A Book Review of The Japanese Community in Cebu, 1900-1945

Abstract

This book review presents a thorough dissection and critical interrogation of Jose Eleazar Bersales and Taihei Okada’s 2023 work, The Japanese Community in Cebu, 1900-1945, which is construed as a trailblazing historiographical account of the Japanese diaspora in the Philippines. Using archival research as its principal methodology, Bersales and Okada have upheld the fact that many Japanese settled in Cebu Province during the American colonial period for commercial purposes. From there, it opened up a veritable crucible, in the form of commercial-industrial establishments, which offered a new perspective as to how the Japanese settlers had acclimatized in their new environment that inevitably spurred or benefited the Cebuanos, in addition to narrating how the same societal setup was disturbed and eventually ruined by the eruption of the Second World War. Ultimately, it is expected for a trailblazing work to have built-in shortcomings, be it in the conceptual or technical side; however, Bersales and Okada’s book is a prominent addition to the literature, tackling not just the local history of Cebu or the history of the Japanese diaspora in the country but also the Japanese settlers in pre-Second World War Southeast Asia, which will serve as the backbone for future research.