Chiho Ogaya: Daiichi – Turning Over A New Leaf

How They Did it – Stories for Migrants by Migrants

10 years ago, Daiichi came to Japan by himself as a JFC. Born in Japan to a Japanese father and Filipino mother who were legally married, he was by birth a Japanese national. However, when his parents divorced, he had to return to the Philippines with his mother and siblings. Because his mother did not go through the proper procedure of reporting this to either the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines or the Philippine Government, it was only much later that Daiichi learned that all this time he had been living in the Philippines as a Japanese national.

Daiichi’s mother suffered from a condition that had very likely affected her mental faculties and Daiichi himself had been born with a neurological disorder that impaired his development. So mother and son would often clash, and when he was in grade school there was a time when Daiichi actually lived on the streets of Manila by himself where he learned to smoke heavily. By fourth grade, he had dropped out of school.

Daiichi’s mother sought help from a Manila-based NGO which supports JFCs. They were able to locate Daiichi’s father with whom he had lost touch.  However, Daiichi’s father was by then remarried to another Filipina by whom he also had a child and did not have the finances to support T Daiichi and his siblings so it was Daiichi’s grandmother would who send a small amount of money to the Philippines every month.  

Through the NGO, Daiichi was also able to seek medical treatment for his disorder and enter high school though these did not do him any good. In consultation with the NGO, Daiichi and his mother decided that Daiichi, with the help of his father, would move to Japan. At that time, he was already 16 years old. Because of his Japanese nationality, he had been “overstaying” for all those years in the Philippines, and in order to return to Japan, he first had to undergo the process of being deported.

In Japan, even Daiichi’s status of “Japanese since birth” did nothing to prepare him for the harsh reality of life there. He found it next to impossible to communicate with others, and in addition to the language barrier, Daiichi’s disorder and disability, coupled with his lack of proper education, would cause him to erupt with anger in frustration at not being able to express himself and make others understand him. He would become violent, which only made his situation worse.

Daiichi not only had to leave his first job in Japan but also cut off ties with his father. He started moving from place to place, finding support wherever he could. But even if along the way many people reached out to help him, he was never able to stay in one area for long. Perhaps because of his disorder, Daiichi could not maintain proper relationships with others. In his quest to try and make them understand him, he often ended up hurting and angering them instead. 

Eventually, Daiichi began living on welfare and while he found some caseworkers kind, others, to him, were uncaring. He continued having difficulties in getting along with people, including his neighbors and even the owner of the flat in which he lived who looked after him very well. Some unscrupulous people also took advantage of Daiichi’s lack of understanding of the Japanese to deceive him, which created money problems over and above everything else. 

Understandably, Daiichi led a very lonely life. Although there were people who were sympathetic to him and could speak Tagalog, they couldn’t be with him all the time. Inevitably, Daiichi would fill the emptiness he felt by wasting his money on various things and on occasion even got caught shoplifting. He would then have to attend juvenile hearings, where he was represented by public attorneys who understood fully well the situation in Japan of children like Daiichi with roots in a foreign country. They showed concern for Daiichi the whole time and at the end of every hearing would even spend time with him and his welfare caseworkers discussing his case.  Daiichi looked up to these attorneys and would dream of being a lawyer in the future.

In Japan, Daiichi attended junior high night school and was an eager student. But invariably, he would get into trouble and be made to apologize by teachers, sometimes for trivial things. Still, he managed to graduate and be admitted into senior high school where once again he got into trouble until finally, in the end, he decided to just drop out. In both Daiichi’s junior and senior high schools, there were teachers who would diligently reach out to him and he, in turn, would respond to their kindness as best as he could. But he felt that Japanese society, in general, had always been cold to him. Once he was fired from a part-time job because, he was told, “Your smile is scary.” In addition to being handicapped by his disorder, it did not help that Daiichi still did not have a good grasp of the Japanese language and that his brothers, who by then had also moved to Japan to work, were aloof to him. Daiichi’s younger brother even avoided him.

In 2019, the manager of an agricultural corporation invited Daiichi through mutual acquaintances to try farming in Niigata. For Daiichi who had been raised in Manila and had lived only in the city since coming to Japan, it was to be his first experience in the countryside. However, this did not deter him, for by now he wanted to change his life and so went to Niigata on his own. 

It happened that the President of this agricultural firm, Mr. I, had for some time now been supporting the employment of young people who were in the Juvenile Reformatory as well as young men with developmental disabilities. Through his connections with Filipinos in the community, he had likewise established a business in the Philippines. 

Mr. I became a real father figure to Daiichi, taking him into his household and dealing with him in a kind manner but when called for, strict. In their daily interactions, he has been teaching Daiichi all about farming and as well as how to live based on societal norms.  In this atmosphere full of warm human relationships unlike those in the city, Daiichi began to thrive. The Filipinos in the community and friends of Mr. I also came to see and understand what his real character was, which they found to be a serious one. They also had him assessed at the local hospital for proper treatment. 

In just one year, the life of Daiichi has totally changed. Now, Daiichi drives a tractor on the rice fields in Niigata and can even harvest the rice that he himself has cultivated. It is now Daiichi’s dream to be of help to Mr. I in his business in the Philippines as well as to be able to drive his own tractor in Niigata. 

Daiichi’s situation as a JFC was aggravated by his having a disorder that caused developmental problems and compounded by his isolation from his family. His inability to communicate with people, which in the past brought about misunderstandings and violence, stemmed from a lack of a support system, for without one, Daiichi only felt increasingly cornered and hopeless.

Fortunately for Daiichi, there have always been people around him who were always willing to extend help to him.  Though at times his relationships with them would be unstable, the delicate bonds have never been cut off.  Today, Daiichi is living a new life in Niigata, and while it is not certain how his future will turn out, at least for now it can be said that he is definitely a changed person from the one he was when he first arrived in Japan 10 years ago when he would lash out at others easily because of his immaturity. Daiichi has learned so much from his tough experience here in Japan and with the help and support of the people around him who have stood by him, has slowly but surely turned his life around for the better.

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