Uncertainties about this sentence: 「一番長い方は15年、短い方でも6年はいらっしゃるそうです。」


The bold part is the sentence in question, the rest is for context:

> 今日は、日本で長くお暮しの４人の外国の奥様においでいただきました。 **一番長い方は15年、短い方でも6年はいらっしゃるそうです。**
> その間のご苦労や嬉しかったことなどを伺いたいと思います。

The full text can be viewed
[here](https://www.docdroid.net/XIK9pCk/img-20171020-0001-new.pdf).

First, my attempt at translation:

> "The longest time person shall be here for 15 years, but the shortest time
> person shall be here for 6 years."

1) Is は in

> 一番長い方は

and

> 6年は

in a contrastive way here?

2) The positioning of でも is a bit unusual compared to what I've seen so far.  
It seems almost like a suffix to 方, although it surely isn't. However, does
this position have any consequence on its meaning? Does it become nuanced in a
different way?

3) I still feel a bit uncomfortable translating "一番長い方" into "the person who
has lived (here) the longest." I know there is very strong contextual support
here, but it still feels like I'm adding too much xD So I just wanted to know
if this is a common way to express this? Or do I have to be cautious in cases
where the context isn't as strong as it is here?




1) No. The first は before "15年" is not necessary contrastive and it can be
taken as a simple topic marker. The second は is a variant of the contrastive
usage of は and means _at least_ or _no less than_. See: [Does は mean 'at
least' in this sentence?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29438/5010)

2) This でも is _even_ , not _but_. "even the person who has lived the shortest
..." See: ["Even a crab" - Japanese proverbs
(?)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/23957/5010) / [What does でもわかる mean
and what does あって+か do?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/25367/5010) /
[いくら＋pronoun＋でも
usage/meaning](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/42188/5010)

3) 彼は日本に来て(から)長い is a perfectly normal way to say "It's been long since he
came to Japan." (Notice the difference in subjects; `It` in the English
version is what's called a [dummy
subject](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/25668/5010)). So 日本に来て(から)長い方 is
also perfectly fine, and if there is enough context, even 長い方 is okay in the
same vein.




1) No. The first は before "15年" is not necessary contrastive and it can be
taken as a simple topic marker. The second は is a variant of the contrastive
usage of は and means _at least_ or _no less than_. See: [Does は mean 'at
least' in this sentence?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29438/5010)

2) This でも is _even_ , not _but_. "even the person who has lived the shortest
..." See: ["Even a crab" - Japanese proverbs
(?)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/23957/5010) / [What does でもわかる mean
and what does あって+か do?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/25367/5010) /
[いくら＋pronoun＋でも
usage/meaning](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/42188/5010)

3) 彼は日本に来て(から)長い is a perfectly normal way to say "It's been long since he
came to Japan." (Notice the difference in subjects; `It` in the English
version is what's called a [dummy
subject](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/25668/5010)). So 日本に来て(から)長い方 is
also perfectly fine, and if there is enough context, even 長い方 is okay in the
same vein.

