DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS
C.10.c. Publicity of the Issue
A documentary on PJD was released in 2020 in Japan entitled, “Abandoned.”244 Despite
challenges around the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been shown in theatres in eight cities
across Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Beppu, Kagoshima, and Okinawa). It
is also to be shown at educational institutions, and among civil society organizations, and will
be distributed through Amazon.com and online from February 2021.
The media has devoted attention to the issue of Philippine Nikkeijin this year, both because of
postponement of the Olympics and in relation to the commemoration of the 75th anniversary
of the end of war. According to the PNLSC, NHK and TV Asahi are planning to come to the
Philippines to film two separate stories on issues related to PJD, with travel planned after the
lockdown is lifted.
According to PNLSC, TV Asahi is interested in telling the story from around 1903, of Japanese
people moving to the Philippines. A peaceful time when the first group of immigrants came
from Japan to Baguio, mostly as construction workers, and after they lost their jobs moved to
Davao to cultivate hemp, which grew into a huge Japanese community, the largest in Southeast
Asia. More than half were from Okinawa, where the culture is similar to the Philippines in that
it has a strong sense of family, custom, ritual, and food.
According to PNLSC, NHK is coming to Palawan for two weeks or at least 10 days, along with
the PNLSC to interview PJD. This is in relation to the Palawan Massacre in 1944, which is a
series of incidents that created a lot of negative sentiment and hatred against the Japanese.245
This also led later to the backlash against PJD that forced them to flee and hide their identity in
the Philippines. Part of the story for each program will be focus on the timeline of unresolved
issues (“after 75 years, there is an issue not yet solved…”) for PJD.
Finally, a book authored by the Head of the PNLSC and Attorney Hiroyuki Kawai was recently
released, shedding light on the situation of PJD in the Philippines.246 PNLSC reports that it has
been distributed to 713 lawmakers in Japan.
244
“ABANDONED”- The Stories of Japanese War Orphans in the Philippines and China.”
Report No.263, GHQ USAF, Pacific War Crimes Branch of Murder of Approximately ninety Filipino civilians on the shores of
Tagburos river, Palawan Island, P. I., in or about 1 March 1945, and murder if three Filipino Civilians at Irauan, Palawan Island,
P.I., on 4 March 1945. See Also: Roger Pe, The hero is not forgotten, November 2017, available at: https://businessmirror.
com.ph/2017/11/12/the-hero-is-not-forgotten/; American POWs of Japan, Palawan Massacre 14 December 1944, December 2011,
available at: https://pows.jiaponline.org/2011/12/palawan-massacre-december-14-1944.html.
245
河合 弘之 (著) (Hiroyuki Kawai), 猪俣 典弘 (著) (Norihiro Inomata), “ハポン(日本人)を取り戻す フィリピン残留日本人の戦争と
国籍回復” (“Restoration-War and Nationality recovery movement for War displaced Japanese descendants left behind in the
Philippines”), available through Amazon.
246
UNHCR / April 2021
83
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