Forgotten items of the Japanese August 18th 17:51

There's a documentary film that's been released and is a hot topic this summer.
"Forgotten items of Japanese people-Japanese who remain in the Philippines and China".
The defeat of Japan disrupted the family and left many of the children behind. The theme is the problem of so-called residual orphans, who had to live a harsh life such as being poorly educated and forced to live in poverty.
In the 75th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War, we approached the actual situation of the victims of the war.
(Radio Center News Desk Sachiko Nishigaki)

What is a Filipino Japanese

Prior to the war, Japanese immigrated overseas.
Emigration to the Philippines began in 1903 for road construction.

After that, many Japanese immigrated to Davao in the south, where hemp production of hemp supplies was produced, and the rich Japanese immigrant society of 30,000, the largest in Asia, was established.

The immigrated Japanese man married a local woman.
I gave the child a Japanese name and raised it as a Japanese.

However, when the war began and the Japanese army occupied the Philippines, it was incorporated into the wartime regime and the Japanese father was recruited as a military man and a military affiliation.
At the end of the war, the forced Japanese army feared the Filipino guerrilla, which was supported by the US military, and considered women and children to be cooperators and committed atrocities.

After the war, the Philippine authorities indicted the war crimes against Japan, which included many atrocities against civilians.
The grudge against the Japanese Army was directed to the Japanese families left behind in the field after the war.

In 1995, when I (Nishigaki) was stationed as a correspondent in the Philippines, it was the 50th anniversary of the postwar period, and I interviewed many Japanese who remained.

Yugio Hagio, who was 68 years old at the time, was recruited by the Japanese army at the age of 18 and was put in a camp, but during that time, his younger brother was killed by a guerrilla, and his mother who witnessed it was shocked. I fell and died shortly after.
Hagio escaped to the island and lived inconspicuously.

Akasei Hatsue (94), who appeared at the beginning of the movie “The Japanese Forgotten Things,” also had his father forcibly repatriated to Japan, and along with his mother and sisters, abandoned his house in the suburbs of Davao and lived deep in the mountains.
Akahoshi looks back on those days and speaks in Japanese:

Mr. Hatsue Akahoshi
"I ran away a lot. I was killed when I ran. From the Filipino soldiers. We ran across the river."

Many of the remaining Japanese have been forced to leave their homes and have lost their property.
I was poorly educated and had to live a poor life.

Koyasu Ohara, the director and screenwriter of the movie, was mainly commercial production until then, but he was unrelated to movies with the theme of war, but after learning about the existence of Japanese people remaining in the Philippines, 75 years after the war. I made a movie that I want to convey to the milestone.
Director Ohara looks back on the shooting.

Koyasu Ohara, Director:
“I went to the location and lived deep in the jungle or on a remote island, and in front of my poor grandma and grandma, I lived in Tokyo and it was okay to pass by in the neighborhood. I want you to see him in love with his father's country, Japan.''

Why nationality is not recognized

Since 1995, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has embarked on a survey across the Philippines at the request of a support group, claiming that over 2000 children are Japanese children.
However, only 30% of the people have materials that can be used to identify their identity.

This is because there are many Japanese who remain in the Philippines who have abandoned their father's name and lived under the name of their mother in order to conceal their being Japanese children.
During this time, many people have lost birth certificates and photographs of their fathers, which prove that they are Japanese children, due to war damage, or even disposing of themselves because of fear of persecution.

For this reason, support organizations have accumulated the travel records, statements of their own, testimonies of those who know their father, etc., and filed them with the family court to do nationality work.

According to the NPO Philippine Legal Support Center, which is currently supporting the Japanese who remain, we have acquired 2894 nationalities, but we are still stateless because more than 900 people are still unable to obtain nationality. about it.
There is a limit of 20 people per year that can be processed, which means that it takes nearly 50 years for the nationality of all to be recognized.

What is the State for Chinese Orphans?

On the other hand, the problem of residual Chinese orphans.
In 1931, in Manchuria in northeastern China, Japan declared the founding of "Manchuria" after the "Manchurian Incident" when the Japanese and Chinese troops collided.
As a national policy, about 320,000 Japanese were settled from rural areas.
However, on August 9, 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria and became a battlefield, and a child who was separated from the parent became a residual orphan.

After that, with the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China in 1972, a national investigation proceeded.

There are 20,000 orphans who have returned to Japan permanently including their families, but the language barrier has stood out.
The average returnee was over 44 years old.
Learning Japanese from scratch is not trivial.
It was difficult to find a job, did not lay the foundation for life, and many were receiving public assistance.

Since 2002, orphans have filed class actions in 15 district courts seeking compensation from the state.

The reason for the complaint was that the country neglected the obligation to return the orphans to their homes early and failed to support the independence of the orphans who returned to their home countries.

A political decision was made in 2006 when the Kobe District Court issued a judgment admitting the plaintiff's action, and the orphans are now able to receive support such as full payment of pension.

The basis of life has been gained, but now the problem is the aging of orphans.
According to a 2015 Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare survey, the average age of returnees was 76 years.
One in four is certified as requiring care.

The problems of nursing care and medical care are becoming more serious, but the fact is that there are few facilities that can speak Chinese.
For this reason, in the last few years, the second and third orphans have been playing a central role in setting up care facilities to take care of the old children.

The country is limited to lateral support such as introducing available facilities on the Internet.
In the movie, Katsuko Yajima, a remnant orphan, says in the mind of the orphans.

Katsuko Yajima
"Yajima is good. You can know your parents and your family register. We don't even know your family register. We are Japanese because we were told to be Japanese. I was bullied, and when I came back to Japan, I was bullied as a "Chinese". What was my country? I was often asked."

“Our postwar days are not over”

The average age of Japanese remaining in the Philippines also exceeded 80.
Last October, this was the last complaint, and representatives such as Carlos Teraoka visited Japan and asked the Diet members for their support.

Carlos Teraoka
"After our long war, it's still over. Every year, many remnants are regretfully going to heaven. At the last moment of our lives, we were the children of our Japanese father. Please help me to be happy."

Why did they stay?
With the defeat, the nation had instructed Japanese people abroad to stay there.

After the end of the war, GHQ = Allied General Command ordered the relocation of remnants, but there was no way for the orphans in China and the Philippines to return.

Director Obara was fascinated by the suicide note addressed to the family by Mr. Shigeru Hashimoto, who was recruited by the Japanese army at the Davao Museum of History.
It was because there was no doubt that the Dainichi this empire was the father's kingdom and your guardian.

Director Ohara has accused the remaining people of being left unprotected by the country of Japan.

Director Koyasu Ohara
"The remnants of the Philippines and China pictured here either separated from their fathers at an early age or lost their parents. The national policy of war damaged their lives. It means that the damage caused by the war will not disappear even after 75 years."

There are still many people who have been victims of the national policy of war, but have not been protected by the state, 75 years after the war.
Perhaps the country and each of us have forgotten that.
I think that this movie, "Forgotten things by the Japanese-Japanese who remain in the Philippines and China" poses such a question.

Radio Center
news desk
Nishigaki Koji
1984 He joined
the Metropolitan Police in charge of the social part,
through such as the Manila bureau chief
until now