Latest news with #Kawachinagano
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Stateless man of Japanese descent in Philippines eager for Japan citizenship
Jose Takei, an 82-year-old man of Japanese descent in the Philippines who became stateless after being left in the Southeast Asian nation following the end of World War II, is keen to get Japanese citizenship while he is in good health. Earlier this month, almost 80 years after the end of the war, Takei came to Japan for the first time, with the support of Japan's Foreign Ministry. He met with his relatives in the city of Kawachinagano in Osaka Prefecture last Wednesday. During the visit, he also filed an application for Japanese nationality with the Tokyo Family Court. Takei was born in May 1943 to a Japanese man who was an employee of the Philippines' national railway company and an unmarried Filipino woman. His father left the family just before he was born to join the Japanese military during the war. A reference check with Japan's welfare ministry in 2009 found that the father returned to Japan at the end of the war. Before the war, many Japanese nationals moved overseas at the request of the government, including about 30,000 to the Philippines. Some of them married local women. Japanese men were recruited locally by the Japanese military once the war started. Some of them died fighting in the war while others were separated from their families as they were deported back to Japan from internment camps. Many of the people of Japanese descent who lost their Japanese fathers were left in the countries where they were born and faced persecution for the wartime invasion by Japan. Under such circumstances, they were left with no choice but to conceal their real names and the fact that they are of Japanese descent. In the Philippines, many of such people, including Takei, became stateless because the country's policy of determining nationality based on that of the person's father. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center, a nonprofit organization, Japanese descendants left in the Philippines number at least 3,800, including those who have died. Of these, more than 1,800 died without being able to get Japanese citizenship while some 50 people who are alive still hope to become Japanese nationals. The average age of survivors is 84. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with Takei and two other Japanese descendants in the Philippines when he visited Manila in April this year. Ishiba promised to help them get Japanese nationality and visit Japan. The Foreign Ministry aims to continue supporting Japanese descendants' visits to the country.
The Independent
17-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Former Michelin-starred restaurant owners arrested in Japan after almost 80 cases of food poisoning
Three members of a family who ran a former Michelin -starred restaurant in Japan have been arrested after contaminated food caused nearly 80 people to fall ill with food poisoning earlier this year, according to reports. Hirokazu Kitano, 69, his wife Noriko, 68, and their son Hirotoshi Kitano, 41 who run the Kiichi restaurant in Kawachinagano in Osaka Prefecture were arrested on Monday on suspicion of violating the Food Sanitation Act. The traditional Japanese-style restaurant Kiichi was ordered to suspend operations in February after dozens of its customers who dined there reported symptoms such as diarrhoea and stomach pain, according to Kyodo. Some of those affected tested positive for norovirus, a highly contagious illness that can cause vomiting and diarrhoea. An initial suspension order was issued on 15 February for two days after nearly 33 people who had dined there on 8 February became ill. However, investigators found that the restaurant continued to operate and sold 11 bento boxes on 16 February, which were suspected to be contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms. In the following days, more people fell ill, and norovirus was again detected in the restaurant's food, prompting a further suspension of its operations in March. All those who fell sick have since recovered. The police suspect that poor hygiene management at the restaurant led to the incidents of food poisoning. The restaurant admitted to the allegation of poor hygiene and issued an apology on their website on 20 March after the suspension order was lifted. 'We take this series of incidents seriously and deeply regret it. We will work to ensure food safety by strengthening and thoroughly implementing our hygiene management system to prevent a recurrence,' the restaurant said. During the 2010s, Kiichi was recognised with a one-star rating in the Michelin Guide for the Kansai region. The restaurant advertises itself as a 'famed Kyoto kaiseki restaurant that has been continuing for a quarter of a century'.
