Japanese-Filipino
Families Phenomenon
Japanese-Filipino
families exist way back since 1900 until 1940 with Japanese workers
who came to the Philippines and worked on Kennon Road of Baguio City
and in abaca hemp plantation in Mindanao, and they married Filipino
women. After World War II Japan industry has risen-up that peak in
the early 1980s needing to open its doors to foreign migrants including
Filipinos. While the Philippines, due to its dependency to foreign
businesses, loan and aid suffer continuous economic downfall. Exportation
of human resources becomes a viable means for the Philippine government
to survive.
Starting
1980’s, the massive Filipino migration to Japan produces abrupt
increase in number of Japanese-Filipino families. Today, in just nearly
twenty years, around a hundred thousand entered into Japanese-Filipino
marriages now living together in Japan as whole family or as single
mother-children family. And the figure continues to grow as the Japanese
Embassy in Manila says that yearly around 5000 Japanese spouse visa
are issued to Japan bound Filipina.
This
rapid increase in number of Japanese-Filipino families is a new phenomenon
that gives pressure to the closed society of Japan to accommodate
changes. Fortunately at present time there are efforts from migrants
and its Japanese support groups to build Japan’s multicultural
society. But members of the Japanese-Filipino families, especially
the mothers and their Japanese-Filipino children, are far from realizing
that they are part and parcel of the growing movement for societal
change not only in Japan but also influencing those in the Philippines.
Consciousness
raising is a must for members of Japanese-Filipino families including
Japan’s general public so that the presence of bicultural families
of Japanese and Filipinos in communities builds better image in words
and indeed. It is important to empower the members and the community
of Japanese-Filipino families socially, economically, culturally and
ecumenically to effectively participate in its mission in realizing
a place to live wherein all are treated equally. Thus, to advocate
and to work on these aspirations, the Center for Japanese-Filipino
Families (CJFF) was born.
