ID :
12546
Tue, 07/15/2008 - 15:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/12546
The shortlink copeid
Children of Japanese in prewar, wartime Philippines to visit Japan
MANILA, July 15 (Kyodo) - Sixteen ageing sons and daughters of Japanese men who lived, worked or fought in the Philippines before and during World War II will leave for Tokyo on Tuesday to appeal to the government to grant them Japanese citizenship, a Japanese nonprofit organization said Monday.
Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center Inc. said the six men and 10 women, who range in age from 64 to 83, hope to drum up support from Japanese legislators and Japanese officials to help them gain their citizenship.
Kyoko Ishii of the nonprofit center helping the children fathered by Japanese men voiced hope the Tokyo family court will eventually grant them Japanese citizenship.
The visit will last for a week, she said.
''It has always been my dream to be recognized as a Japanese citizen,'' said Haruo Naka, 75. ''I hope that my dream will come true.''Naka was born in the Philippines in 1933. His Japanese father died in the Philippines when Naka was 8 years old. He also has an elder brother and two elder sisters.
In 1945, he and an elder sister were among those people who were hauled off by ship and evacuated to Japan.
The siblings lived in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan until the 1960s, but after 15 or 16 years of living in Japan, his sister prodded him to return to the Philippines.
His sister eventually died in Japan.
''Tomorrow is the first time that I will revisit Japan, and I'm very excited to make that trip,'' said misty-eyed Naka, who speaks Japanese.
He hopes to find his father's relatives in Wakayama Prefecture.
Unlike Naka, Gloria Hokazono-Cequinia is lucky.
The center has already found her father's kin in Kagoshima Prefecture, said Yuka Inoue, also of the Nikkei-jin center.
Asked how she feels about the trip, she said, ''I'm so excited but a little bit nervous that I will be seeing my cousins and other Japanese relatives.''Cequinia, whose Japanese father died when she was 1, is bringing with her some candied dried mangoes for her relatives and some family pictures of her husband, her four children and some relatives in the Philippines.
''I have been practicing some Japanese words like 'ohayo gozaimasu,' 'arigato,' 'konnichi-wa.' These words will come in handy when I finally meet them,'' she said.
The center has facilitated a couple of similar visits in the past, sending at least 23 children who are also looking for their fathers' relatives in Japan.
The center has documented more than 80 cases, but more than a dozen have already died and at least seven people have already gained Japanese citizenship, according to the center.
Conchita Timbol, 82, said, ''I appeal to the Japanese people to accept us.
Please give us a chance.''
Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center Inc. said the six men and 10 women, who range in age from 64 to 83, hope to drum up support from Japanese legislators and Japanese officials to help them gain their citizenship.
Kyoko Ishii of the nonprofit center helping the children fathered by Japanese men voiced hope the Tokyo family court will eventually grant them Japanese citizenship.
The visit will last for a week, she said.
''It has always been my dream to be recognized as a Japanese citizen,'' said Haruo Naka, 75. ''I hope that my dream will come true.''Naka was born in the Philippines in 1933. His Japanese father died in the Philippines when Naka was 8 years old. He also has an elder brother and two elder sisters.
In 1945, he and an elder sister were among those people who were hauled off by ship and evacuated to Japan.
The siblings lived in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan until the 1960s, but after 15 or 16 years of living in Japan, his sister prodded him to return to the Philippines.
His sister eventually died in Japan.
''Tomorrow is the first time that I will revisit Japan, and I'm very excited to make that trip,'' said misty-eyed Naka, who speaks Japanese.
He hopes to find his father's relatives in Wakayama Prefecture.
Unlike Naka, Gloria Hokazono-Cequinia is lucky.
The center has already found her father's kin in Kagoshima Prefecture, said Yuka Inoue, also of the Nikkei-jin center.
Asked how she feels about the trip, she said, ''I'm so excited but a little bit nervous that I will be seeing my cousins and other Japanese relatives.''Cequinia, whose Japanese father died when she was 1, is bringing with her some candied dried mangoes for her relatives and some family pictures of her husband, her four children and some relatives in the Philippines.
''I have been practicing some Japanese words like 'ohayo gozaimasu,' 'arigato,' 'konnichi-wa.' These words will come in handy when I finally meet them,'' she said.
The center has facilitated a couple of similar visits in the past, sending at least 23 children who are also looking for their fathers' relatives in Japan.
The center has documented more than 80 cases, but more than a dozen have already died and at least seven people have already gained Japanese citizenship, according to the center.
Conchita Timbol, 82, said, ''I appeal to the Japanese people to accept us.
Please give us a chance.''
