Coming out from Shadows :Identity of Ethnic Japanese in the Philippines in the Post-war Period
Abstract
This paper focuses on identity formation of Japanese-Filipinos, who did not publicly embrace their Japanese identity until the 1990s. Unlike people of Japanese ancestry in North and South America, most Japanese-Filipinos were left behind in the Philippines after WWII and were forced to disguise their identity in a country where anti-Japanese sentiment was widespread. However, after Japanese immigration regulations were revised in 1990, Japanese-Filipinos began to seek their roots and get reacquainted with their Japanese identity. One issue I will examine in this paper is the question of why Japanese-Filipinos have waited so long to explore their identity. Now that Japanese-Filipinos can work legally in Japan, one of the reasons they have been going back to Japan is because the country offers better economic opportunities. Yet there are other reasons why Japanese-Filipinos have decided to get in touch with their Japanese identity, and I will also explore this issue from a political, historical, and social perspective. In addition, this paper will highlight the diversity of Japanese-Filipinos, who can be roughly divided into three groups: those who were left behind in the Philippines after World War II; those who returned to Japan shortly after the war ended; and children whose fathers are Japanese and mothers are Filipino. By exploring these three "sub-ethnicities" and the way in which Japanese-Filipinos have recently embraced their multi-cultural identity, I hope to enrich Nikkeijin studies and shed light on the increasingly complex process of identity formation among ethnic Japanese in today's global society.
最終更新：2008年02月12日 14:38
