RIGHTS: Threat of Deportation Looms Over Filipino-Japanese Children

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, May 11 2005 (IPS) - Seven-year-old Masami has a weird predicament. While she is considered Filipino, her younger sister, born to the same father, is considered Japanese. And it seems their father, who only recognised Masami as his after she was born while her younger sister was acknowledged before birth, has caused all this mess.

According to Japan’s Nationality Law, parents must be married and a Japanese mother or father must legally acknowledge his or her child before the child can be recognised as Japanese.

Only if a Japanese father legally recognises his child before the child is born, is the child granted Japanese nationality regardless of the marital situation.

But Rossana Tapiru, Masami’s Filipino mother, is not taking this lightly. She intends to fight the system and together with nine other mothers, whose children were born in Japan and have Japanese fathers but not Japanese nationality, has filed a lawsuit against the government.

”I will not give up till both my children can have a secure future in Japan. It is absolutely vital for my daughters to live in Japan which offers a better education and living conditions than what they will have in the Philippines,” said Tapiru who has a three-year Japanese visa.

”How do you tell your children that they are sisters with the same father but have different last names and nationalities? When I gave birth to Masami, I thought that if she was born in Japan, she would be given Japanese nationality,” added Tapiru, who left the Philippines for Japan 15 years ago on an entertainer’s visa in a bid to seek a better life overseas.

But there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. After years of officials turning a blind eye, Tapiro’s case has managed to garner attention on the important issue of granting Japanese citizenship to children of mostly South-east Asian women, who enter Japan as migrant workers.

On Apr. 13, a breakthrough was made at the Tokyo District Court when it ruled it is unconstitutional for the government to refuse Japanese nationality to a seven-year-old boy of Japanese-Philippine parenthood born out of wedlock and later recognised by his Japanese father.

It was the first time a Japanese court has ruled that a provision of the Nationality Law violates the constitution, lawyers for the plaintiff said.

The boy’s mother filed the lawsuit seeking to confirm that her son had the right to obtain Japanese nationality.

”It is unreasonable not to grant Japanese nationality for the reason that his parents are unmarried,” presiding Judge Toshihiko Tsuruoka said in handing down the ruling. ”The Nationality Law distinguishing children of legally married parents and children out of wedlock violates the principle of equality before the law as ensured by the constitution.”

Activists, however, want much more done. They point out that the government is dragging its feet on what they suspect are thousands of children who have unmarried Japanese-Asian parents and thus must live in Japan or the country of their Asian mothers, while being denied their right to Japanese nationality.

”Many Filipino women are living as single mothers with children who have Japanese fathers. It is important for Japanese immigration laws to recognise the rights of such children to belong here,” Cesar Santoyo, director of the Center for Japanese-Filipino families, told IPS. The center is a grassroots organisation providing support in Japan.

According to supporters, there are 780 children who have been recognised by their Japanese fathers but do not have Japanese nationality, and now living with their Filipino mothers.

Some of the children live in the Philippines and activists say the actual numbers could be much higher.

”The common pattern is that many Filipino women who enter Japan on entertainers’ visas, fall in love with Japanese men and have children. Later, however, they are left to fend for themselves and receive no child support,” said Mio Takano, head of the Japan-Filipino Center.

”These women lead lives full of anxiety about being forced to return home because their children are not Japanese,” added Takano.

Still the going is tough. The Justice Ministry is now appealing the Apr. 13 Tokyo District Court verdict. Also, the Tokyo High Court last month ordered the deportation of a 16-year-old Japan- born Filipino girl, along with all the other six members of her family.

Meanwhile, Tapiro and her co-plaintiffs live in anxiety, worrying all the time about whether their children could be deported even though they have Japanese fathers.

The Japan-Filipino Center’s Takano said the issue of granting Japanese nationality is deeply embedded in protecting Japanese bloodlines and is at the root of the issue of accepting children with foreign parents.

”Sticking to this antiquated base works against the new Japan where international marriages are increasing and foreign labour is growing,” she told IPS.