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Poles in Japan
Polish diaspora in Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Poles in Japan form a small population of 1,510 (as of 2023),[2] yet the largest Polish diaspora in East Asia.
Most Poles in Japan are either from mixed Polish-Japanese marriages, educated professionals working in Japan, students, or Catholic clergy.[2]
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History
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The first non-clergymen Poles to arrive in Japan were the famous adventurer Maurycy Beniowski and his close companion Antoni Straszewski, who arrived in 1771 after a daring escape from Russian exile in Kamchatka.[3] It was also the first Polish ship to arrive in Japan, as they sailed under the Polish flag aboard a seized Russian galiot.[3] Beniowski's expedition was warmly received by the Japanese, an exchange of gifts took place, and sailing southward, Beniowski stopped at several Japanese islands.[3]
The most sizeable Polish community of early 20th-century Japan lived in the Karafuto Prefecture, which further grew since 1925, as many Poles fled Soviet Russian persecution in northern Sakhalin.[4][5][6] Poles in Karafuto engaged in unrestricted social, cultural and economic activities, and a Polish library was established in Toyohara.[7] In 1924, Karafuto was visited by Polish ambassador to Japan Stanisław Patek, and many local Poles were granted Polish citizenship and passports.[5] Some 300 Poles lived in Japan, according to estimates from 1929.[8] In 1930, two Catholic churches were built in Toyohara and Odomari, co-funded by Poles from Poland and Karafuto.[9] Only a handful of Poles lived in other parts of Japan.[10]
In 1920–1922, 769 Polish orphans rescued from Siberia, were admitted by the Japanese in Tokyo and Osaka, before their return to Poland.[citation needed]
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Culture
There are Polish associations in Tokyo and Osaka, and a Polish school in Tokyo.[2]
Notable people
- Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941), Conventual Franciscan friar
- Nicole Fujita (born 1998), model and tarento
- Bronisław Piłsudski (1866–1918), ethnologist
- Zeno Żebrowski (c. 1898–1982), Conventual Franciscan friar
In fiction
- Lucyna Kushinada, half-Polish character in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
See also
References
Bibliography
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