User:Mr Tan/Guam

Early contacts (19th century–1914)
The earliest recorded Japanese dates back to 1830, when twenty Japanese fishermen drifted to Guam and settled on the island. The fishermen took Chamorro wives and introduced the wet rice cultivation. In the next decade, Nakahama Manjirō and several Japanese castaways who sailed with an American whaling ship made three stops on Guam in 1841, 1847 and 1848. A Dutch American businessman, Eugene Van Reed brought forty-two Japanese labourers to Guam in 1868, but friction with Van Reed's working conditions led to the repatriation of these labourers the following year. Japanese adventurers under the direction of Taguchi Ukichi from the South Seas Trading Company (Nanyo Boeki Kohatsu) established a trading post at Guam in 1890. Japanese traders bartered for sea cucumber, coffee and turtle shells with the Chamorros. Trade in the Micronesian islands were quickly dominated by the Japanese in the early 20th century, and a little more than a hundred Japanese traders and fishermen took long-term residence in the Marianas.

Japanese administration (1941–1945)
Japanese farmers and businessmen, consisting of some 455 individuals, also migrated to Guam from the Marianas after Japan's invasion of the island in December 1941. The settlers were tasked with overseeing the food production on the island, with the main objective of providing sufficient food supplies for Japanese troops stationed on the island. Some Korean and Okinawan labourers were also brought over to the island to assist in war preparation efforts between 1943 to 1944, while Korean comfort women were also brought in to serve the military personnel stationed on the island. Descendants of early Japanese settlers on Guam, which consisted of second-generation Japanese-Chamorros and long-term settlers also actively courted the Japanese administration. One Japanese restaurant owner, Samuel Takekuma Shinohara organised the Dai Nisei and roped in islanders to attend communal meetings, often by threatening means.

American administration (1945-present)
A beverage distribution company based in Guam, Ambros Inc., was founded by Ambroiso Torres Shimizu, who was of Japanese-Chamorro heritage. The company, which was established in 1949, has since became a beverage major distribution firm in other parts of Micronesia.

Demographics
Japanese nationals in Guam consisted generally of expatriate traders and businessmen in the island, and a few took permanent residence on the island. Official statistics from the 1934 census showed that only two out of 31 married Japanese nationals took Japanese wives, while the rest married Chamorro women. Offsprings of Japanese settlers and Chamorro women were identified by their Chamorro heritage in official statistics throughout the 1930s, although part-Chamorros that are of non-Japanese heritage are generally identified by their non-Chamorro heritage. Similar ethnic classification practices for people of part-Japanese heritage werew also extended to the Northern Mariana Islands after 1945.