Greater Japanese overseas settlement?

Mainland Chinese came to dominate Taiwan and formed substantial minorities in many parts of Southeast Asia. What would it take for some parts of Asia outside of the Japanese islands to have a similar presence of overseas Japanese, to the extent that Japanese is an important language there, Japanese and their descendants having an important place in government, economy, and entertainment industry, Japanese culture (restaurants and cuisine, Shinto temples, etc) ubiquitous? Where could these be possible? Could we have a Japanese-settled Taiwan before the Chinese arrive? Parts of Malaysia, the Philippines?
 
I think for the Japanese language to be a crucial part, anywhere they settle would have to be Japanese controlled and there would need to be a Japan that is actively putting itself about in the world, much like the European powers did at the time.
Going by Japanese activity during the Tokugawa period (pre Sakoku), there were already Japanese communities spring up in other kingdoms. In Ayutthaya, the Japanese had a fair sized community and men like Yamada Nagmasa were actively taking part in military coups. ANy Japanese who settle abroad in that scenario would be merchants or military men selling their skills/knowledge.

Back to the topic though. For any large Japanese settlement to become a highly important part would require Japanese control of that land. Otherwise they're just as likely to assimilate into the local culture while retaining their identity but not really influencing much. Much like the Chinese who settled outside their homeland.
 
Actually, the Chinese in Malaya are still quite strong in maintaining their cultural heritage, though that can be chalked up to our less-than-stellar history of race relations.

If you want to have a greater Japanese settlement of Malaya, that could be done surprisingly easy. For instance, Johor had its large Chinese and Indian minority because one of it's rulers, Abu Bakar, opened the country to immigration in the 19th century and implemented economic policies that used said immigrants as labor and sources of capital. IOTL, he was really concerned with his sultanate being swallowed up and tried to get the world to recognize Johor. ITTL, you could make him go to Tokyo and ask the Japanese government to recognize his country as sovereign and independent, and also to take in Japanese immigration. Johor is rich in tin and the polity's plantations produce spices and rubber; something Tokyo might be interested to invest in.

Even without that, there were small communities of Japanese immigrants settling all around Malaya IOTL (Tani Yutaka comes to mind for me), so it's not impossible to turn it up a notch and get a Japanese settlement in Malaya.
 
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This will probably be dope but here we go.

In 1840 Mizuno Tadakuni dies of a heart attack and somebody more progressive takes his place. Instead of getting the Tenpo Reforms from OTL this new guy starts modernizing Japan, spurs industry, and even accepts Dutch advice in 1844 and limitedly opens Japan to an extent. Later the Japanese government buys Alaska in the 1880's and encourages colonization of the area (although they lose a big chunk of the panhandle to Canada during the ATL Klondike Gold Rush).

But eventually Japanese Alaska gets tired of being a colony and secedes in the 1950's. The new Alaskan Republic has Japanese as one of it's official languages and much of the government is dominated by people of Japanese heritage due to colonialism and they continue to have strong cultural connections to the home islands. But there is also a substantial White population from American and Canadian settlers as well.

I know it's not in South East Asia but what do you think?
 
There actually were quite a few Japanese in Malaya IOTL. They tended to set up small businesses and the like.

They mostly went back after WW2.
 
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