COMPLETION REPORT
Migrants' entry into Tokyo's Ecclesial space : The Archdiocese of Tokyo's Vision of aMulticultural Church
Willard Enrique Racelis Macaraan
Associate Professor
Theology and religious Education Department (TRED)De La Salle University
The aim of this project is to explore and nuance the presence of Filipino migrant Catholics in the Churchof Japan, particularly on how the migrants are historically received, welcomed, and somehow regulatedby the host group, the Japanese Catholics. To be able to achieve this, I had to do a fieldwork in theArchdiocese of Tokyo between July 15-30, 2019. First I have to interview the Archbishop himself, HisExcellency, Tarciso Isao Kikuchi, SVD. I had the interview with the archbishop. During the visit, I also
had a chance to visit some of the parishes in the Archdiocese where Filipinos have huge and significant
presence, namely, the churches in Matsudo , Koiwa and Kasai in Tokyo area. In these visits, I observed
and participated in the religious rituals and celebrations and had casual conversations with many of them.
In Kasai, I had conversations with its parish priest, Fr. Jess Dano and an FGD with some of theinternational migrant Catholics in the same parish. The FGD consisted of migrants coming from USA,India, Philippines, and Vietnam. These series of conversations, visits, and FGD took place between July
17-29. Aside from the fieldwork, I had to also review documents and literature related to my research
work and during the pandemic, I had also initiated some follow-up conversations with some of the people
I met during the July 2019 visit. Unfortunately, the pandemic did not allow me to go to Tokyo for thesecond visit which was supposedly scheduled around April/May 2020. Despite that, I'm happy to havecovered substantial and significant research field work during my July 2019 visit.
Among the many things I have found out, I argue that the guest-identity of (Filipino) migrant Catholics
must not be understood as a unilateral action imposed upon by the dominant hosts. Instead, its
maintenance is perpetuated by the migrants' elective ethnic clustering. What it means is that in as muchas the migrants feel that they have not been welcomed with enthusiasm by the host group, the former isalso to blame for their desire to isolate themselves from the host as historically narrated in my publishedpaper. The archbishop is right that the migrant Catholics must stop treating themselves as guests because
they are not. The challenge for them is to embrace their missionary vocation and character that as mostof these migrants have already been socioculturally embedded in the Japanese society as mothers/fathers
to bicultural children, they have to appreciate their role no longer as guests but genuine members of theChurch alongside the Japanese Catholic faithful.
Based from this, it is recommended to explore further this shift of identity that is expected from migrant
Catholics as they are challenged to embrace a more inclusive role in the Church of Japan. It is important
to look as well as to how the Church leadership or even the State must provide venues, opportunities,
encounters, and space to ease the so-called paradigm shift that these migrant Catholics must embody as
they continue to practice their religious identity within the ecclesial grounds of Japan.
After this research project, I plan to focus on the exploring more specifically the experiences of (Filipino)migrants as parents to bicultural children and how they can help nurture religiosity and spirituality of
their bicultural children especially now that the Church of Japan is getting older and the young are getting
religiously disinterested.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
July 8-10, 2021, Online Conference, Hosted from Leuven, Belgium, International Academy ofPractical Theology with theme: "Coping with Crisis: Hospitality, security, and the search for faithfulconnections. Title of paper presentation: "The Filipino Catholics in Japan and the Crisis of Agency:
Guests or Missionaries"
Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
Macaraan, Willard Enrique R. 2020. "Exploring Marginality among Filipino Catholics in Japan: A
Proposed Heuristic Device". Religions 11, no. 4, 161.
https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11040161.
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)-none-