Latest news with #Villafuerte
Japan Today
5 days ago
- General
- Japan Today
Japan's wartime children in Philippines search for kin, identity
Jose Villafuerte shows a photo of his father Ginjiro Takei, a Japanese imperial army officer, at his home in San Pablo, Laguna. By Cecil MORELLA After a lifetime of searching, Jose Villafuerte this month finally found the Japanese father he lost during the dark years of World War II in the occupied Philippines. The 82-year-old, a former gravedigger, was still in the womb of his Filipina mother, Benita Abril, when her partner, imperial army officer Ginjiro Takei, returned to Japan during its brutal occupation of the archipelago from 1942-45. His quest ended this month, days before the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, after an advocacy group found Takei's tomb in Japan, where he had raised a family following the war. A living half-brother and half-sister were also found, with DNA swabs sealing the family ties. "I'm excited. My mother had spent years trying to make this happen," Villafuerte, a slightly built father of eight, told AFP at his home in San Pablo city, south of Manila, ahead of his first visit to Japan. Escorted by his son, he lit a candle and prayed before his father's tombstone in the city of Takatsuki, between Kyoto and Osaka, on August 7. He met his half-brother Hiroyuki Takei for the first time a day earlier and now expects to get a Japanese passport, as well as visas for his children and grandchildren. Villafuerte is one of more than 3,000 nikkeijin, offspring of Japanese who were in the Philippines before or during World War II. Japan has in recent years begun helping in "recovering their identity", said Norihiro Inomata, country director for the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center (PNLSC). Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met Villafuerte and two other nikkeijin during a visit to Manila in April. However, only 100 or so are still alive more than two decades after the effort was launched in 2003, Inomata told AFP. The oldest is 97. "Time is running out," he said. 'Fate's design' "It was fate's design that I would be able to visit my father's grave. I am very much blessed, because I saw my brother and he guided me here to see the tomb of my father and their relatives," Villafuerte told reporters during the Takatsuki visit. His father Takei, a Japanese army engineer, worked on the Philippine railway system as part of the occupation forces but was sent home during the war, Inomata said. Growing up in postwar Philippines, Villafuerte was the target of merciless bullying, blowback from a conflict in which half a million of the Southeast Asian country's 17 million people were killed, most of them civilians. An obelisk stands in the Chinese cemetery in San Pablo as a memorial to more than 600 male residents rounded up by Japanese troops and bayoneted to death in February 1945. "People kept reminding me my father was an evil person who killed many Filipinos," Villafuerte said, adding that it nearly caused him to drop out of school. "It hurt, because it was never my choice to have a Japanese parent." Manila grocer Maria Corazon Nagai, an 82-year-old widow and mother of three, gave up her Philippine passport for a Japanese one last April with PNLSC's help. She told AFP that her Japanese father, Tokuhiro Nagai, a civil engineer, had lived with her mother in Manila during the war. "In my family, I was the only one who looked different," said Nagai, who quit school after sixth grade when family finances bottomed out following her father's post-war death. She went to live with her maternal grandmother when her mother remarried and began working as a sales clerk in her teens. "I'm happy now that I've found my identity," said the bespectacled, soft-spoken Nagai, who still tends a cramped stall selling shampoo, noodles and condiments in Manila's downtown Zamora market. Nagai said she hid her parentage as she reached adulthood to avoid the bullying she endured as a child. She was "relieved to learn my father was not a soldier" when she obtained her birth records at the civil registry in the 1990s. 'The past is the past' Before the invasion, small groups of Japanese migrated to the Philippines from the late 19th century to escape "overpopulation", with some marrying locals, said Inomata, the legal centre director. Their offspring went into a "spiral of poverty" when the state confiscated their assets after the war, and many were unable to obtain a formal education, he said. One male descendant hid in the mountains of the southern Philippines for 10 years after the war fearing he would be harmed, Inomata said. Views toward Japan began changing in the 1970s as Tokyo completed war reparations that helped rebuild the Philippines, and Japanese investors built factories and created jobs. The two countries are now security allies. Nagai has been unable to find any Japanese relatives and couldn't locate her father's grave during her 2023 trip to Tokyo, but she will fly to Japan for a second time later this year for a holiday. Though she does not speak the language, Nagai said she now considers herself Japanese. For Villafuerte, the situation is more ambiguous. "Of course, it is difficult being a Filipino for 82 years and suddenly that changes," he said. "The past is past, and I have accepted that this is how I lived my life." © 2025 AFP
GMA Network
5 days ago
- General
- GMA Network
Japan's wartime children in Philippines search for kin, identity
In this photo taken on August 8, 2025, Maria Corazon Nagai shows a photo of her father Tokuhiro Nagai, a civil engineer, at her home in Manila. Nagai, an 82-year-old Manila grocer, widow and mother of three, gave up her Philippine passport for a Japanese one last April with PNLSC's help. She told AFP that her Japanese father, Tokuhiro Nagai, a civil engineer, had lived with her mother in Manila during the WWII. (Photo by Jam STA ROSA / AFP) After a lifetime of searching, Jose Villafuerte this month finally found the Japanese father he lost during the dark years of World War II in the occupied Philippines. The 82-year-old, a former gravedigger, was still in the womb of his Filipina mother, Benita Abril, when her partner, imperial army officer Ginjiro Takei, returned to Japan during its brutal occupation of the archipelago from 1942-45. His quest ended this month, days before the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, after an advocacy group found Takei's tomb in Japan, where he had raised a family following the war. A living half-brother and half-sister were also found, with DNA swabs sealing the family ties. "I'm excited. My mother had spent years trying to make this happen," Villafuerte, a slightly built father of eight, told AFP at his home in San Pablo city, south of Manila, ahead of his first visit to Japan. Escorted by his son, he lit a candle and prayed before his father's tombstone in the city of Takatsuki, between Kyoto and Osaka, on August 7. He met his half-brother Hiroyuki Takei for the first time a day earlier and now expects to get a Japanese passport, as well as visas for his children and grandchildren. 'Time is running out' Villafuerte is one of more than 3,000 "Nikkei-jin", offspring of Japanese who were in the Philippines before or during World War II. Japan has in recent years begun helping in "recovering their identity", said Norihiro Inomata, country director for the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center (PNLSC). Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met Villafuerte and two other Nikkei-jin during a visit to Manila in April. However, only 100 or so are still alive more than two decades after the effort was launched in 2003, Inomata told AFP. The oldest is 97. "Time is running out," he said. 'Fate's design' "It was fate's design that I would be able to visit my father's grave. I am very much blessed, because I saw my brother and he guided me here to see the tomb of my father and their relatives," Villafuerte told reporters during the Takatsuki visit. His father Takei, a Japanese army engineer, worked on the Philippine railway system as part of the occupation forces but was sent home during the war, Inomata said. Growing up in post-war Philippines, Villafuerte was the target of merciless bullying, blowback from a conflict in which half a million of the Southeast Asian country's 17 million people were killed, most of them civilians. An obelisk stands in the Chinese cemetery in San Pablo as a memorial to more than 600 male residents rounded up by Japanese troops and bayoneted to death in February 1945. "People kept reminding me my father was an evil person who killed many Filipinos," Villafuerte said, adding that it nearly caused him to drop out of school. "It hurt, because it was never my choice to have a Japanese parent." 'I've found my identity' Manila grocer Maria Corazon Nagai, an 82-year-old widow and mother of three, gave up her Philippine passport for a Japanese one last April with PNLSC's help. She told AFP that her Japanese father, Tokuhiro Nagai, a civil engineer , had lived with her mother in Manila during the war. "In my family, I was the only one who looked different," said Nagai, who quit school after sixth grade when family finances bottomed out following her father's post-war death. She went to live with her maternal grandmother when her mother remarried and began working as a sales clerk in her teens. "I'm happy now that I've found my identity," said the bespectacled, soft-spoken Nagai, who still tends a cramped stall selling shampoo, noodles and condiments in Manila's downtown Zamora market. Nagai said she hid her parentage as she reached adulthood to avoid the bullying she endured as a child. She was "relieved to learn my father was not a soldier" when she obtained her birth records at the civil registry in the 1990s. 'The past is the past' Before the invasion, small groups of Japanese migrated to the Philippines from the late 19th century to escape "overpopulation", with some marrying locals, said Inomata, the legal centre director. Their offspring went into a "spiral of poverty" when the state confiscated their assets after the war, and many were unable to obtain a formal education, he said. One male descendant hid in the mountains of the southern Philippines for 10 years after the war fearing he would be harmed, Inomata said. Views towards Japan began changing in the 1970s as Tokyo completed war reparations that helped rebuild the Philippines, and Japanese investors built factories and created jobs. The two countries are now security allies. Nagai has been unable to find any Japanese relatives and couldn't locate her father's grave during her 2023 trip to Tokyo, but she will fly to Japan for a second time later this year for a holiday. Though she does not speak the language, Nagai said she now considers herself Japanese. For Villafuerte, the situation is more ambiguous. "Of course, it is difficult being a Filipino for 82 years and suddenly that changes," he said. "The past is past, and I have accepted that this is how I lived my life." — Agence France-Presse
The Star
5 days ago
- General
- The Star
Japan's wartime children in Philippines search for kin, identity
SAN PABLO CITY, Philippines: After a lifetime of searching, Jose Villafuerte this month finally found the Japanese father he lost during the dark years of World War II in the occupied Philippines. The 82-year-old, a former gravedigger, was still in the womb of his Filipina mother, Benita Abril, when her partner, imperial army officer Ginjiro Takei, returned to Japan during its brutal occupation of the archipelago from 1942-45. His quest ended this month, days before the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender on Aug 15, 1945, after an advocacy group found Takei's tomb in Japan, where he had raised a family following the war. A living half-brother and half-sister were also found, with DNA swabs sealing the family ties. "I'm excited. My mother had spent years trying to make this happen," Villafuerte, a slightly built father of eight, told AFP at his home in San Pablo city, south of Manila, ahead of his first visit to Japan. Escorted by his son, he lit a candle and prayed before his father's tombstone in the city of Takatsuki, between Kyoto and Osaka, on Aug 7. Jose Villafuerte (centre) praying with his son Avelino Villafuerte (left) and his Japanese half-brother Hiroyuki Takei (right) at the gravesite of their father Ginjiro Takei together for the first time, in the city of Takatsuki in Osaka prefecture. - AFP He met his half-brother Hiroyuki Takei for the first time a day earlier and now expects to get a Japanese passport, as well as visas for his children and grandchildren. Villafuerte is one of more than 3,000 "Nikkei-jin", offspring of Japanese who were in the Philippines before or during World War II. Japan has in recent years begun helping in "recovering their identity", said Norihiro Inomata, country director for the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center (PNLSC). Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met Villafuerte and two other Nikkei-jin during a visit to Manila in April. However, only 100 or so are still alive more than two decades after the effort was launched in 2003, Inomata told AFP. The oldest is 97. "Time is running out," he said. "It was fate's design that I would be able to visit my father's grave. I am very much blessed, because I saw my brother and he guided me here to see the tomb of my father and their relatives," Villafuerte told reporters during the Takatsuki visit. His father Takei, a Japanese army engineer, worked on the Philippine railway system as part of the occupation forces but was sent home during the war, Inomata said. Growing up in post-war Philippines, Villafuerte was the target of merciless bullying, blowback from a conflict in which half a million of the South-East Asian country's 17 million people were killed, most of them civilians. An obelisk stands in the Chinese cemetery in San Pablo as a memorial to more than 600 male residents rounded up by Japanese troops and bayoneted to death in February 1945. "People kept reminding me my father was an evil person who killed many Filipinos," Villafuerte said, adding that it nearly caused him to drop out of school. "It hurt, because it was never my choice to have a Japanese parent." Manila grocer Maria Corazon Nagai, an 82-year-old widow and mother of three, gave up her Philippine passport for a Japanese one last April with PNLSC's help. She told AFP that her Japanese father, Tokuhiro Nagai, a civil engineer, had lived with her mother in Manila during the war. "In my family, I was the only one who looked different," said Nagai, who quit school after sixth grade when family finances bottomed out following her father's post-war death. She went to live with her maternal grandmother when her mother remarried and began working as a sales clerk in her teens. Maria Corazon Nagai showing her Japanese passport at her home in Manila. - AFP "I'm happy now that I've found my identity," said the bespectacled, soft-spoken Nagai, who still tends a cramped stall selling shampoo, noodles and condiments in Manila's downtown Zamora market. Nagai said she hid her parentage as she reached adulthood to avoid the bullying she endured as a child. She was "relieved to learn my father was not a soldier" when she obtained her birth records at the civil registry in the 1990s. Before the invasion, small groups of Japanese migrated to the Philippines from the late 19th century to escape "overpopulation", with some marrying locals, said Inomata, the legal centre director. Their offspring went into a "spiral of poverty" when the state confiscated their assets after the war, and many were unable to obtain a formal education, he said. One male descendant hid in the mountains of the southern Philippines for 10 years after the war fearing he would be harmed, Inomata said. Views towards Japan began changing in the 1970s as Tokyo completed war reparations that helped rebuild the Philippines, and Japanese investors built factories and created jobs. The two countries are now security allies. Nagai has been unable to find any Japanese relatives and couldn't locate her father's grave during her 2023 trip to Tokyo, but she will fly to Japan for a second time later this year for a holiday. Though she does not speak the language, Nagai said she now considers herself Japanese. For Villafuerte, the situation is more ambiguous. "Of course, it is difficult being a Filipino for 82 years and suddenly that changes," he said. "The past is past, and I have accepted that this is how I lived my life." - AFP
Straits Times
5 days ago
- General
- Straits Times
Japan's wartime children in Philippines search for kin, identity
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Mr Jose Villafuerte showing a mobile phone with a photo of his father Ginjiro Takei, a Japanese imperial army officer, during an interview with AFP. San Pablo City, Philippines - After a lifetime of searching, Mr Jose Villafuerte in August finally found the Japanese father he lost during the dark years of World War II in the occupied Philippines. The 82-year-old, a former gravedigger, was still in the womb of his Filipina mother, Benita Abril, when her partner, imperial army officer Ginjiro Takei, returned to Japan during its brutal occupation of the archipelago from 1942-45. His quest ended in August, days before the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender on Aug 15, 1945, after an advocacy group found Takei's tomb in Japan, where he had raised a family following the war. A living half-brother and half-sister were also found, with DNA swabs sealing the family ties. 'I'm excited. My mother had spent years trying to make this happen,' Mr Villafuerte, a slightly built father of eight, said at his home in San Pablo city, south of Manila, ahead of his first visit to Japan. Escorted by his son, he lit a candle and prayed before his father's tombstone in the city of Takatsuki, between Kyoto and Osaka, on Aug 7. Mr Villafuerte (right), whose mother was from the Philippines and father a Japanese imperial army officer, praying with his son Avelino Villafuerte at the gravesite of Jose's father for the first time, in the city of Takatsuki, Osaka prefecture. PHOTO: AFP He met his half-brother Hiroyuki Takei for the first time a day earlier and now expects to get a Japanese passport, as well as visas for his children and grandchildren. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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Japan has in recent years begun helping in 'recovering their identity', said Mr Norihiro Inomata, country director for the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Center (PNLSC). Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met Villafuerte and two other Nikkei-jin during a visit to Manila in April. However, only 100 or so are still alive more than two decades after the effort was launched in 2003, Inomata told AFP. The oldest is 97. 'Time is running out,' he said. 'Fate's design' 'It was fate's design that I would be able to visit my father's grave. I am very much blessed, because I saw my brother and he guided me here to see the tomb of my father and their relatives,' Mr Villafuerte told reporters during the Takatsuki visit. His father Takei, a Japanese army engineer, worked on the Philippine railway system as part of the occupation forces but was sent home during the war, Inomata said. Growing up in post-war Philippines, Mr Villafuerte was the target of merciless bullying, blowback from a conflict in which half a million of the South-east Asian country's 17 million people were killed, most of them civilians. The family grave (centre) of former Japanese imperial army officer Ginjiro Takei, who was stationed in the Philippines during WWII, in the city of Takatsuki. PHOTO: AFP An obelisk stands in the Chinese cemetery in San Pablo as a memorial to more than 600 male residents rounded up by Japanese troops and bayoneted to death in February 1945. 'People kept reminding me my father was an evil person who killed many Filipinos,' Mr Villafuerte said, adding that it nearly caused him to drop out of school. 'It hurt, because it was never my choice to have a Japanese parent.' 'I've found my identity' Manila grocer Maria Corazon Nagai, an 82-year-old widow and mother of three, gave up her Philippine passport for a Japanese one last April with PNLSC's help. She told AFP that her Japanese father, Tokuhiro Nagai, a civil engineer, had lived with her mother in Manila during the war. 'In my family, I was the only one who looked different,' said Ms Nagai, who quit school after sixth grade when family finances bottomed out following her father's post-war death. Ms Maria Corazon Nagai showing a photo of her father Tokuhiro Nagai, a civil engineer, at her home in Manila. PHOTO: AFP She went to live with her maternal grandmother when her mother remarried and began working as a sales clerk in her teens. 'I'm happy now that I've found my identity,' said the bespectacled, soft-spoken Nagai, who still tends a cramped stall selling shampoo, noodles and condiments in Manila's downtown Zamora market. Ms Nagai said she hid her parentage as she reached adulthood to avoid the bullying she endured as a child. She was 'relieved to learn my father was not a soldier' when she obtained her birth records at the civil registry in the 1990s. Ms Nagai said she hid her parentage as she reached adulthood to avoid the bullying she endured as a child. PHOTO: AFP 'The past is the past' Before the invasion, small groups of Japanese migrated to the Philippines from the late 19th century to escape 'overpopulation', with some marrying locals, said Inomata, the legal centre director. Their offspring went into a 'spiral of poverty' when the state confiscated their assets after the war, and many were unable to obtain a formal education, he said. One male descendant hid in the mountains of the southern Philippines for 10 years after the war fearing he would be harmed, Inomata said. Views towards Japan began changing in the 1970s as Tokyo completed war reparations that helped rebuild the Philippines, and Japanese investors built factories and created jobs. The two countries are now security allies. Ms Nagai has been unable to find any Japanese relatives and couldn't locate her father's grave during her 2023 trip to Tokyo, but she will fly to Japan for a second time later this year for a holiday. Though she does not speak the language, Ms Nagai said she now considers herself Japanese. For Mr Villafuerte, the situation is more ambiguous. 'Of course, it is difficult being a Filipino for 82 years and suddenly that changes,' he said. 'The past is past, and I have accepted that this is how I lived my life.' AFP
GMA Network
05-07-2025
- Climate
- GMA Network
PAGASA: 2025 storms 'less severe' compared to last year
An official from PAGASA on Saturday said the tropical cyclones that the Philippines will be experiencing this year will not be as severe as what the country endured in 2024 due to the absence of La Niña. 'As compared to last year, hindi siya kasing lala unlike last year… October to November isang buwan lang ito ay anim na sunod sunod na bagyo, actually typhoon and super typhoon categories,' PAGASA Deputy Administrator Mar Villafuerte said at a news forum in Quezon City. (As compared to last year, it's not as bad as last year... October to November is just one month; it's six consecutive typhoons, actually typhoon and super typhoon categories.) To recall, during the last quarter of 2024, the country endured six back-to-back tropical cyclones within less than 30 days, which heavily affected Luzon. Villafuerte's remark was backed by Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Renato Solidum. 'On the average hindi [ganun kalala]… dahil walang La Niña,' Solidum said. (On average it's not that bad… because there's no La Niña.) La Niña is characterized by unusually cooler than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific (CEEP). It is usually associated with above-normal rainfall conditions. In April, PAGASA announced the termination of the La Niña alert in the country as normal rainfall conditions are expected. 'Of course, hindi natin isinasawalang bahala… na baka maging kampante ang ating mga kababayan. Kapag merong nasa development phase pa lang siya… or even two weeks before na magkaroon ng tropical cyclone, ini-inform na natin ang ating mga kababayan para mapaghandaan ahead of time,' Villafuerte said. (We are not ignoring the fact that our countrymen may become complacent. When something is still in the development phase or even two weeks before a tropical cyclone occurs, we inform the public so they can prepare ahead of time.) PAGASA earlier said the country may experience 16 to 19 tropical cyclones this year. —VAL, GMA Integrated News
