Distribution: SE part of Asian Russia, Sakhalin, Korea, Japan, China, Indochina, India, Nepal (Matsumura, 1911; Kurzenko, 1995, 2004). Additional information on the site of Prof. J.Kojima.

Localities from collections of SZMN and ZIN: Russia: Amur Province: Blagoveshchensk, Kundur (Khabarovsk Local Museum); Khabarovsk Province: Khabarovsk vic.; Primorskii Krai: Yakovlevka (ZIN collection), Ussuriisk district, Anisimovka, Lake Khanka (Sk.Yamane, Wagner, S.Yamane, 1980), 25 km NNE from Mnogoudobnoe, Tigrovoi (ZIN collection), Suchansky Mine (now - Partizansk vic., ZIN collection), Vladivostok: Okeanskaya, Sedanka and Uliss Bay (ZIN collection), Gusevskii Mine (7 km N from Zanadvorovka), Barabash (ZIN collection), Sidemi (now - Bezverkhovo, ZIN collection), Slavyanka (ZIN collection). Japan: (V. f. lewisii Cameron, 1903): Hokkaido: Kamikawa district: Asahikawa, Furano; Tokachi district: Obihiro; Ishikari district: Lake Shikotsu, Sapporo; Iburi district: Lake Toya; Shiribeshi district: Tomari; Oshima district: Onuma; etc. Honshu: Aomori Pref.: Aoni; Iwate Pref.: Morioka; etc. (Sk.Yamane, Wagner, S.Yamane, 1980).

Notes: records from the Sakhalin Island: Korsakovo, Kimnai, Shiraraku, Galkinowraskoe (Dolinsk) by Matsumura, 1911 might be mistakable and probably belongs to Vespula vulgaris or V. shidai (Kurzenko, 2004).

Taxa described from Asian Russia and adjacent territories:
Vespa japonica Saussure, 1858, Rev. Mag. Zool. (2) 10: 261 - "Japon". Junior primary homonym of Vespa japonica Radoszkowski, 1857.

References
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).
Kurzenko, N.V. 2004. [Vespid and Sapygid wasps fauna (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Sapygidae) of Sakhalin Island]. In: [Flora and fauna of Sakhalin Island (Materials of International Sakhalin Island Project)]. Part 1. Dal'nauka, Vladivostok: 193-208. (In Russian).
Matsumura, S. 1911-1912. Erster Beitrag zur Insekten-Fauna von Sachalin. - J. Coll. Agr., Tohoku Imp. Univ. 4: 1-145+ 2 pls.
Yamane, Sk., Wagner, R.E., Yamane, S. 1980. A tentative revision of the subgenus Paravespula of Eastern Asia (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). - Insecta Matsumurana 19: 1-46.