News in Easy English: Filipino women in Japan think about old age and home

Many Filipino women came to Japan in the 1980s and 1990s to work and marry. Now, as they grow older, some of them want to live their final years in the Philippines while others prefer to stay in Japan. Julieta Suda, who is 58, lives in Nagoya. In 1987, when she was 18, she traveled from Manila to Japan. A man, 25 years her senior, was waiting for her at the airport.

He planned to marry her as part of an arranged marriage. Suda accepted the proposal because she believed there were no job opportunities in the Philippines. The man owned a coffee shop in Nagoya, and his wife had passed away, leaving him to raise two children. They met at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture and journeyed by night bus to Nagoya.

At that time, Japan was experiencing an economic boom, leading many young Filipino women to come to Japan as entertainers or to marry Japanese men. Suda explained that her marriage to her husband brought an ordinary family life, but it was difficult because of the language barrier. She couldn't fully become a mother or an older sister for her husband's children.

Eventually, she and her husband had two more children together. However, their relationship with his children deteriorated, causing Suda and her husband to separate when Suda was 28. She moved back to Japan with her two children and found work at a factory producing boxed lunches for convenience stores. Later, her ex-husband asked her to care for him in his old age, so they remarried.

Suda takes care of her 83-year-old husband with the help of her daughter. Now, she says that once her husband passes away, she plans to return to the Philippines, as it feels like home. Maria Niwa, another Filipino woman aged 55, lives in Aichi Prefecture. She arrived in Japan about 32 years ago as an entertainer and later married a Japanese man.

She raised three children and held various jobs, including hotel cleaning. Two years ago, Niwa was diagnosed with breast cancer, which prompted her to return to the Philippines to be with her family. Ultimately, she chose to receive treatment in Japan, as her family was her top priority. Niwa mentioned that her husband and children reside in Japan, and she wishes to work diligently there while supporting her own children as they raise theirs.