International Marriage of Filipino Women

Today we welcomed Prof. Hiroshi Harashima from the Japan Lutheran College who held a lecture on the present conditions regarding international marriage in the Philippines.

In the Philippines, Filipino women who marry Japanese men are required to undergo a guidance before moving to Japan. At this guidance, they are provided with necessary information for settlement in Japan. The re-entry permit system, the conditions for the acquisition of permanent residence, double nationality of children, useful knowledge on Japanese marriage life (characteristics of Japanese husbands (?) or getting on well with the in-laws etc.) are discussed.

The Japanese government on the arrival side should learn from this type of support by the Filipino government on the departure side. For example, we need to improve the welcoming system on the municipal level, such as conducting initial orientations during foreigner registration. We also belive that NGOs supporting foreigners like APFS must also consider this and search for new fields of activities.

* This lecture was sponsored by the “Daiwa SRI Fund”.

Happy Birthday!

We opened a birthday party for Mr. Atsushi Nishida who has been engaded in the support of people from Myanmar for many-many years. Mr. Nishida taught Japanese for more than 2,000 people and provided consultative support too. He is already over 80, but still continues his energetic activities. For example, once in a week he visits peoples from Myanmar who are detained in the Immigration Bureau in Shinagawa.




At APFS we were also helped out many times in various situations by Mr. Nishida. We hope that our good relationship will continue for many more years in the future!

2nd Japanese Cooking Lesson

On November 15th (Sun) we held our second cooking lesson. This time’s menu consisted of miso soup from kombu and dried shiitake stock with Japanese littleneck shellfish and komatsuna, mushroom rice prepared in ceramic pot and salad with yuzu and black pepper dressing. While fighting for opening the shellfish, we could learn the basics of Japanese cousine.


The participants were most satisfied not only with the miso soup but also with the rice which turned out to be rich and tasteful in spite of the fact that we used only natural ingredients. As a form of Japanese dessert, we baked sweet potatos in a pan which was also a great success. Unexpectedly, it might have been this time’s most popular dish.

This was the last time for Japanese cooking. With it, our Asian cooking lessons which we began from June ended in fame. Many thanks to all participants!

In Korea!

We visited immigrant supporting organizations in Korea.

During our four days and three nights we visited five NGOs and one university. We conducted hearings on each organization’s activities and exchanged information on recent circumstances of immigrants in Korea and Japan.

Korean immigration policies are very similar to Japanese ones, so several times during our discussions we felt similarities and sympathy as supporters in the same situation. For example, in Japan the campaing for decreasing the number of undocumented foreign residents by half in five years started in 2003, while the same five year campaign launched in Korea last year. Under the current Lee Myung-bak administration the cooperative relationship between the government and NGOs which was established during the previous Roh Moo-hyun administration collapsed. In fact, many NGO staff complained that these are difficult times for support organizations. (However, the immigration policies of the new Japanese administration are still unknown.)

Unfortunately, during our stay we had to face with the unusually cold weather. The maximum temperature on one of the four days was only 5oC. Thanks to the warm rice congee and Jjigae, traditional tea and other delicious Korean food, we managed to have a satisfying trip despite these harsh weather conditions.

ASIA FAIR Held on October 30th!

Actiually, this upgrade was quite late. Sorry about that...

APFS held its annual event, the Asia Fair on October 30th (Sun)!

The actual program started at 11:00, but our staff and volunteers gathered and began with the preparations from 9:00. In the rain and chilling cold all of them worked on the tents and their booths. Since only a few visitors came before noon, we were a bit worried, but in the end after the rain stopped in the afternoon we managed to reach the yearly average.

We had food stalls from the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangaldesh, Pakistan, China, Iran, Korea and Hungary (special participation), so we could experience each country’s flavors. In the meantime, on the stage bands and singers from Bangladesh, the Philippines, Iran and Burma were performing and visitors enjoyed themselves dancing and singing.

APFS members from different countries with various backgrounds support the fair every year from behind the scenes. At home they are preparing foods and trying all kinds of tactics to sell it. We are always amazed to see how they work together and make the Asia Fair a success. Hopefully, the Asia Fair will be held with the same multicultural power next year too, so we are waiting for everyone to visit the fair again!

Learning about Disaster Prevention

 Today, we had our “Share Meeting” sponsored by the metropolitan government.


 This time’s topic was “Disaster Prevention”. First we welcomed Mr. Yamamoto from Kyojukon in Shinjuku, who spoke about the basics of disaster prevention. We continued with a free discussion by participants.

 Surprisingly many people knew where the evacuation areas were in case of an earthquake. Some participants even had experience in using AEDs or fire extinguishers during evacuation drills at their workplace or at their children’s schools.

 Earthquakes are common in the home countries of the participants, for example in the Philippines, in China or in Iran, but they do not seem to have evacuation drills.

Special Permit for Residence and Provisional Release!

 We deliver good news this week!

 Two Filipino families who supported by APFS received Special Permits for residence. When they called the APFS office, the voice of the family members was more than impressive. Doing this line of work, we have to face many sad things, but moments like this are really fortunate ones…

 The provisional release of a Burmese female member, who was detained while applying for refugee status, was also approved. She said delightfully “Today I came to the office, but it is strange to walk around freely after three months…” In comparison with her dark facial expression during our meetings while she was detained, now she was really glowing.