Japan PM shows support for stateless descendants in Philippines
MANILA (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday expressed his support for stateless descendants of Japanese nationals left behind in the Philippines after World War II, following a meeting with three second-generation descendants in Manila.
Ishiba said Japan will "tackle the issue" so that the stateless individuals can restore their Japanese nationality and visit Japan "as soon as possible," the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
Ishiba met with Jose Takei, 81, and Esterlita Matsuda, 93, as well as Carlos Teraoka, 94, who unlike the other two has already acquired Japanese nationality. Teraoka described the meeting with the Japanese prime minister as the "first ray of hope" for the pair.
"It is a great pity that the acquisition of nationality by all (of the descendants) has yet to be realized," Ishiba said at the outset of the meeting, which was open to the media.
"I was excited to meet him, it took a long time," Takei told reporters after meeting with Ishiba. Takei said he hopes Japan's government will approve his Japanese citizenship "at the soonest possible time because I'm not young anymore."
Matsuda told reporters that she wishes to acquire Japanese nationality "so that my children can go to Japan."
The meeting took place during Ishiba's four-day trip to Southeast Asia from Sunday that also took him to Vietnam, as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the war.
Many of the stateless residents are offspring of Japanese fathers who moved to the Philippines and married local women. The fathers were drafted by Japan's military after the war broke out in the Pacific in 1941 and later died or were deported to Japan.
Many concealed their background due to anti-Japanese sentiment following the war, and their numbers are steadily dwindling due to old age.
In a parliamentary committee session in March, Ishiba expressed interest in using government funds to cover the costs for stateless individuals to travel to Japan to obtain nationality and search for their relatives.
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