Developing a Elderly Care and Self Support System by Filipino Immigrants’ Initiativein the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Affected Area
Yukio YAMAGUCHI D.Eng.

Introduction
This is focus about that Developing of Filipino immigrant women involved in elderly care in
the Local community after 20013.11 the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
The largest group of foreign brides in the Northeast Japan comes from the Philippines, The
People’s Republic of China and South Korea.
Among them, post-disaster, Starting from safety checks and distribution of aid materials
strong and resourceful Filipino community groups were born who are actively engaged invarious actions as members of their respective local communities.
They made their presence to participate on the elderly care support in the community andlocal event by introducing Filipino culture through dance.
They empowered and became a visible neighbor through developing them selves.

1. General information on non-Japanese residents
in the three prefectures affected by the disaster
Declining birthrate and aging population in rural areas is significant in Japan. Young laborin the Tohoku region moved to the Tokyo metropolitan area. Women are increasingly educatedand a growing proportion is economically active. They choose to be a single or married with themiddle- class white-collar. And bride and caregiver are insufficient to rural areas.
In Japan Men, for their part, are responsible for continuing the paternal lineage by havingsons and, in many cases, must also provide support for their elderly parents. Since the early
1980s, a growing number of Japanese single men have been seeking wives abroad. Married
with foreign brides is nearly 3% in the 1990s. This trend spreads from rural to the metropolitanareas. The proportion of married with foreign brides was at 3-5% in 1990-2012.
With regard to non-Japanese residents in the three Tohoku prefectures affected most by
the disaster (Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima), if we have a look at statistics of alien registration,
we find that 28,830 people, that is 1.39% of the national data of 2,078,508 registered foreign
nationals had lived here.

Emergency Life Saving Phase:
Outreach to diverse ethnic minorities by diverse organizations
Ethnic minorities were diverse and the risk for isolation was high for travelers, forresidents from countries that do not have an embassy in Japan, for people who just arrived and1

could not speak Japanese, for areas where there was a practice of international marriage
mediation on a local community level, and for divorced women etc.
In midst of a wide-range and large-scale three layered disaster consisting of earthquake,tsunami and nuclear disaster, intervening actors such as foreign governments, international
agencies like the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs had to be diverse
too, so that they could assist special needs while also taking into consideration the protection ofresidents and culture, religion and customs of migrants and foreign nationals. For international
marriage migrants, it was difficult to contact their embassies etc., and with them playing acentral role, networks were commonly formed along nationality lines on prefectural and locallevels.

From the Initial Phase to the Midterm Phase:
Abandonment of the principle to give priority to minorities
Even in ordinary times, inadequacies in the social security system of Japan pose aconsiderable burden especially to migrants in a minority position. During disasters too, suchminorities may easily get hurt by damage and may also easily become objected to social
exclusion in disaster assistance. That is why assistance guidelines by the UN explicitly statethat specific measures for responding to specific needs such as assistance and protection of
women, children and certain groups of disaster victims are not discriminative and are not in
violation of the principle to assist all people fairly, provided that they are based on different
needs. Yet, the idea of providing relief to disaster victims equally is strong in Japan in public
administration and other places. While there is a lack of intervention from the social welfare
sector to the assistance of non-Japanese wives in local communities around the country,
especially in Tohoku, international exchange organizations have been promoting Japanese
language rooms, support in healthcare and educational support to children including thosefrom former pre-migration relationships coming from another country. However, concerning
the focus of these, there is a strong sense to culturally integrate the non-Japanese wife to thelocal community. Hence, on the local level there was a lack of support to non-Japanese
residents based on perspectives of ethnic and other minorities, as well as gender.

Formation of Filipino communities in Tohoku
Starting from checking the safety of friends and providing support at evacuation shelters,
four thousand Filipinos living in the three prefectures affected by the disaster formed local
communities with the church as the bond between them.
The communities of Filipino immigrants that were formed during the disaster engaged in
exchanges with formerly organized Filipino communities in places such as Tokyo, receiving
support from the government of the Philippines and Catholic organizations they provided
assistance not only to Filipinos but to local communities as well, and they also engaged in2

capacity building by themselves.
In places like Kesennuma, Rikuzentakata, Ofunato and Fukushima, the groups started withassistance at the evacuation shelters in the disaster area and they shifted from this to expand asorganizations engaged in activities of recovery. When President Aquino visited Japan, heparticipated in a social meeting at a Catholic church in Ishinomaki where approximately 150
Filipinos living in Japan gathered from different areas all around Tohoku. The author also
participated in a few masses and gatherings in the disaster area. One of these was a lunch party
combined with aid material distribution organized in Rikuzentakata by ICF (Iwate Circle ofFriends) who are mainly active around Moriaoka. In this area, many houses were destroyed andevacuation life in the shelters was prolonged. In such an environment, Filipinos were restraining
their emotional expressions, because they were afraid of being misunderstood. Maybe that is why
young mothers with their children laughed so loud at this gathering chatting in Tagalog, eatingFilipino meals, watching dances and playing games.
Filipino support agencies can be divided in two types: professional humanitarian aidorganizations and local community based organizations (CBOs). The Filipino communities that
this paper is elaborating on are local community based organizations of the latter kind.

Professional humanitarian aid organizations
International organizations, official organizations of the Catholic Church andvolunteer organizations providing professional humanitarian aid targeted to a wide
area. Since all these organizations had Filipino members living in Japan, considerable
assistance was provided on an individual volunteer basis, rather than only on anagency level.
International Organization for Migration (IOM): international agency engaged inconsidering and solving problems related to migration on a professional level. They
provided multi-lingual counseling to disaster survivors and assistance for migrants toreturn to their respective home countries.
Catholic Tokyo International Center (CTIC): CTIC was established by theArchdiocese of Tokyo in 1990 to support migrants staying in Japan. Disaster relief
donations collected by the archdiocese were used in concentration to the assistance of
foreign nationals residing in Japan, which is an area not fully covered by publicadministration.
Caritas Japan: One of the world’s most prominent Catholic humanitarian aidorganizations. After the disaster, they set up the Support Center for Foreigners
Ofunato Base.
Kapatiran: ‘sisterhood-brotherhood’, founded in 1988 based on Christian ideals.
An NGO supporting migrants living in Japan, especially Filipinos and their families.
They are training highly professional counselors for consultation and assistance oflivelihood and mental health.
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Local community based Filipino organizations in Tohoku
Starting from safety checks and distribution of aid materials, community basedorganizations were formed on each beach along the ria coastline in every area. As theemergency live saving phase passed, disaster relief operations were started by theFilipino communities living in Tokyo with whom exchanges started in Tokyo shelters
during the temporary return to the Philippines. Organizations in the disaster area
started 2nd Degree Home Helper trainings to boost employment. Content with regard
to major organizations in the disaster area is based on interviews with their leaders
conducted by the author.
Bayanihan (spirit of helping each other) Kesennuma: Started from a name list
for checking safety. Many who were originally employed in a factory for making fisheryproducts that was washed away received assistance from the Japan Association for
Refugees (JAR) for the acquisition of 2nd degree helper certificates and foundemployment in facilities for elderly people. They are engaged in various activities suchas the operation of an FM broadcast and participation to local events.
PAGASA (hope) Ofunato: According to the leader, Ms. M, there were no Filipinosin Ofunato 20 years ago, but now there are some sixty households were the wife in thefamily is a Filipina. They are engaged in safety checks, masses, group rosaries (passingon a statue of Saint Mary among followers and opening home gatherings for believers)
and participation in local events.
Philippine Community Miyagi (FILCOM): A self-help organization for Filipinos
residing in Miyagi, mainly in Sendai. They are engaged in employment support suchas training for teaching English in kindergartens.
Hawak Kamay (join hands) Fukushima: An organization formed after thedisaster for socialization and support among diverse Filipinos living in Fukushimaincluding people of the Christian and Islamic faiths. They are engaged in various
activities such as distribution of meals and provision of information to Filipino
migrants regarding the nuclear accident.
Iwate Circle of Friends (ICF): A group of Filipinos around Morioka. Also active in
exchanges with groups other than Filipinos. After the disaster, they helped to organize
the distribution of material aid and social meetings in the disaster area.
Midterm Phase:
The bashing of certain non-Japanese resident organizations
Although not only Japanese nationals were hit by the disaster, a major newspaper inJapan made a report that called out to ‘Make All Efforts to Protect the Life and Property ofNationals’, which was described with disappointment in the editorial column of the March 16th4

2011 issue of the Mindan the Korean Residents Union in Japan Newspaper. There was agroundless rumor that ‘Foreigners are looting’ and it was claimed that the reason for foreign
nationals to leave Japan and return to their respective home countries was merely irrational‘panic’.

2. Towards long-term recovery: empowerment ofnon-Japanese residents affected by the disaster
Many support organizations understood the importance of forming peer groups. However,since support organizations that are related to the public sector provided support while
concentrating on the equal participation of all ‘foreign wives’ to these events, including Chinese,
Koreans and Filipinos, they rather contributed to a delay in the assessment of needs and theorganization of individual ethnic groups.

Fukushima roundtable by disaster affected non-Japanese residents
In most multicultural organizations around Japan, it is rare that non-Japanese serve as
directors or trustees. Yet, the most important thing in disaster recovery is to have localresidents and non-Japanese residents affected by the disaster work in partnership and take theinitiative in support activities.
Despite it was the end of the year, 180 people from 50 organizations that support
non-Japanese residents participated, including members from international agencies and theembassy of the Philippines.

Speaking out - Migrants deciding themselves what their needs are
Workshops were set up along lingual and religious lines and participants could decide on
the language they use during the meeting. Workshops in Tagalog, in Spanish, in Portuguese,for Koreans (old-comer and new-comer Zainichi Korean groups: in Japanese), for Muslims(Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Afghans, Japanese etc.: in Japanese) and for Japanese supporters(in Japanese) were set up.

Strengths assessment - Non-Japanese residents’ self affirmation
Mapping the social environment in the disaster area and its relationship with their own
recovery to self-reliance, and recognizing their own strengths.
We managed to establish that there are national organizations in almost every prefecture,and that there is promising staff with the same cultural background who are engaged inwide-area communication via social networking services (SNS). Starting from providing meals
during the disaster, strong and resourceful groups were born who are actively engaged invarious actions as members of their respective local communities, and they pointed out theneed for considering about the serious unemployment situation and the upbringing of the nextgeneration.

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3.Developing a Elderly Care and Employment Support Systemof Filipino communities
Tsunami destroyed fish food factory and many Immigrant women lost their jobs.
After the disaster, they received a caregiver training, began to work in nursing homes in thecommunity.They managed to build a support system in Tagalog expanding to the threeprefectures hit hardest by the disaster.
Japan Association for Refugees (JAR) began training program that targets (Philippines,China, South Korea, from Chile) the foreign migrant women victims were unemployed.
After Tsunami In JAR, first,target Philippines women that about 70 people were living
concentratedly within	  Kesennuma	  and has network of community.
The purpose of program is the work of long-term care facility and qualification of Grade 2elderly care giver. Training consists of elderly care giver and Japanese language training
Project underway in 10 students per group, I was carried to three quarters for the first fiscal.
Project for Filipinos was continued takeover Caritas Ofunato-based from JAR.
But Women of South Korea and China could not make mutual aid network.And JAR could
not out reach their needs.
They made their presence to participate on the elderly care support in the community andlocal event by introducing Filipino culture through dance.

Conclusion - Non-Japanese residents as
equal partners of recovery in Tohoku
As many residents’ lives were destroyed in a large-scale disaster, networks were formed bynon-Japanese residents themselves. For disaster recovery and the establishment of support
systems for self-reliance by non-Japanese residents of the three disasters affected prefectures,
it is important to have active participation by non-Japanese residents themselves.
The most crucial thing in earthquake recovery is that residents affected by the disaster, as
well as non-Japanese residents, take the initiative and engage in capacity building throughsupport practice and providing assistance for self-reliance to fellow residents. The role of people
working in international exchange and social welfare professionals is nothing else but tofacilitate the formation of self-help groups that provide assistance for self-reliance to fellow
non-Japanese residents.
Filipino immigrant women empowered and became a visible neighbor through Developing aElderly Care and Self Support System
It was important that Philippines immigrant took the initiative of self-support and to create
his or her own organization.
In addition, support of NGO and supervise professional had carried out properly so that
immigrants can take the initiative.

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