Distribution: SE part of Asian Russia, Southern Kuriles (Kunashir), Japan, Korea, NE China (Kurzenko, 1995). Additional information on the site of Prof. J.Kojima.

Localities from collections of SZMN, ZIN, and literature: Russia: Amur Province: Kundur (Khabarovsk Local Museum), Talakan on river Bureya; Jewish Province: Bastak Nature Reserve; Khabarovsk Province: Khabarovsk (ZIN collection), Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Kiselevka; Primorskii Krai: Yakovlevka (ZIN collection), Nature Reserve Ussuriiskii, Tigrovoi (ZIN collection), Vladivostok: Okeanskaya (ZIN collection), Sidemi (now - Bezverkhovo, ZIN collection); Southern Kuriles: Kunashir (Kuwayama, 1967 as Vespula lewisii): Nikishiro (Lagunnoe), Seseki (Dobryi Klyuch) (Sk.Yamane, Wagner, S.Yamane, 1980). Japan: Hokkaido: Kushiro district: Akkeshi; Abashiri district: Rubeshibe, Shirataki, Oketo; Tokachi district: Obihiro; Kamikawa district: Asahikawa; Sorachi district: Mt. Yûbari, Ashibetsu, Bibai; Ishikari district: Lake Shikotsu, Jôzankei, Sapporo, Eniwa; Iburi district: Tomakomai; Shiribeshi district: Otaru, Tomari; Hiyama district: Esashi; Oshima district: Onuma, Hakodate; etc. Honshu: Aomori Pref.: Kuroishi, Aoni, Yamagata, Hirosaki, Zatôishi; Akita Pref.: Goshogake Spa; Iwate Pref.: Kitakami; etc. (Sk.Yamane, Wagner, S.Yamane, 1980)

Taxa described from Asian Russia: Vespula shidai Ishikawa, Yamane and Wagner, 1980, in Yamane et al., Ins. Matsum. (n. ser.) 19: 1, 44, fig. 135A - "Sapporo, Hokkaidô, Japan", also from other localities in Japan; and Russia ("southern Primor'e"), Kunashir Is.: (Nikishiro).

References
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.
Ishikawa, R., Yamane, Sk., Wagner, R.E. 1980. Description of a new species of the genus Vespula from north-eastern Asia (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). In: Yamane, Sk., Wagner, R.E., Yamane, S. 1980. A tentative revision of the subgenus Paravespula of Eastern Asia (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). - Insecta Matsumurana 19: 44-46.
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).
Kuwayama, S. 1967. Insect fauna of the Southern Kurile Islands. Sapporo: 1-225 p., 1-4 pl., map.
Malikova E.I., Dolya M.A. 2008. [Data on social wasps (Vespidae) and bees (Apidae) from Bastak Nature Reserve] // Priroda zapovednika “Bastak” [Nature of Bastak Nature Reserve]. Blagoveshchensk 5: 77-80. (In Russian).
Streltzov, A.N., Kogdina, Yu.A. 2005. [First data on social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) from Bastak Nature Reserve]. - Priroda zapovednika “Bastak” [Nature of Bastak Nature Reserve]. Blagoveshchensk 2: 45-46. (In Russian).
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.