FILIPINO COMMUNITY TRIES TO SHED OFF HOSTESS IMAGE IN JAPAN

Almost four decades on from its origins in the arrival of women to work as hostesses at "Philippine pubs," the Filipino community has become one of the most rooted in Japan -- but one that still remains largely female.

Filipinos are the fourth-largest foreign contingent after the Chinese, South Korean, and Vietnamese communities, with many choosing to spend their lives here, Donican Lam reported dfor Kyodo News.

According to data released by the Justice Ministry as of June 2020, 132,551, or roughly 47 percent, of the 282,023 Filipinos legally residing in Japan held permanent resident visas -- much higher than the 28 percent for foreign nationals overall.

Women, meanwhile, accounted for around 70 percent of the total, rising to about 84 percent for those older than 35.

The current profile of the community largely represents former hostesses staying on after marrying Japanese men, said Maria Carmelita Zulueta-Kasuya, a University of Tokyo research associate professor and chair of the Gathering of Filipino Groups and Communities, which organizes church-related activities.

But at the same time, Filipinos have started to branch out in Japanese society, with many now working as caregivers or assistant English language teachers, or opting for part-time jobs in hotels, supermarkets, and factories.

Kasuya, 56, who came to Japan in 1991 as a research student at Waseda University, says Japan is a popular choice for Filipinos looking to work abroad due to its relative proximity to the Philippines, strong currency and excellent quality of life.

From the mid-1980s to 2005, the majority of Filipinos came under entertainer visas -- mostly as a cover for work as hostesses. At the peak in 2004, more than 80,000 Filipinos entered Japan this way.

But in 2005, the government tightened rules on the issuance of entertainer visas following a report published by the US State Department, which identified abuse of these visas as facilitating human trafficking.

Since then, according to Kosho Nakashima, who completed postgraduate studies in international relations at Chubu University in Aichi Prefecture, operators of such pubs have tended to resort to fake marriages to bring in women.

In his book, loosely translated into English as "The sociology of Philippine pub women," Nakashima, 32, detailed how fake marriages are arranged with the help of a broker, with the Japanese "husband" usually being a crony of the pub's manager who is paid around 50,000 yen ($480) per month to maintain the facade.

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