Distribution: Russia: Southern Primorye. Korea, Japan, China, Indochina, Philippines, W Indonesia, India, Nepal (Kurzenko, 1995; Carpenter, Kojima, 1997). Additional information on the site of Prof. J.Kojima.

Localities from collection of SZMN: Russia: Jewish Province: Bastak Nature Reserve; Khabarovsk Province: Khabarovsk vic., Mukhen (Khabarovsk Local Museum), Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Kiselevka; Primorskii Krai: 20 verst E from Spassk (ZIN collection), 20 km N from Chernyshevka, Yakovlevka (ZIN collection), Vladivostok (André, 1884), including Sedanka (ZIN collection), Nature Reserve Kedrovaya Pad'. Japan: (V. a. insularis Dalla Torre, 1894): Honshu: Aomori Pref., Iwaki (Khabarovsk Local Museum).

Taxa described from Asian Russia and adjacent territories:
Vespa japonica Smith, 1868, Ent. Mon. Mag. 4: 279 - "Hakodadi, in Japan".
Vespa parallela André, 1884, Ann. Soc. Ent. France (6) 4, Bull.: lxi - "Wladivostock".

References
André, E. 1884. [No title]. - Ann. Soc. Ent. France, Bull. 6 (4): lix-lxii.
Birula, A. 1924 [1925]. Ueber die russischen Wespen und ihre geographische Verbreitung. - Arch. Naturgesch. (Abt. A) 90 (12): 88-102.
Carpenter, J.M. & Kojima, J. 1997. Checklist of the species in the subfamily Vespinae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Vespidae). - Nat. Hist. Bull. Ibaraki Univ. 1: 51-92.
Dubatolov, V.V. 2011. Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Polistinae, Vespinae) of the Bastak Nature Reserve (Jewish Autonomous Province, Amur basin). - Amurian Zoological Journal 3 (1).
Dubatolov, V.V., Dolgikh A.M. 2009. Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Polistinae, Vespinae) of the Bolshekhekhtsyrskii nature reserve (the Khabarovsk suburbs), with notes on their distribution in the Lower Amur. - Amurian zoological journal 1 (1): 76-82.
Kurzenko, N.V. 1995. [Fam. Vespidae]. In: [A key to insects from the Far East of Russia]. Vol. 4. Neuropteroidea, Mecoptera, Hymenoptera. Part 1. - St-Petersburg: 264-324. (In Russian).
Smith, F. 1868. Description of an undescribed species of wasp and its nest, received from Hakodadi, in Japan. - Ent. MOnth. Mag. 4: 279-280.