Displaced ‘Japayukis’ to be given retraining

Overseas performing artists (OPAs) who will be displaced when Japan implements a stricter immigration policy on March 15 will get government’s help.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye has assured that OPAs who are displaced by Japan’s new immigration policy will be provided with retraining programs by the government.

Bunye said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and its attached agencies will allocate portions of their respective budgets to help subsidize the cost of retraining OPAs who will need it to return to Japan.

Homeward-bound OPAs, he said, "will be provided (with) the opportunities to retrain and retool themselves" as part of the DOLE policy on the matter. Japan’s new immigration policy is expected to adversely affect some 80,000 OPAs. Japan developed the new policy in reaction to the United States’ inclusion of Japan on its list of countries which are plagued by human trafficking.

Besides affecting OPAs, this new policy is expected to adversely affect their dependents, estimated at 500,000. Under the new immigration policy, foreign artists - including OPAs - must have two years’ education in a related school and two years of training outside Japan before they will be allowed to work there.

Meanwhile, OPAs again unleashed their indignation at Japan’s new immigration policy by picketing and throwing paper planes at the Japanese embassy in Makati City.

The OPA groups, led by OPA Koalisyon, also picketed the DOLE and the US Embassy in Manila and honked their car horns through the districts of Malate and Ermita as a "strong protest" against the new immigration policy.

The OPAs also called for a boycott on Japanese products and the scrapping of the RP-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA), among other moves. They also said they support the move to obtain justice and a public apology from the Japanese government for atrocities committed against Filipino comfort women during World War II.

Sen. Lito Lapid expressed solidarity with the OPAs by sending his niece, Leyna Lapid, to read his statement of support for them. Lapid said the Senate is studying the issue and looking for ways to address the drastic economic impact of Japan’s new policy. Pasay City Councilor Justo Justo also joined the mass action and criticized the government for "ignoring the plight" of the OPAs.