Filipina-Japanese intermarriages: A pathway to new gender and cross-cultural relations

Asian and Pacific Migration Journal

Volumn 13, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 445-473

  Satake, Masaaki ^a  

^a Shikoku Gakuin University   (Japan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL RELATIONS; GENDER RELATIONS; MARRIAGE; SOCIAL CHANGE;

ASIA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; FAR EAST; JAPAN; PHILIPPINES; SOUTHEAST ASIA; WORLD;

EID: 14644420181     PISSN: 01171968     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/011719680401300403     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. Such terms as "international marriage" and "bi-national marriage" tend to emphasize the nation or the nation-state. The author uses the term "intermarriage" to refer to intercultural marriage and to highlight the cultural contexts of such unions. Some people also use the term "dual-culture marriage," but it neglects the unity denoted by marriage and family life, which the prefix "inter" suggests. Another term, "mixed marriages," is usually reserved to refer to interfaith or interreligious marriages. Other useful concepts are inter-ethnic and inter-racial' marriages (see Cahill, Desmond 1990: 4-5).
2. The notion of Japan as a homogenous society is belied by the presence of indigenous peoples and other non-Japanese in the country.
3. See http://www.moj.go.jp/PRESS/040611-1/040611-1.html, accessed on 13 October 2004.
4. A private marriage agency's survey of single women found that Japanese women favor having children over marriage. Some 85 percent of the respondents said they want to have children, while only 79 percent said they want to get married. Thirty percent said that they want to have children, even if they are not married (Mainiciii Daily News, 3 April 2000). Jolivet (1997:142) suggests that young women may have become disinterested in marriage because they see their mothers looking exhausted and neglected by their husbands, a situation that they did not want to happen to them.
5. See http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/kokusei/2000/kihon1/00/04.htm, accessed on 13 October 2004.
6. Brokers are blunt in advertising their services. For example, their Internet homepages describe Chinese women as ideal brides because they are "subservient" and "easy to tame." Also, in a document addressed to the municipal office of Higashi Iya Yamason, Tokushima, a marriage broker in Saseho City, Nagasaki, Kyushu, stated that Chinese brides would incur lower costs for clients (a faxed document obtained in the municipal office in 1995).
7. The first marriages between Japanese farmers and Filipino women arranged by a municipal office took place in Asahi Machi, in Yamagata Prefecture, Northern Japan, in 1985. Between August 1985 and September 1986, nine couples were married with the assistance of the town office and a private marriage agency. This was followed by Okura Village, Yamagata, where in August and September 1986, 10 local farmers married Filipino women. These unions, hailed as a solution to the depopulation of rural villages, caught the attention of other municipal offices. Higashi Iya, Tokushima, Western Japan, also sent a mission to Asahi and Okura to inquire how to arrange such marriages.
8. Japanese men and foreign women have their own reasons for deciding to marry. Reports of fraudulent marriages indicate less-than-ideal reasons for getting married. An example is the reported disappearance of 10 women from Shanghai soon after their marriage in 1992 to Japanese men from Tochigi. The women were later found working in Kabuki Cho, Shinjuku, a large entertainment district in Tokyo (Daily Yomiuri, 20 May 1993).
9. Lately, there has been an increasing number of female trainees from abroad, who work in food-processing and knitting industries. They fill the labor shortage in these industries, but many are underpaid because they are considered as trainees, not workers.
10. This visa is good for three months and renewable for another three months.
11. While many US entertainers are musicians and TV personalities, most Filipinos, Russians, Chinese, Koreans and Thais work in night pubs.
12. Male patrons - which include average and low income earners - spend a considerable amount of money in these pubs. A cook of a tempura restaurant in downtown Tokyo, for example, averaged about 70,000 yen (approximately $680) a night or one million yen a month in these "Firipin" pubs (Hama, 1997:157).
13. A Japanese juku (cram school) teacher married to a Filipina likened Filipino women to the traditional type of Japanese women called Yamato nadeshiko. This expression refers to the "pure and simple" beauty of Japanese women according to the Microsoft /Shogakukan Basic Dictionary.
14. "Filipina bride returns to RP after plights in Japan," Asahi Shimbun, 19 April 1988;
15. "Two more Filipina Brides return home," Asahi Shimbun, 2 June 1988.
16. With a masculine honorific, Japayuki-kun means male foreign migrant workers. With a feminine honorific, Japayuki-san refers to female ones, especially those working in pubs as entertainers.
17. Examples are two television dramas produced by Fuji Television in 1992, namely, "Ai to Iu no Motoni" (In the Name of Love), and " Firipina wo Aishita Otoko Tachi" (Men Who Have Loved Filipinas). Filipina residents in Japan protested against these TV dramas for producing an image of "sneaky and money oriented" Filipino women (see Da-anoy, Mary Angeline 2000; Go, Liza and Jung, Yeon-hae 1999).
18. Suzuki's study (1998:15) on Filipina-Japanese intermarriages also found a diverse socio-economic profile of the Japanese husbands of Filipino women in the Tokyo area.
19. This is based on structured interviews and informal conversations with 20 Filipino wives married to the Japanese men included in the study. The interviews were conducted in Filipino and Japanese.
20. In one case, in preparation for a Filipino-Japanese public forum, a Filipino woman volunteered to be a translator for an elderly Jugun-ianfu (comfort woman) who was forced to serve Japanese soldiers and military officers during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The forum organizer received a phone call from the husband, who refused to allow his wife to join the forum. He explained that she might have some trouble with the immigration office.
21. The author has encountered a case in which a Filipina wife sought the help of Women's Shelter in Takamatsu City after running away from a violent husband.
22. In researching Filipina and Australian intermarriages, I found that some Australian men married to Filipinas were willing to learn Tagalog (Author's visit to St. George Migrant Resource Centre in Sydney, 10 August 1999).
23. This calls to mind a Filipino documentary video, Mula Pabrika Hanggang Fukuoka (From Factory to Fukuoka), which depicted Morooka-san, an ordinary Japanese speaking Tagalog to his Filipino wife (Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs, et. al.: 1999).
24. Japan-based Filipino actress Ruby Moreno has played the role of a Japayuki in several TV dramas (e.g., two Fuji television dramas in 1992) and Yoichi Sai's 1993 film, "Tsuki wa Dotchi ni Deteiru" (Where Do You See the Moon?). She won as best actress in a major local cinema awards in 1993. Moreno's popularity has been attributed to the establishment of the Filipino community in Japan and the place of the Filipina hostess as part of Japan's seedy sex industry (Kaneko, 1995:66 . She wanted to play other roles, but she was not offered other roles (Moreno, 1999:162).
25. Samonte, Elena L. (1997:5) says that the relations with in-laws are often potential sources of conflicts in Filipina-Japanese marriages.
26. For example, my aunt bluntly told me that it might be scary to go to Manila. She apparently does not have sufficient knowledge about the Philippines and lacks exposure to its people and culture.
27. Each man paid 1.6 million yen (about US$16,000) to the marriage broker. When the women later found out that their husbands spent this much, they sought employment to help their husbands.
28. The couple that left the community had no children. It was mostly, the Filipino wife, Theresa, who wanted to try life outside the village. She left Hitoshi in Iya to work as a sales agent for a major cosmetics company in Nagoya, Central Japan, the nation's third largest city. When Theresa returned to Iya in early 1998 to collect payments for the cosmetics company, she and Hitoshi discussed their situation. Hitoshi decided to leave his community, a major decision since he was the eldest son, the one who was supposed to maintain the family property. It is possible that Theresa's initiative and her positive attitude toward life may have convinced Hitoshito move to the city.
29. The two Filipinas were later joined by five Filipinas who married men from the same village. Four of the five newcomers met their husbands through the Filipinas in the village. The other one met her husband while working in a pub in neighboring Nishi Iya (Interview, 19 November 2000). Recently a Filipina who married a villager in 1995 divorced him and moved out to Nishi Iya (Interview, 21 July 2004).
30. Men working long hours is also an issue in South Korea. A Filipina married to a Korean engineer related that her husband always left home at 7 a.m. and returned home at 1 a.m. She was left in the house the whole day with her parents-in-law, who had objected to their marriage. She divorced her husband after a few years (Interview, Seoul, 4 March 2000).
31. Similar issues came out in Filipina-Australian marriages (Satake, 2000). Disagreements about gender roles or the rearing of children indicate some of the difficulties in intermarriages (Penny, Janet and Khoo, Siew-Ean 1996: xiv).
32. Referring to children of intermarriages as "double kids" implies that they inherit the cultures of both parents.
33. In Yamagata, wheresome 200 Filipino women are married to local farmers, there are few bullying cases against the children of Filipina-Japanese marriages. This is because Filipino-Japanese children tend to conceal the fact about their mother's identity. Also, their Japanese fathers and grandparents discourage, if not prohibit, the Filipina mothers from exposing the children to Filipino culture (Kuwayama, Norihiko 1997:219-229).
34. Overall, however, in 2001, Japan ranked 31st in the gender empowerment measurement (GEM) at 0.52 value compared to the Philippines' 46th ranking with a GEM of 0.470 (http://undp.org/hdr2001/back.pdf, accessed on 13 October 2004).
35. This does not necessarily deny the presence of patriarchy in the Philippines. Quindoza-Santiago (1996: 168) points out that men are still powerful in spite of women's gains in terms of rights, education and other positions and privileges (see also Eviota, Elizabeth Uy 1992 and Nagai, Hiroko 2001).
36. The Japanese husbands' values and attitudes towards family life may have been influenced by their wives. Studies in the Philippines reveal that Filipino women are family centered (Aguilar, 1998:131) and regard the family as the top priority (Tancangco, Luzviminda G. 1996:184).
37. Twenty-three out of 30 men in his study had experienced a combination of two interacting and reinforcing influences in their lives: (a) early life experiences with some unconventional features which depart from traditional gender expectations, such as nurturing fathers and strong mothers, usually involved in paid work; and (b) an adult experience of feminist influence, most frequently in the form of a close relationship or friendship with at least one woman who was actively feminist (Christian, 1994:20).
38. During his college days and after graduation, he traveled to the US, South Korea, Thailand and India. While he felt discriminated against in the US, he felt comfortable in Asian countries. Such experiences might have influenced him to develop a liking for Filipino culture. He met his Filipino wife in a local pub.
39. Aguilar, Delia D. 1998 Toward a Nationalist Feminism. Quezon City: Giraffe Books.
40. Ballescas, Ma. Rosario P. 1992 Filipino Entertainers in Japan, An Introduction. Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies.
41. Cahill, Desmond 1990 Intermarriages in International Contexts. Quezon City: Scalabrini Migration Center.
42. Christian, Harry 1994 The Making of Anti-sexist Men. New York: Routledge.
43. Da-anoy, Mary Angeline 1996 "Minzoku Seisabetsu no Kuni, Nihon deno Firipin jin Shosu Sha ga Chikara wo Tsukeru Tameni, Hihan to Orutanatibu (For the Empowerment of Filipino Minority in Racist and Sexist Japan, Criticism and Alternatives)." In Ajia no Kosa Ten (Asian Crossroad). Edited by Isao Aizawa. Tokyo: Shakai Hyron sha.
44. Estrada-Claudio, Sylvia 1999 "The Psychology of the Filipino women." In Women and Gender Relations in the Philippines, Selected Readings in Women Studies. Edited by Jeanne Frances Illo. Quezon City: Women's Studies Association of the Philippines.
45. Eviota, Elizabeth Uy 1992 Political Economy of Gender, Women and the Sexual Division of Labour in the Philippines. London and New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd.
46. Forrester, John 1992 "What do Men Want?" In Between Men and Feminism. Edited by David Porter. New York: Routledge.
47. Go, Liza, and Yeon-hae Jung 1999 Watashi to iu Tabi (My Journey). Tokyo: Seito sha.
48. Hama, Natsuko 1997 Manila iki, Otokotachi no Katamichi Kippu (Manila Bound-Men's One way Tickets). Tokyo: Oota Shuppan.
49. Hisada, Megumi 1989 Firipina wo Aishita Otoko Tachi (Men Who Have loved Filipinas). Tokyo: Bungei Shunju.
50. Hooks, Bell 1994 Outlaw Culture-Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge.
51. Ito, Mikio 1996 Dansei Gaku Nyumon (Introduction to Men's Studies) Tokyo: Sakuhin sba.
52. Jolivet, Muriel 1997 Japan: The Childless Society? London and New York: Routledge.
53. Kageyama, Shohei 1988 Ajia kara kuru Hanayome Tachi, Mura no Kokusai Kekkon (Brides Coming from Asia, Intermarriages in the Village). Hyogo: Nansen Hokuba sha.
54. Kaneko, Ann 1995 "In Search of Ruby Moreno," AMPO, 25(4)-26(1):66-70.
55. Kerkvliet, Benedict J. 1991 Everyday Politics in the Philippines, Class and Status Relations in a Central Luzon Village. Quezon City: New Day Publishers.
56. Kurita, Tamaki 2000 "High School Education in Japan," Pinoy, 1 May 2000:76.
57. Kuwayama, Norihiko 1997 "Junen me no Fushime wo Mukaeta Ajia kara no Noson Hanayome Tachi (Asian Brides in the rural Japan: After Ten years)." In Gender to Tabunka (Gender and Multiculture). Edited by Norihiko Kuwayama. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.
58. Matsumoto, Akiko 1991 "International Marriage: Its Non-individual Factors." Undergraduate Thesis, Department of English Literature, Shikoku Gakuin University.
59. Matsumoto, Kunihiko and Kunikazu Akitake 1995 "Kokusai Kekkonn to Chiiki Shakai-Yamagata deno Jumin Ishiki Chosa kara(Sono2) (International Marriages and the Local Community-Based Survey in Yamagata Prefecture), Yagagata Daigaku Hosei Ronshu, 4:178-206.
60. Moreno, Ruby 1999 Kanashii kuni, Nippon (Sad Country, Japan). Tokyo: Rippu Shobo Publishing Company.
61. Nagai, Hiroko 2001 "Josei no Chiito Yakuwari (Women's Status and Roles)." In Gendai Firipin wo Shiru tame no 60 sho (60 Readings to comprehend the Philippines). Edited by Ohno Takushi and Takefumi Terada. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.
62. Nakano, Fesherriaquita 1999 Nihon ni Totsuide 11 Nen (11 Years after Marrying into Japan). Tokyo: Bungei sha.
63. Penny, Janet and Siew-Ean Khoo 1996 Intermarriage, A Study of Migration and Integration. Canberra: Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research.
64. Quindoza-Santiago, Lilia 1996 "Roots of Feminist Thought in the Philippines." In Review of Women's Studies, Vol. V(2); Vol. VI(1). Edited by Thelma B. Kintanar. Quezon City: University Center for Women's Studies, University of the Philippines.
65. Samonte, Elena L. 1997 "Filipino-Japananese Couples: Communication Variables and Marital Satisfaction," Sikolohiya, 1(1):1-11.
66. Satake, Masaaki 2000 "Intermarriage in a Multicultural Society: A Preliminary Research on Filipino-Australian Marriages," Treatises 102:179-208.
67. Shukutani, Kyoko, 1987 Ajia kara Kita Hanayome san (Brides Who Come from Asia). Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.
68. Soriano, Grace 1995 "Filipino Families in Australia." In Families and Cultural Diversity in Australia. Edited by Robyn Hartley. St Leonard, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
69. Stoltenberg, John 1990 Refusing to be a Man, Essays on Sex and Justice. New York: Meridian.
70. Sugimoto, Yoshio 1997 An Introduction to Japanese Society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
71. Suzuki, Nobue 1998 "Of Love and the Marriage Market: Masculinity Politics and Filipina-Japanese Marriages in Japan." Paper presented at the panel at the 50th Annual Meeting of Association for Asian Studies, Washington D.C., 26-29 March 1998.
72. Tancangco, Luzviminda G. 1996 "Women and Politics in Contemporary Philippines." In Women's Role in Philippine History: Selected Essays 2nd edition. Quezon City: University Center for Women's Studies.
73. Yamatani, Tetsuo 1985 Japayuki-san. Tokyo: Joho Center Shuppankyoku.