A Japinoy’s journey home

By Lella Santiago

INQUIRER.net and PROUDLY FILIPINA.com

Her name was Elsa. She was a showgirl. Or to be more precise, she was a Filipina entertainer in Japan. A Japayuki.

His name was Reizo. He was a patron at the bar where she worked. He was a Yakuza. He fell in love with her. Alone and far from home, Elsa succumbed to his persistent wooing. The liaison produced a son they named Kenji.

Trouble began when Elsa ended their relationship. The violent man that he was, he threatened to kill her. Afraid for her life and not wanting to leave her son behind, Elsa went into hiding. Life on the run became unbearable. There were times she had to scavenge for food. She decided to bring Kenji to the Philippines.

Because of the trouble she was in, Elsa failed to get a Japanese birth certificate for Kenji. The only record of his birth was with the hospital where he was born. The Philippine Consulate in Tokyo issued an affidavit of birth based on hospital records. With this document, Elsa was able to bring her infant son home.

Back home, Elsa realized the money she saved will not sustain them for long. With a heavy heart, she decided to return to Japan. Kenji was left in the care of her mother and brother.

In Japan, she met Toshiro, a cab driver. He was a good man and this time, Elsa reciprocated the love he offered. They lived together and eventually had a daughter. Life became better for Elsa but it was not complete. She missed her son.

For years, Elsa tried to bring Kenji to Japan. But without a Japanese birth certificate, he couldn’t get a Japanese passport. When Kenji was 7 years old, Elsa and her new family went back to the Philippines. Toshiro wanted to adopt Kenji to facilitate his return. Elsa and Toshiro even got married in the Philippines to enable him to adopt Kenji legally. But legal technicalities prevented the adoption. In cases of foreign adoption, the two countries involved have to make a case study. This proved to be too difficult to obtain that Elsa and Toshiro returned to Japan without Kenji.

As Kenji turned 16, Elsa thought of consulting a different lawyer. She was advised that Kenji had automatic Philippine citizenship being the son of a Filipina who was unmarried at the time of his birth. This entitles him to get a Philippine passport. The issue of his birth certificate was solved by the lawyer with a request for this document from the National Statistics Office (NSO). As his birth was documented by the Philippine Consulate in Tokyo, it was automatically recorded with the NSO. Armed with a birth certificate, Kenji was able to get a Philippine passport.

With his Philippine passport, Kenji applied for a Japanese visa. This was easily granted because he was born in Japan. Although his Japanese father was not recorded in his birth certificate, it was not critical to prove his parentage. The place of his birth was enough to grant him an entry permit.

Today Kenji is in Tokyo with his mother and her family. To cement Kenji’s place in his new home, Toshiro is still filing for adoption.

The names of the people involved have been changed to protect their identities.