions in the public service sector and politics. At least one ethnologist, Mark Peattie, suggested that the strong representation of Japanese-Palauans in leading positions in society could be attributed to the mainstream Japanese education which they had received in their youth.^[25] Palau's first president, Kuniwo Nakamura—who was half-Japanese—fostered closer diplomatic ties between Japan and Palau during his presidency. During a state visit to Japan in 1996, Emperor Akihito personally received Nakamura, and the visit was commended by Palauans and Japanese alike. Nakamura's visit prompted Japan to channel monetary aid to Palau to facilitate repair work on the Koror-Babeldaob Bridge and securing special trade agreements with Japan.^[26]

Racial segregation

The Japanese civilian administration segregated the Japanese immigrants from the Palauans and adopted policies that were intended to protect the welfare of the Palauans. From the 1930s onwards, focus was later shifted towards providing more for the Japanese immigrants as the civilian administration faced difficulties in meeting the demands of an increasing immigrant population. Racial segregation was practiced in most sectors of society, but was more highly pronounced in the workforce and educational sectors. Palauans faced difficulties in getting employed in administrative positions in the workforce, which was dominated by Japanese settlers. In the educational sector, Japanese children attended mainstream primary schools (shogakko) whose lessons are based on the mainstream curriculum as with other schools on mainland Japan. Palauan children attended "public schools" (logakko) and attended lessons that focused on imparting skills for menial labour. Most students from "Public schools" dropped out after completing their elementary education and some children of Japanese fathers and Palauan mothers also faced difficulties in getting enrolled into primary schools,^[54] especially for those who were born out of wedlock.^[25]

Mixed-race descendants

During the Japanese colonial-era, a sizeable minority of mixed-race Japanese-Palauans emerged. Japanese-Palauans were offspring of intermarriages between Japanese men and Palauan women. Most of them lived in urban areas, and were brought up in accordance to Japanese norms and values and spoke Japanese in their daily lives. A few sought further education in Japan, and at the same time had limited knowledge of Palauan customs and language, although children that were born out of wedlock reportedly had a greater exposure to their matrilineal customs and spoke both Japanese and Palauan fluently.^[55] Although Japanese-Palauan children were generally classified as Japanese in official figures and had access to Japanese social privileges, many reportedly faced discrimination when placed in Japanese and Palauan circles. In rural areas where Palauans formed higher concentrations, spouses and mistresses of Japanese men were shunned upon, and Palauan nationalists (especially Modekngei) actively discouraged mixed unions between Japanese men and Palauan women.^[56] The Japanese government encouraged such intermarriages, and provided social benefits to women who had married Japanese men. However, only unions with civilian men were recognised and military personnel were prohibited from marrying Palauan women, although they were allowed to keep mistresses.^[4] The civilian government suppressed unions between Palauan men and Japanese women,^[57] and there was only one known case of a union between a Palauan man and a Japanese woman during the Japanese colonial-era.^[58]

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Japanese settlers were repatriated back to Japan, and male Japanese settlers who had raised Japanese-Palauan families abandoned their families in favour of repatriation, reasoning that the offspring would be able to better adapt in Palau than in Japan. Many of these Palauan women raised their mixed-race children singlehandedly, while others were abandoned and adopted by Palauan families.^[59] Some Japanese-Palauan families migrated to Japan, but generally faced a cultural shock and petitioned to return to Palau after living in Japan for some years. Most petitions were allowed, although they were not allowed to bring their Japanese spouses along.^{[fn 8][60]}

Second and third-generation descendants of Japanese-Palauans who were descended from earlier settlers generally chose to remain behind, although those who were raised in Japanese-speaking families reportedly faced trouble conversing in Palauan. Most retained their Japanese surnames, but Japanese-Paluans generally identified themselves as Palauans after the war. Second-generation Japanese-Palauans usually married Palauan women, and became assimilated with the local Palauan populace.^[42] In terms of self-identification, Japanese-Palauans usually emphasised their Japanese identities only on occasions when they associate with other Japanese, for instance when they participate in memorial services for Japanese soldiers who died during the Pacific War. Some Japanese-Palauans also chose to be buried in Japanese cemeteries after their deaths, notably those in Koror.^[61]