Tracing roots and restoring dignity and heritage

Japan Foundation (JF) Manila, under the very active leadership of Director Ben Suzuki, sponsored two major events November - and November  respectively.

The first involved a forum on Japanese Language Education, a continuing effort to assess the Japanese language-related issues such as how to improve learning and teaching Nihongo and organizing groups and organizations of teachers of Nihongo, among other topics.

Last October, through the efforts of Japan Foundation Japanese Language expert, Mr. Toru Hoshi, the Association of Nihongo Teachers in the Visayas ( ANT-V) was organized. They join the Luzon group, AFINITE.

The second main event was a symposium entitled Japanese Migrants to the Philippines: History, Issues and Prospects sponsored by The Japan Foundation in collaboration with the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines and the UP Vargas Museum, the National Commission for culture and the Arts, the Filipino-Japanese Foundation in Northern Luzon Inc and the UP Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts.

For the morning session, Dr. Mariko Iijima of Sophia University presented her comparative research about Japanese migrants to Hawaii and to the Philippines. Prof. Makoto Sugii of the Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University discussed about the Japanese descendants in Baguio-Cordillera and their contact with the post-war Japanese visitors to the Philippines within -.

Dr. Patricia O. Afable of the Smithsonian Institution shared compelling memories and telling archival documents and photographs of the Baguio Japanese Community. In the afternoon, her photographic exhibition about the early th Century Japanese Community of Baguio was opened to the viewing public. This photo exhibit will run on until December at the Vargas Museum.

The afternoon session presented various issues and prospects related to Japanese diaspora. Prof. Yasuko Kuroda of the Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku discussed her experiences with migrant school children in Yokohama and in Davao. Prof. Shun Ohno of Kyushu University had very rich data about the Nikeijins ( Japanese descendants), their de-territorialized identities and citizenship.

Prof. Maria Luisa “Meloy” Mabunay of the University of the Philippines in the Visayas traced the Nikkeijin of Panay and her beautiful pictorial collection on this topic is also now displayed at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Throughout the interrelated presentations, it was good to hear again the reminder about the valuable role of time as a healer. Japanese descendants felt the stigma and burden of war with many so ashamed and fearful about being found out as having Japanese roots that they hid their real identities, assumed different names, and silently proceeded with their lives interlinked with their Filipino families in Davao, in Baguio, in Panay. There was a general strong suspicion then and one misconception that continues to this day that Japanese migrants before the war were really spies and soldiers. Prof. Ohno clarified that while there may have been a number who were indeed soldiers, most pre-war Japanese migrants were civilians who were forced or commissioned to become soldiers by the Japanese Imperial Army.

Through the powerful pictures and stories compiled by both Dr. Patricia Afable and Dr. Meloy Mabunay, these pre-war Japanese migrants and their descendants showed the beautiful legacy they left to their descendants: the dignity of work in the commercial streets of Iloilo, in the saw mills and construction areas of Baguio , among other places. One beautiful message of the symposium and the photo exhibits is that by retracing roots, dignity and heritage are restored not only to the migrants but to their descendants.

And it dawned on us that time will be just as kind to many of our own OFWs who are now unwelcomed, stigmatized, and oppressed, with a significant number hiding and cowering in fear in many parts of the world. In time, their descendants will revisit the places they migrated to and their descendants will feel the pride and honor of learning that their migrant ancestors built this bridge in Yokohama, put up this school and that road, and cared for so many others elsewhere in the world. That like the Japanese and other migrants in the past and in the present all throughout the world, our OFWs also offered and continue to offer the ultimate sacrifice of leaving family and country as their gift of love to allow their families left behind to survive and to live better lives.

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