The Filipino-Japanese Descendants or Nikkeijin are the descendants of Japanese who immigrated from the end of 19th century until the end of WWII, and who were left in Philippines because of repatriation and/or losing their parents or Japanese father because of the Pacific war. At present the number of Nisei (2nd Generation) is 3,585, Sansei (3rd Generation) is about 30,000, and the 4th generation will be included, the total number is estimated to reach 120,000.
Before WWII
From 1903 to 1905, many Japanese immigrated in Benguet in the northern part of Luzon to engage in the construction work of the “Benguet Road” connecting Manila and Baguio. After the completion of the construction work, many of the immigrants transferred to Mindanao, particularly Davao in order to work in the Abaca Plantations. They made the base of the new community called “The DAVAO Country”. They became the biggest producers of Abaca which was a very significant material for the rope at that time worldwide. The Japanese immigrants had increased in Davao because of the booming economy from the growing demands for abaca. They established their community by constructing various buildings like hospitals, schools, consular office, bazaars and other establishments needed for their convenience. in 1941, Japanese immigrants reached to 20,000, the biggest Japanese community outside of Japan, within the South East Asia.
During the WWII
Due to the outbreak of WWII, the circumstances surrounding the Japanese immigrants and their family suddenly changed. The Japanese immigrants in the Philippines were recruited to join the Japanese army as soldiers under Japanese army occupation. Such prevailing circumstances signaled the distraction of the much developed Japanese immigrant’s community and caused the separation of their families. The number of Japanese who died during the war was about 500, 000, on the other hand, there were more of less, 1, 111,000 Filipinos who died because of the fateful war.
After the WWII
After the end of WWII, all remaining Japanese in the Philippines were forced to repatriate to Japan. Unfortunately, almost all of their family members were left in the Philippines. They are the so-called “War-displaced Nisei” or the 2nd generation-they are the children of the Japanese immigrants. The war-displaced Japanese descendants were not only forced to be separated from their Japanese fathers, they were also forced to hide their identity as Japanese due to the resentment at that time by some Filipinos. They had to bury and destroy all proof that will connect to their Japanese roots, and many changed their Japanese name. In addition, they suffered poverty, and many were not able to attend schools.
The number of the Nisei
The total number of Nisei is 3,545, the total number of unrecognized Nisei is 811 (Including mortality). The living yet unrecognized Nisei is 282. (Reference: Entrusted survey by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as of March 31, 2015).
Achievement of research activity for descendant’s wish: Restoration Identity as 2nd Generation.
Research for Japanese relatives and locating of Koseki of Japanese registration has become a continuing effort of the Japanese descendants in order that the Nikkeijin will be able to regain recognition as children of the Japanese. As a result of the recognition received by some of the Japanese descendants, they are given residence status if they wish to migrate to Japan. Moreover, Shuseki petition also commenced whereby 157 out of 217 petitions in the Family Court was approved while 23 cases were disapproved and 37 cases are pending. All of this are achieve through the great assistance and help of the Nippon Foundation, and PNLSC headed by Atty. Hiroyuki Kawai. In addition, there are 673 Nisei who are registered in the Japanese family registration.
Lobby activity to Philippine and Japanese governments
The Federation/Rengokai together with our supporters is continuing its effort to lobby for humanitarian consideration to acquire the status of the remaining unrecognized Nisei in Philippines.
Petitions are on-going for the support from the different government offices, both in the Philippines and Japan, including the request for cooperation for the on-going research work in the different localities.
Since many of the 2nd generation are already of age, there is a need to speed up the work since the pleas for recognition will no longer be effective if the Nisei is no longer alive. Thus, in order to hasten the work, meetings with high-ranking officials were made including that of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Philippine-Japan Parliamentary Association, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ambassador of the Philippines to Japan, and other relevant agencies.
Last May 10, 2015 the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai Inc. held its 35th Araw ng Nikkei Jin at the PNJK-IS Gym with the theme “Achievement of the goals of the association through the concerted and sincere efforts of the members and valuable support from the Japanese Society”. It was a whole-day event where over two hundred Nikkei Jins from different chapters gathered to be apprised of the organization’s progress and achievement over the year 2014, as well as elect new members of the Board of Directors.
The program was jumpstarted with an acknowledgment of the participants and a welcome message. Congratulatory messages from the Director of the Consular Office of Japan in Davao, Hon. Consul Tomoko Dodo; the former President of the Japan-Philippines Volunteer Association, Mr. Masataka Ajiro; the President of the Japan-Philippine Industry Council; and the President of the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai Rengokai, Mrs. Ines P. Mallari.
Afterwards, reports from the different institutions under the umbrella of the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai Inc. were given by the competent officers responsible for each department. The reports covered the reading of last year’s minutes, the President’s report, as well as financial reports from the PNJK Inc., PNJK Polyclinic & Diagnostic Center, PNJK-IS Calinan, the Japan-Philippine Industry Council and the PNJK Cooperative.
After the reports, photos were taken with the Second Generation of the Nikkei Jins, who were also given tokens as an appreciation for their attendance. Before breaking to lunch, the elections were conducted.
A plenary session was held in the afternoon to entertain questions from the Nikkei Jins. Intermission numbers were presented as well, and the Nikkei Jins participated in the games prepared by the organizers. A raffle draw was had, and prizes were given to the winning member.
The newly-elected board members were announced and inducted that afternoon. The Board of Directors for the years 2015-2017 are as follows:
Chairman: Ines Mallari Treasurer: Anita P. Iwamoto
President: Ret. Judge Antonina B. Escovilla Auditor: Elizabeth M. Tagud
First Vice President: Rodrigo M. Suemitsu P.I.O: Nelma N. Adachi
Second Vice President: Juseven S. Austero Director: Felipe C. Hiquial, Jr.
Secretary: Carmen C. Apigo Director: Adelaida S. Panaguiton
Asst. Secretary: Noellyne R. Fernandez
SPORTSFEST 2015
PNJK Inc, PNJK IS and MKD Family
The Sportsfest is the most awaited event for us employees. This event is participated in by PNJK Inc., PNJK IS, PNJK Polyclinic and MKD family. Each Team is named after colors. The colors consist of (4) four namely; Blue Team, Red Team, Yellow Team and Green Team. Membership in the team is done by draw lots.
Every year, we have different organizers. This year’s Sportsfest was organized by the PNJK IS family, headed by Mr. Jun Velasco, the Elementary Department Head, with active participation of Mrs. Ruelyn Bobilies, a building and ground Supervisor. The attendance was strictly monitored.
The first day of Sportsfest began with an opening prayer and was formally declared by Mr. Rodrigo Suemitsu, a PNJK Board of Director, with the participants declaring their oath of sportsmanship. Thereafter the Torch Relay was witnessed where each team was represented.
The events on the first day were Banner Raising, Mass Demonstration performed by not less than 25 participants, Modern Dance performed by 5 participants, Singing contest solo and duet, and Parlor Games played by 10 participants. The organizer introduced the new contest, Zumba which was performed by 3 entities PNJK INC, PNJK IS and MKD family.
There were individual games such as scrabble, word factory, dart, chess, table tennis and badminton, all played for men and women. The mind games, scrabble and word factory can be played by both the young and old generations.
There are Group game sports such as Basketball for men and volleyball for women. To replace the slot for Softball, the organizer introduced the new game Basketball for women. It is fun, but to us women the ball game is so tiring and dangerous for injuries.
The sportsfest ended with excitement. Everyone was guessing who will be the Champion. Before the declaration of the winners, a fellowship lunch was held at PNJK IS Gym. It is noticeable that the table cloth of each team matches the shirt of each team. There were intermission numbers rendered by the winners of the singing contest and dance contest. The final declaration of winners were as follows: the overall champion of the Sportsfest is the Red Team, followed by the Green Team , 3rd place the Blue Team and 4th place the Yellow Team.
To the participants who exerted much effort to their team, congratulations. This is one way of developing our capacity on time management. Our sportsfest is for fun and camaraderie; winning is the secondary goal, participating and supporting our team is the main goal.
Objective: To make an appeal to the Japanese Government for the Recognition of the remaining 282 Second generation unrecognized Japanese descendants, on the occasion of the 70th Year Anniversary after the War.
July 20 – I arrived in Manila with Judge Antonina B. Escovilla and met with the other members of the delegation, former Federation Presidents, Mr. Carlos Teraoka and Mr. Ben Onari; Mr. Lemuel Yoshimura(GenSan Nisei); Mrs. Estelita Roales (Cotabato) with her chaperone, Ms. Melissa Roales; Mr. Stephen Buñi (Manila); Atty. Sim Zuniega; and Ms. Yuka Kanamaru.
In the afternoon, we paid a courtesy visit to Consul General Amano of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, where Consul Amano expressed his desire to support the cause of the Nikkeijins in the Philippines. Thereafter, we attended the Media Conference at the Shalom Center.
July 21 – The 10-member delegate left Manila at 8:55am and arrived in Japan at 1:55pm. We were met by TV news media at the airport together with Ms. Toshiko Takano and Mr. Norihiro Inomata. After our dinner, we had a briefing with Dr. Shun Ohno regarding our respective roles during the Forum at Waseda University.
July 22 – The delegates paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of Nippon Foundation, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa and President, Mr. Takeju Ogata together with some of their staff. The show of support and genuine desire of Mr. Sasakawa to help the Nikkeijins was overwhelming. After the lunch, we were serenaded with a Piano performance at the lobby of Nippon Foundation. Afterwards, we had a Press Conference with the Japanese media. The focus of the discussion and the articles published on the next day, were more on Mr. Yoshimura, who is not yet recognized until this time.
The delegates during the Courtesy Meeting with Nippon Foundation President, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa
During the Press Conference held at the Nippon Foundation Building.
Meeting with members of the Japanese Diet and other government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labor and Welfare, and other government agencies.
During the meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with the Parliament Members.
After the Press Conference, we proceeded to the House of the Diet for a meeting with the Parliamentarians in relation to our position paper. Immediately after the official statements of the politicians were heard, we transferred to the office of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the turning-over of the position paper containing 27,943 signatures. Prime Minister Abe showed his willingness to help the cause of the Filipino-Japanese descendants.
In the evening, the delegates had a dinner with PNLSC lawyers, staff, and supporters, headed by Atty. Hiroyuki Kawai and JPIC officials namely, former presidents, Mr. Akira Sekino, Mr. Hideo Ito and the NISVA officers Mr. Oka and Mr. Tanabe, among others.
July 23 – We paid a courtesy visit to the Philippine Ambassador to Japan, Mr. Manuel Lopez. Subsequently, we visited the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo, the resting place of those who died outside of Japan during the WWII. It was an emotional visit since some of our forefathers may have been buried there. After that, we sat as the panelists during the forum at Waseda University, entitled “70 Years after the War-Invisible Japanese”. Each delegate was given the time to speak on his/her experiences either before, during, after the war, and on the future of the Filipino-Japanese descendants. We are thankful to PNLSC for the kind arrangements and accommodation all throughout the duration of the trip and to the Nippon Foundation for providing the funds used during the trip.
Pictures taken during the courtesy meeting with Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manual Lopez at the Philippine Embassyin Roppongi, Tokyo
