Original subtitles

All Roselina Harada knows of her father

comes from her Filipina mother's stories

of a happy life that abruptly came to an

end.

>> Without documents to prove a paternal

connection, she has lived [music] her

life stateless.

>> [music]

>> After World War II, thousands of

children born to Japanese fathers were

left behind with their Filipino mothers.

Without documents, [music]

scores became stateless.

At the [music] time, nationality in both

the Philippines and Japan was inherited

through the father.

Many [music] have fought for decades to

be recognized as Japanese.

>> I wish I could come to Japan

as soon as possible cuz I'm not getting

any younger anymore.

But having [music] Japanese blood also

marked them as children of the enemy.

This is the story of people who died

before [music] reclaiming their identity

and those still fighting for their

right.

>> I am still a Japanese because my father

is Japanese in blood in I am Japanese.

>> Many have taken their [music] wish of

obtaining nationality to their graves.

50 [music] are still hanging on decades

later.

[music]

Before

the Pacific War, the Philippines, then a

US colony, was home to Southeast Asia's

largest community of Japanese settlers.

Carlos Teroka is one of the dwindling

numbers who can still remember life in

[music] pre-war Philippines.

More than [music] 30,000 Japanese had

immigrated to the Philippines in search

of a better life.

Their [music] community prospered with

shops, schools, and families woven into

local society.

[music]

Hemp was in demand as an export and the

industry [music] was a major employer.

Like Carlos's [music] father, Muno, many

married Filipino women and started

families.

They were building a future together.

Roselina Harada and her family cherish

the memory of her father.

Arrow

manager, General Manager

company.

Second World War

For families like the Haradas, life was

stable and full of hope until war tore

them apart.

Japanese troops soon arrived in full

force. Within months, the Philippines

was largely under their control.

I think this

scores of Japanese fathers were drafted

into the army of their homeland [music]

and ended up fighting against their

neighbors.

Filipinos [music]

had been promised independence by the

US. When the Japanese came in claiming

to be liberators, many saw them as

another oppressor.

In the conflict's waning days, American

troops advanced to reclaim the [music]

Philippines.

The tide of war was turning [music]

against the Japanese.

>> For Philippine civilians, a sense of

terror took over.

Pastori First time

friendly.

Blessech.

more Filipinos joined in the guerilla

fighting against the Japanese.

Roselina's father was one of their

victims. [music]

Fore!

Foreign! Foreign!

for

yog.

Yeah.

America.

By the war's end, more than a million

Filipinos, many civilian, and half a

million Japanese, mostly military, had

lost their lives.

Anti-Japanese sentiment, became [music]

rife.

>> [music]

>> Some Filipinos targeted [music]

perceived Japanese collaborators. ers

and descendants.

Soon, Japanese were forcibly [music]

repatriated by the US military. Their

Filipino wives and children by and large

left behind.

Suddenly, children were bidding their

fathers farewell. Fore!

Foreign! Foreign!

for

last

Japan.

For countless children, the war's end

brought no peace.

>> Now fatherless, they also faced

injustices at the hands of a Filipino

people scarred by the war.

Lieutenant

Japanese.

>> The threat of bullying was ever present.

When I remember

I could

>> [snorts]

>> The family name alone became a burden.

>> [music]

>> After the war, the Filipino government

seized Japanese property.

Left without their father's livelihood,

Roselina Harata's mother and siblings

were left to fend for themselves.

For the Heratas, Japan became a symbol

of a better life.

for

Japan.

>> Charlie's father was Roselina's brother,

Anastasio.

He remembered their father vividly.

>> Dear Anastasio, I

son of Committee.

The dream was not only about reclaiming

identity but also about opening the door

for the next generations to live and

work in Japan.

But the dream has been frustrated

[music] by legal hurdles.

At least 3,815

children were left behind in the [music]

Philippines.

Scores became stateless.

The laws [music] of both countries at

the time attached nationality to the

father, but many didn't have

documentation [music]

to prove those ties.

Still paternity has to [music] be

proven.

But amid resentment [music] towards

Japanese, many families tried to conceal

their identity.

for

Six years ago, Roselina Harata's family

turned to an NPO that helps Japanese

descendants trace their fathers or

grandfathers.

With no records to rely on, NPO members

first gather testimonies.

No matter how small, any information

might help build up a case in Japanese

court.

For those left behind without documents,

the NPO has been their only path. Over

the past 20 years, it has helped

struggling descendants [music] to obtain

citizenship.

To do so, the team searches tirelessly

through the old records.

According to this old government file,

Harada Kameichi left Nagasaki for the

Philippines on April 15th, 1917.

Put it off.

>> A birth certificate was also found for

one of Roselina's elder brothers. His

father is stated as Japanese.

But Roselina still lacks her own birth

certificate and proof of her parents'

marriage.

Without them, Japanese citizenship

[music] remains out of reach.

Jose Take is also looking for clues

about his father with help from the NPO.

This one when I graduated college with

my mother Benita

father was Japanese.

I was on my mother's womb when my father

left my mother.

She told my mother that that he will

come back here in the Philippines but no

come back happened and I think that ago

he my father abandoned me.

>> Jose first talked to the NPO more than

two decades ago.

They are looking for the marriage

certificate of my mother and my father.

Pakasal.

>> By the 1980s, [music]

anti-Japanese sentiment was fading.

Descendants banded together to urge

Tokyo to [music] finally recognize them.

Amid the family's call for recognition,

the Japanese government carried out a

1988 survey to see whether [music] there

were still descendants in the

Philippines they should support.

>> I want to see my father.

>> What do you want to say to him?

>> We miss him.

>> [music]

>> very much.

>> How was the life after the war? Was it

very hard without without your father?

>> Yes, it's very hard.

>> We suffered.

>> Two years later, Japan announced that

only two [music] descendants qualified

for support.

Both were born to [music] Japanese

couples. No children of mixed parentage

were included.

A former official who worked closely on

post-war settlement explained the

government's policy at the time.

Fore!

Foreign! Foreign!

Foreign

speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.

>> [music]

>> descendants have had to rely on

donations and citizens groups to help

them reach Japan to find proof of family

ties. [music]

I'm hoping that this coming of [music]

Japan, we the descendant of the Japanese

will be recognized by the government

[music] of the Japanese as a

as a true Japanese.

We are asking for an appeal to the

Japanese government to be heard so that

uh this will be my legacy

to my children and grandchildren.

>> Among those leading appeals [music] to

Japanese politicians

was Carlos Teroka.

forite.

Eight decades on, time is running out.

1,800 have died stateless.

>> Rodul Nakama was another last year.

for

for the last time.

Okay.

this [music] year. Remember Sumada

Delmare passed away.

the flowers are pink or or red but she

asked she asked for a white flower which

is very rare for that tree and then it

bloomed a white flower. So

one of her prayers recognize [music]

papa

in March. Japan's prime minister

addressed the matter in the diet.

In April, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru

met the Japanese descendants in the

Philippines.

May I see?

>> They will help us to go to Japan

with provide supporting papers and he

will approve.

>> Even after remarrying a Filipino, Jose's

mother visited the Japanese embassy to

learn if his father was alive.

But without a marriage certificate, she

was turned away

to remember my father.

After combing through military records

and family archives, the NPO found a t

Ginro in 2009 on a roster of Japanese

soldiers.

They believe he is Jose's father.

Then finally last year

>> he looks like him.

Nose and then the eyebrows

and then the ears.

>> Gingiro had survived the war. Settling

in Osaka where he started a new family.

His son agreed to a DNA test finally

establishing [music]

the family tie.

Thank you, Father, because you gave my

life to me. Without you, without you,

I'm nothing.

[music]

>> Jose is on the NPO's list of descendants

seeking citizenship and the chance to

research family in [music] Japan.

August.

Another name on the list, Roselina

Harada.

[laughter]

Japan.

Maybe you're not going

to

excited.

Byebye. See you.

>> Byebye.

>> In July, days before the trip, the

government announces it will fund a

single person's voyage [music] to Japan.

For most, the door to their father's

country remains closed.

Jose T is chosen as the sole delegate

due to the [music] DNA proof. Now,

finally, he will be able to meet his

brother.

Step brother

simply

Japan

Ayan

excited and happy

personally

I don't know only

excited

as step Dead nil.

4 days before the flight, Jose visits

his mother's grave.

This I will bring to Japan.

Very

long time.

Jose is heading to Osaka where [music]

his father built a new life.

Okay.

This is my son.

>> How old are you?

eyebrow.

brother. Sorry for my personality. I'm

not talkative too much.

[laughter]

Hiroyuki has prepared something for his

brother.

>> A portrait and a memorial tablet of

their father.

2000

>> 2005

December

>> 19

November

>> November

May

>> same year

>> 2005 Five.

>> [laughter]

>> teleche.

[music]

>> [music]

>> You can't

do this. [music]

Hiroyuki [music] shows Jose their

father's old haunts, tracing for him a

life he never knew.

A seag

Their final stop, Ginito's resting

place.

I need brother.

forever

and ever. Amen.

Okay.

Japanese citizen

personally. for

some basis.

Goodbye.

>> Thank you, sir.

>> Bye-bye.

>> Even with Jose finding his halfb

brother,

>> without proof of his parents' marriage,

obtaining citizenship faces steep

hurdles under the current legal system.

For Roselina, there was a tiny

breakthrough. She's obtained her

parents' official marriage record.

And in September 2025, she filed a

petition [music] to obtain Japanese

citizenship.

Whether it will be approved or not

remains to be seen.

>> [clears throat]

>> Not too long.

>> [music]

[music]

[music]

>> The pursuit of peace.

Searching for answers.