Shin-Nikkeijin

CEBU, Philippines - Shin-nikkeijins are the “new Japanese Filipinos.”

GMA-7 Talent Center artist Iwa Moto (or Aileen Quimapo Iwamoto) is a “shin nikkeijin.” Because most of these nikkeijins are abandoned, they grow up practically under their mother’s care or maternal relatives. Some 100,000 of them are here in the Philippines living in dual citizenships.

Like Iwa, many children born of Japanese fathers (by mothers who once worked as “japayukis”) deal with the social stigma, the lack in educational and work opportunities.

Somehow, with the help of various Japanese foundations and non-government organizations, they are being tracked down beginning in 1999 to be taken to Japan so they could enjoy their Japanese citizenship, exercise their rights to free education, learn of their Japanese language and culture, and work there to fill in for an already aging population.

If you’re a child born after World War II with Japanese father (who came to the Philippines) and Filipina (who went to Japan like those japayukis), you might want to know of Shin-Nikkeijin Network here in Cebu that’s been working since 2006 to track you down. This is no flower-strewn pathway, though, because you have to strive hard to survive in Japanese society. But, this is your best shot, so far!

Shin-Nikkeijin Network chairman Oka Akiro (surname’s first) explained that SNN (not the showbiz talk show though) is an organization that gives support to “shin-nikkeijins” or children of Japanese and Filipina parents. These are Filipina mothers who are separated from - or have been abandoned by - their Japanese partners.

The network has been offering legal support provided the child is a Japanese national and is acknowledged by his/her Japanese father. SNN also facilitates processing of passport (both Japanese and Filipino) and visa; offers 200 hours Nippongo tutorial and on-the-job training as well as job-finding support in a host of industries for the mother while the child is attending school.

Mother and child must first study Japanese (Nippongo) language to equip them communication skills in basic conversation, and in reading and writing in Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Classes observe an MWF, three-times-weekly sked (three hours in morning session, another three hours in the afternoon and two hours in the evening).

The child (Japino) will study at the Japan school while mother will care for the child and work as well in partner firms in various industries — the nursing home for the aged, agricultural and forest products, traditional, food and bento, cattle breeding and dairy farm, trucking and warehouse, linen and hotel service, and marine products. On-the-job training slots will expose mothers to Japan’s culture and moral value system.

However, there are no shortcuts to this. Screening is strict. Mother and child must present complete documents first, such as birth certificate from the National Statistics Office; mother should have NSO-authenticated marriage certificate; Japanese passport copy (father and child), Philippine passport (mother), Family Registry of Father (Koseki-Tohon or the family registration in Japan), school certificate of child (Philippine side), family picture (father, mother and child together), and personal history of mother.

But because they find it hard to adjust to Japanese real work culture, many of these mothers resort to clinging back to their past work together with an estimated 25,000 illegal Filipino workers in the entertainment industry (bars and nightspots) there. Mr. Oka confirmed this, with a grin, which signals that the project would be taking a long-term path with more Japinos expected to be born.

“No problem. We are already prepared for that time to come wherein 75 percent of our population is already made up of Japinos,” he said.

Despite this, blogs show that Japinos are still not that widely welcome in Japan. A post on philippinestoday.net read: “Presently, there is public aversion of Japanese society for “nikkeijin” due to their belief of “homogenous” society. Japanese do not want a multi-ethnic society, though not all of those Japanese believe to that line of thinking.”

SNN is a reliable support organization indicated on the online homepage of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Japan. Check www.shinnikkei.net; call 3433418 and look for Marylyn Gabutan.