Four elderly Filipinos born to Japanese fathers during or after World War II are fighting courts, an old definition of “father”—and time--to be legally recognized as Japanese citizens.

The plaintiffs, all around 80 years old, were born in the Philippines to Japanese fathers and local mothers.

Despite DNA tests confirming blood ties to Japanese relatives, family courts in Tokyo and Naha rejected their petitions in September and October to create family registries required for citizenship.

They are now appealing to higher courts, hoping to secure recognition while they are still alive.

JOSE ABRIL’S STORY

One of them, Jose Abril, 82, lives in San Pablo city.

His father, Ginjiro Takei, served in the Japanese military and disappeared during the war while Abril’s mother was pregnant. According to his mother, Takei spoke English and lived with her for about a year.

Abril began searching for his father’s family in the 1990s by visiting the Japanese Embassy in Manila.

In 2009, an investigation by the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center (PNLSC), a Tokyo-based nonprofit, found Takei’s name on a health ministry-preserved roster of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 8th railway regiment.

Takei had returned to Japan after the war, married a Japanese woman, and had children.

In April this year, Abril, as a representative of second-generation Nikkei-jin, met with then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during his visit to the Philippines.

In August, Abril traveled to Japan under a Japanese Foreign Ministry program, visited his father’s grave, and told him his mother had longed to see him.

Abril also met his half-brother, 73, with whom DNA tests showed a 98.7-percent probability of kinship.

However, the Tokyo Family Court dismissed Abril’s petition to create a family registry, ruling that under the old nationality law, “father” refers to a legal father through marriage, not merely a biological one.

The court also ruled there was no sufficient evidence proving that Abril’s father was Japanese.

The three other cases were rejected for similar reasons.

Abril expressed deep disappointment, saying he does not have much time left to win the case.

Abril’s half-brother also said he hopes Abril’s wish will be fulfilled.

He said he felt that Abril resembled their father and had expected the DNA evidence to be decisive.

ROSA CORIAS ANTIPUESTO’S STRUGGLE

Another plaintiff, Rosa Corias Antipuesto, 82, lives in Davao city.

Her father, Koshie Kanashiro, came from Okinawa Prefecture to the Philippines and worked as a barber before being drafted during World War II.

He never returned to his family in the Philippines.

Antipuesto said her father called her “Masako.”

PNLSC research revealed Kanashiro was the eldest of six brothers, four of whom died in the war.

In 2023, Antipuesto visited Okinawa and met relatives who remarked on her resemblance to her grandmother.

A cousin’s wife, 66, expressed sorrow over Antipuesto’s hardships growing up and the court’s rejection.

The wife and Antipuesto pray that her appeal will succeed and the Japanese government will recognize her as Japanese.

LAW AND IDENTITY

In all four cases, the interpretation of “father” under Japan’s old nationality law has been a sticking point.

“They are just asking for recognition of their identity as Japanese,” Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer representing the four, said. “Denying them because their parents weren’t married is blatant discrimination. We will fight until justice is served.”

The average age of children born to Japanese men and Filipino women in the Philippines before the end of the war is 84 years old.

In the eight decades since the war, many of these children have died without fulfilling their wish of obtaining Japanese citizenship.

Before the war, about 30,000 Japanese immigrants were cultivating hemp and other crops in the Philippines, forming vibrant communities that had a collective population of about 30,000 at their peak.

However, when the Pacific War began, Japanese men were mobilized into the military. Many of the immigrants died in battles or were forcibly repatriated to Japan.

Their children were left behind in the Philippines with their mothers.

Anti-Japanese sentiment in the Philippines was intense after the war, and the children were subjected to discrimination.

They tried to conceal their backgrounds, but many were unable to receive adequate education and were forced into lives of poverty.

Both Japan and the Philippines followed a paternal nationality principle at the time: If the father was Japanese, the child was Japanese.

However, many were excluded from family registries because of missing marriage or birth records.

SLOW PROGRESS

The issue of second-generation nationality gained attention in Japan in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the war’s end.

On that occasion, 32 individuals came to Japan seeking confirmation or restoration of their Japanese nationality.

As of March this year, the Foreign Ministry has identified 3,815 second-generation people, including deceased or untraceable individuals.

Of them, 1,649 have obtained Japanese nationality, including 329 through the creation of family registries.

Among the 2,166 who have not, 134 are still alive, and 50 wish to acquire citizenship.

“We are determined to find a way to fulfill their wish to obtain citizenship,” said Norihiro Inomata, co-representative of PNLSC.