Saints and sinners : perceptions of Filipinas in Christian religious communities in Tokyo

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Saints and Sinners

Perceptions of Filipinas in Christian religious communities in Tokyo

Anna Shaw

annashawman@gmail.com Student Number: 10443495

Thesis for MSc Contemporary Asian Studies Graduate School of Social Sciences

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Supervisor: Dr. Rosanne Rutten

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Introduction

Over unlimited refills of coffee and an appetizer of chicken quesadillas, I ask Charlotte about Japanese immigration policy. Lowering her voice to a whisper she compares immigration rules in Japan to her perception of the ‘incompetent’ immigration system in the Philippines. As she lowers her voice I hear someone chattering in Tagalog next to us. I glance at Charlotte. She knows exactly why I'm looking at her and says in a cavalier manner, “Yes, yes. I heard them already. They are Filipino.” The women had been seated for twenty minutes before I realized they were Filipinas. What I had just discovered, Charlotte picked up on the instant she saw them sit down. She then immediately adjusted her voice to a level at which they would be unable to discern the topic of conversation. During the rest of the interview she whispered her responses to me when explaining, for example, her Japanese husband’s perception of Filipinos as parasites, her experiences in entertainment, and her perception of most Filipinas in Japan as uneducated.

Charlotte’s example speaks to how attuned migrants are to perceptions and expectations emanating from their own migrant group. This aspect is one that is often neglected in studies on migrants. In the context of Japan, the majority of Filipina migrants came in the 1980s and 1990s to work in the entertainment industry, an industry in which their bodies and work was sexualized in ways pleasing to male Japanese patrons. Women in entertainment perform a variety of activities from dancing, singing, and modeling, to pouring drinks for and flirting with customers, in an effort to assuage their egos and loosen their wallets (Bedford & Hwang 2010: 88). As a result of this large-scale employment, Filipina migrants in Japan are often portrayed in sexualized manners that strip them of agency and humanity (Mackie 1996: 49).

Due to the unique nature of Filipina migration to Japan, numerous scholars have documented the migration, settlement, and incorporation of Filipinas as they shifted from working in the entertainment industry, to marrying Japanese men and starting families, to occupying an increasingly diverse range of industries as teachers, IT professionals, care workers, NGO workers, academics and entrepreneurs (Amaroso 2003; Ball & Piper 2002; Faier 2007; Faier 2008; Fuess 2003; Lopez 2012; Mackie 1998; Parreñas 2006; Piper 2003; Suzuki 2000; Suzuki 2003; Suzuki 2004; Suzuki 2011; Tyner 1996).

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What is often neglected however, is the politics of identity building and community building that occurs within migrant communities and among migrants of the same nationality. If these aspects are touched upon, they take a peripheral role to the more common focus of perceptions existing between members of the host society and members of migrant groups (see, for example, Constable 2007: 164-201; Suzuki 2003; Suzuki 2000).

Central to this thesis is the question of how Filipinas perceive each other in relation to their host society and how they negotiate these perceptions. Moreover, it is possible to identify certain aspects of this process that are informed by mainstream perceptions of Filipinas in Japan, whether historical or contemporary. In this thesis I take two Christian religious communities as cases in which perceptions and

expectations of fellow Filipina migrants are perpetuated and negotiated. The thesis is divided into four empirical chapters that discuss Filipinas’ perceptions of Japanese society, Japanese perceptions of Filipinas, Filipinas’

perceptions of each other, and finally, how Filipinas negotiate perceptions emanating from their own ethnic and religious communities. In addition, the next chapter will provide a theoretical framework that discusses relevant scholarly literature on the subject of Filipina migrants in Asia by discussing perceptions of Filipina migrants, common modes of negotiation, and finally, notions of migrant community building. A final chapter reviews and sums up the conclusions that can be drawn based on my empirical data. First, however, I discuss the methodological underpinnings of the research.

Driving Questions

To better understand the perceptions that Filipinas have of each other in the migration context I pose the following questions:

How do Filipina migrants in Tokyo perceive each other in relation to Japanese society? What role(s) do religious communities play in the way Filipinas negotiate these perceptions?

In addition to these questions I also pose three sub-questions that are addressed in each chapter:

1. How do Filipinas perceive Japanese society?

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3. How are Filipinas’ perceptions of each other informed by their immigrant status in Japan?

Research Setting

Tokyo was chosen as the research setting due to the fact that it has been a popular Asian migration destination for Filipinas since the 1980s. In 2011 29,540 documented Filipinos resided in Tokyo, approximately 16.8% of the documented Filipino population in Japan (Tokyo Metropolitan Government 2011; Japan Ministry of Justice 2012). Over 80% of these migrants were women (Ibid.). Because the

Filipina community in Tokyo is so large, it proved more useful to study perceptions of Filipinas among Filipinas here rather than a rural area where there are less Filipinas and fewer contexts in which Filipinas interact with one another.

Due to the fact that most Filipina migrants identify as Christian and many are actively practicing Christians, the bulk of my fieldwork was conducted at two

Christian churches, in Tokyo Japan. The first church I attended was a Born Again church, Goodness Tokyo, located in a nightclub in one of the central districts of Tokyo. Kyokai, the second church that I attended –one that I found via my network at the Born Again church – is a Catholic church located in a northern district of Tokyo. Pseudonyms are used for the names of churches to protect the privacy of

churchgoers1.

1

Kyokai means church in Japanese. I give it this name because the real name of the Catholic church is a Japanese word. On the other hand, the real name of the Born Again church is English, hence the English alias.

Figure 1: (left) Interior of Goodness Tokyo, Born Again Church, (right) Interior of Kyokai, Catholic Church

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The main method through which I came in contact with these two churches was through snowball sampling. My gatekeepers are members of Goodness Tokyo and they referred me to a Catholic woman who is very active in the Filipino

community in Tokyo. Through her I was able to develop relationships with members of Kyokai. After spending time at both these churches I began to notice key

differences in what was expected from Filipina members as well as how Filipina members negotiated these expectation. For this reason I use Goodness Tokyo and Kyokai as comparison cases. In addition to attending services and social events at Kyokai, I also attended events at three other Catholic churches in Tokyo that are in more central locations and play more prominent roles in the Catholic community in Tokyo, among both Filipino and non-Filipino Catholics.

Research Population

Informants for this research were drawn primarily from the two churches mentioned in the previous section. In addition, two interviewees were attendees of a Catholic church in Saitama –a prefecture bordering northern Tokyo –and two were attendees of a larger Catholic church in central Tokyo. In addition to the twenty-four Filipinas I interviewed, I also conducted interviews with two Filipino men, –one of which was a Catholic priest –one Filipino-American man (the pastor at Goodness Tokyo), one Japanese-American woman (the wife of the pastor at Goodness Tokyo), and three Japanese Born Again Christians. Since I met all my interviewees at church, my sample is restricted to practicing religious Filipinas and Japanese. This is not a problem since I focus my main question on the roles of religious communities in determining how Filipinas negotiate perceptions held of them.

I tried to sample a relatively equal number of informants from the Born Again church and the Catholic church so as to be able to make some comparisons between the two groups. Of the Filipina women, fifteen were Catholic and ten were Born Again Christians. On average, the women from the Born Again church were younger (ages ranging from 23-46) than the Catholic women (ages ranging from 31-63). In addition, a higher average of Born Again Filipinas were middle or upper class– a category I measure using level of education, occupation, and husband’s occupation, if applicable. For example, Eleanor is classified as a member of the upper class due to her husband’s career in IT (internet technology), her upbringing as the daughter of a

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ramie2 plantation owner, and her education in medical technology in the Philippines. On the other hand, Joan, a Catholic woman is classified as working class due to her lack of education, her impoverished background in the Philippines and her current employment as a factory worker. These class differences and other background characteristics such as amount of time spent in Japan, age, and their reason for migrating to Japan, engendered different perceptions and different ways of

negotiating these perceptions. See Tables 1 and 2 for an overview of the background characteristics of Born Again and Catholic Filipinos.

The imbalanced gender representation in the sample is partly due to choice, partly to circumstance. The majority of migrants leaving the Philippines are now women (Parreñas 2008: 5). Moreover, because of the entertainment history in Japan, Filipinas in the country still outnumber Filipinos. In 2011, only 46,120 Filipino men were documented as living in Japan as compared 129,639 Filipina women (Ministry of Justice 2012). Because of the unique gendered history of migration between the Philippines in Japan, Filipina women were particularly appealing to study.

Born Again Filipinos Sex3 Marital4 Status Age Current occupation5 Time in Japan6 Reason for Coming7 Level of Education8

Aaliyah F S 27 EngTeacher 9 J/S B-finance

Amy F W 47 EngTeacher 20 E/S B-accounting

Avic F M [nj] 36 EngTeacher 10 S G-economics

Charoltte F M 39 Housewife 23 E HS

Dhy F M 31 EngTeacher 3 W B-education

Eleanor F M 46 Book Factory 24 E B-med tech9.

Grace F S 23 Student 1 S/W B-nursing

Jennifer F S 36 EngTeacher 7 J B-HR10

Mhy F M 40 Housewife 1.5 E G-education

2

Ramie is a fiber crop commonly used for fabric production. 3

F=female; M=male 4

M=married; S=single; D=divorced; W=widowed; [nj]=not Japanese 5

EngTeacher=English Teacher 6

Numbers given in years 7

E=entertainment; J=Japanese heritage; S=student; W=work other than entertainment; M=marriage 8_{B=bachelor; G=graduate; HS=high school}

9

Medical Technology 10_{Human Resources}

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Naomi F M 36 EngTeacher 6 M B-business

Pido M M [nj] 30s Publishing 10 S G-unknown

Research Methodology

Interviewing

Throughout the fieldwork process interviews ranged from semi-structured to unstructured. Usually the first interview conducted with informants began relatively structured and then I would focus questions as pertinent topics arose. In addition to helping me acquire a working knowledge of my informants’ backgrounds these interviews also provided knowledge for understanding Filipinas perceptions of other Filipina migrants as well as perceptions of Japanese society as a whole. With the 11 Psychology Catholic Filipinos Sex Marital Status Age Current occupation Time in Japan Reason for Coming Level of Education

Anabel F D 53 Interpreter 30 W B-zoology

Carla F M 63 Housewife 31 M G-dentistry

Debra F D [nj] 42 Realtor 1 W B-business

Dina F M 32 EngTeacher 23 M G-theology

Gena F M 40s Housewife 6 M G-education

Janet F W 49 Maid 28 E HS

Joan F D 31 Factory Worker 12 E HS

Mae F M 46 Waitress 24 S G- psych11.

Maki F M 42 Housewife 22 E HS

Malou F M 35 EngTeacher 11 W B-media

Neri F M 47 Interpreter 22 S G-accounting

Olive F M 46 Realtor/Nurse 26 E HS

Pam F M 59 Babysitter 9 W B-accounting

Sr. Edita F n/a 58 Nun 7 W G-theology

Fr. Resty M n/a 41 Priest 12 W G-theology

George M M [nj] 43 Entrepreneur 16 W G-business

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Filipina informants interviewed, this technique enabled me to better understand perceptions of Filipina migrants and perceptions of migrant behavior and lifestyle.

In addition to interviewing Filipinas in particular I also looked for people who offered unique, and perhaps contrasting, perspectives to the majority of my

informants, such as Born Again Japanese college students, religious leaders, and Filipino men. Ultimately, the selection process was aimed at getting a diverse set of opinions regarding perceptions of Filipinas in Tokyo, and at Kyokai and Goodness Tokyo in particular. Most of the interviews took place in cafés or at restaurants. A few also took place at church locations. In total I conducted twenty-four interviews, five of which were with two or more people. In one focus group there were six

interviewees. In the other focus group there were seven. The other interviews with multiple people consisted of two informants. In one of these three instances the second person acted as a translator as well as a participant. In the other two interviews both people were solely participants. In total I interviewed thirty-two people.

In most instances people were open to talking with me. With the women I knew better and on a more personal basis, it was easier to discuss sensitive information. Usually my youth served as an asset and made people feel more comfortable and open with me. Generally, the process of interviewing went quite smoothly and I was able to establish rapport with my informants. In a few cases language presented a challenge, as not all of my informants were comfortable in English. Generally, the people that had no formal college education were the ones who had more trouble communicating in English. Language barriers tended to be most salient during social events that I went to, especially house visits, when people were relaxing, eating food, and speaking in Tagalog. In these instances there were usually a couple women I could ask to translate for me.

Timelines

With three Filipina informants I conducted second –and in one case third –interviews in which I asked them to draw a timeline of their lives related to their migration history. Examples of events that they drew include their first trip as entertainers to Japan, the development of their relationships with Japanese spouses, or the

development of their religious activity in Japan. Using these timelines, I was able to pinpoint aspects of their migration experience that they found important, as well as see how their outlook towards their own migration and the migration of Filipinos in

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general had changed. By talking to me about their experiences and history in Japan, they also revealed perceptions they held of their host society and other Filipinos, which were important for my research.

Participant Observation

The main places in which observation was an important research tool were at church and church-related social gatherings with Filipinas, such as during catechism at Kyokai, or when eating or together after the masses and services. In addition, I also visited four houses of Catholic women and one house of a Born Again woman. Almost all of these visits were for the purpose of having a priest bless the space. One woman, for example, was opening a salon in a rented apartment space. She held a gathering with food and drinks and had the priest come and bless the area before we ate and socialized. By attending these sorts of events I was able to observe the important place religion takes in everyday lives. I was also able to observe

interactions between different Filipina actors and get a sense of the group dynamics that took place.

Facebook

Facebook was an important avenue through which I was able to make and maintain contact with Filipino informants. For example, before entering the field I was able to get in touch with my gatekeepers and set up a date on which I could attend church with them. During my fieldwork Facebook served as a forum through which I could plan appointments, and keep up with the daily lives of many of my informants. The connections I made on Facebook also provided me with a great deal of photos from informants, some of which I use –with the permission of the owners – in the thesis.

Challenges

One important challenge to address here is my own disenchantment with religion and Christianity in particular. Similar to not being Filipino, I think not being Christian created a barrier in my relationships with informants. Perhaps this

difference made certain religious people wary of sharing more personal information with me that would have been relevant for research. On the other hand, I noticed that some informants took every opportunity to share the gospel with me. This took time in which they could have been answering questions regarding my research. Most of

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the time I refrained from offering my opinion when people shared their religious beliefs. In the end however, I was able to have a couple open and honest

conversations with some of the Born Again Christians from Goodness Tokyo. The discussion didn't lead to any great revelations but it was important to have it; to demonstrate that it is possible.

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Incorporation and Exclusion

The main concern of this thesis is to better understand how Filipina migrants perceive each other in their migration country and, to be more specific, how these perceptions are produced, perpetuated, and acted upon within the religious contexts that many Filipinas participate in. These religious contexts provide ideal

environments to study Filipino perceptions of fellow Filipina migrants since they provide an important avenue through which migrant Filipinos stay in contact with each other. In this chapter I discuss current scholarship on (1) perceptions of Filipina migrants, (2) resistance and agency, and (3) religious and ethnic affiliation among migrants.

Perceptions of Filipina Migrants

Due to the rise of the nation-state and its centrality to identity, attitudes and perceptions toward immigrants have historically been characterized by wariness and antagonism (Wimmer & Glick Schiller 2002). Doubly disenfranchised, women from the global south face the more extreme forms of these attitudes and perceptions. Common perceptions of Filipinas held by Japanese actors are reflections of the

sexualized nature of entertainment work. Some of the images documented in literature on Filipina migrants in Japan include Filipinas as prostitutes, Filipinas as willing victims of male power, Filipinas as heroes who sacrifice their dignity for the sake of their impoverished homeland, and, more generally, a racial or cultural Other (Tyner 1996: 89; Makie 1998: 47).

As Filipinas began to settle in Japan and marry Japanese men, perceptions shifted to focus on the fecundity of Filipina brides, and their ‘natural’ maternal inclinations (Suzuki 2003: 404). Since 2008, Filipinas have been migrating to Japan under economic partnership agreements in which Filipinas train to work in Japanese nursing homes. Though this is a step up in status from working in the entertainment industry, ultimately the notion that Filipinas are ‘naturally suited’ to care work – whether it be by pouring drinks or changing diapers –overshadows many positive interpretations of this new image (Lopez 2012: 260). Image changes that accomapany changes in concentrations of Filipinas working in different industries are widely discussed in the Filipino migrant communities I participated in.

While little has been written about Filipina migrants’ perceptions of each other, scholars that do touch on it emphasize the ways in which migrants encourage

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and discourage each other from resisting treatment and perceptions encountered in the host society. Constable, for example, discusses how Filipina workers in Hong Kong encourage each other to resist discriminatory treatment from members of their host society by, for example creating advocacy groups and organizing protests (2007: 164). On the other hand she also notes that “domestic workers impose discipline on themselves” in ways that discourage resistance and impose perceptions of Filipina women as accommodating, chaste, and passive (Ibid: 181). Similarly, Suzuki focuses on processes in which newcomer Filipina immigrants in Japan attempt to distance themselves from the entertainer image by encouraging their peers to “preserve the moral values of the home” (2000: 432).

This recurring “ideology of domesticity” –the persistence of the idea that women’s work in the labor market must reinforce notions of women’s domesticity, subservience, and maternity – “limits women’s choices in a sex-segmented labor market, trouble[s] them with a wage gap, and burden[s] them with a double day” (Parreñas 2008: 9). Beyond the economic level, images that overemphasize and naturalize certain traits of Filipina women keep the identities of Filipinas as people in all their contradictions and complexities –not just as mothers, or devout Christians, or entertainers –out of the spotlight. The next section discusses how Filipinas negotiate these images and perceptions.

Resistance and Agency

Studying modes of resistance and negotiation among marginalized groups focuses on the way in which individuals in these groups are agents in changing their circumstances or acting in complicity with the status quo. By highlighting the agency of individuals in these positions scholars are able to acknowledge subjectivities in the field of power that have previously been muted or ignored.

Resistance manifests in its overt forms as protest and public activism and in its more covert forms as less confrontational forms as “daily…minor defiances” (Abu-Lughod 1990: 43). Instead of seeing resistance as a way to counteract power,

contemporary scholars dealing with marginalized groups theorize resistance as action that is “never in a position of exteriority in relation to power” (Foucault as quoted in Constable 2007: 13). By framing resistance in this light, scholars are able to situate agents of resistance “within the field of power, not as equal players but as

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actors that have previously been fixed as lacking relevance due to their ‘inherent’ outsider positions.

Previous works on Filipina migrants have emphasized the agency of migrants by highlighting covert and overt acts of resistance that migrants participate in

(Constable 2007; Constable 1999; Faier 2007; Faier 2008; Suzuki 2003; Gibson, Law and McKay 2001; Parreñas 2008; Parreñas and Liu 2007). For example, in her

research on rural Filipina brides of Japanese men Faier concludes that professions of love enable women to claim “globally translatable senses of modern personhood” in a way that contests conceptions of these women as third world, and interested only in money (2007: 157). Thus by claiming romantic love for their husbands, Filipina brides are able to resist perceptions of their marriages as illegitimate. Suzuki also focuses on how rural Filipina brides of Japanese men try to reassert their own “sexual subjectivity and economic autonomy” (2003: 399). In her research she highlights how Filipina brides secure autonomy by, for example, having affairs or insisting upon working outside the home (Ibid: 409-410).

Like Suzuki (2003) and Faier (2007), Constable (2007) acknowledges subtle forms of resistance exercised by Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong. Constable also takes as part of her analysis overt forms of resistance such as social activism that domestic workers in Hong Kong participate in (2007). Protests organized by migrant groups in Hong Kong demonstrate migrants’ ability to exert pressure on the

institutions that are in charge of protecting their rights. However, Constable warns that despite improvements made by migrant-run organizations, “the overall structural position of domestic workers [in Hong Kong] remains unchanged” because in many instances they are merely “struggling for the right to continue to do menial work in exploitative conditions” (2007: 209). This observation is part of a wider critique on the tendency of resistance studies to romanticize resistance as a sign “of the

ineffectiveness of systems of power and of the resilience and creativity of the human spirit in its refusal to be dominated” (Abu-Lughod 1990: 42). On the contrary, resistance often takes place along side actions that symbolize marginalized individuals’ own complicity in their marginalization by, for example, promoting norms of docility and chastity (Constable 2007; Abu-Lughod 1990). The next and final section of this chapter discusses the role of religion in the migration context and the ways in which it encourages and discourages acts of resistance

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Religious Community Building

The role that religion plays among migrants groups has been underexposed in scholarly work (for exceptions see: Mateo 2000; Karagiannis & Glick Schiller 2006; Glick Schiller, Çağlar & Guldbransen 2006). Studies of Filipina migrants document that Christian doctrine encourages women to act as passive subjects, accepting hardship in the face of marginalization as something they have no power to change (Constable 2007: 192). On the other hand, religious institutions also serve as places from which migrants draw strength to face the difficulties their migration presents (Mateo 2000; Parreñas 2008). Not only do churches serve this function on a spiritual level –providing space for migrants to reflect and heal –but on a material and social level church grounds function as marketplaces for a wide variety of goods and

services that migrants consume ranging from shoes and purses, to remittance services, to Philippine food items (Parreñas 2008: 6; Mateo 2000).

In these institutions, migrants participate in processes of identity and community building that impose norms encouraging individuals to adhere to a

‘Christian lifestyle’. Acceptance or exclusion from the group depends on one’s ability to maintain a respectable lifestyle. One way in which social control is exercised is by “monitor[ing] the behavior and attire” of Filipinas in attendance (Parreñas 2008: 105). Parreñas also notes that Filipina migrants in Italy engage in self-monitoring in which they forbid themselves from participating in illicit behavior at church such as smoking (Ibid.). Moreover, it is in these communties among members of the same ethnic group that many migrants discuss and contemplate perceptions held of them by the host society as well as perceptions they have of other members of their community.

Most scholarly work on migrant religious communities is based on the “assumption that in their initial states of settlement migrants organize their churches on the basis of homeland identities” and not necessarily on the basis of religious or spiritual commonalities (Karagiannis & Glick Schiller 2006: 140). The transnational expansion of Born Again, and other Charismatic Christian religious movements paired with a simultaneous growth in migration flows necessitates a questioning of this assumption. Failing to do so runs the risk of overlooking the function of religious beliefs in shaping the experience of migrant settlement and incorporation. In the realm of perceptions, a religious sense of diaspora versus an ethnic or national sense of diaspora certainly has an impact the perceptions and expectations that migrants in a

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community have of each other. For the purposes of this research, then, the notion of a religious identity among Born Again Christians in Tokyo can help in explaining the different perceptions and expectations they had of each other as compared to Catholics

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Assertions of Modernity

Filipino perceptions of Japanese society

Perceptions Filipinos have of Japanese society are inevitable contrasts to their own lives and experiences in the Philippines and to their lives as Filipinos in Japan. Many of the Filipinos I interviewed articulated their perceptions of Japan terms of levels of modernity in Japan as compared to the Philippines. Though my informants articulated generalized perceptions of Japanese society that were not directly related to modernization or westernization, here I limit myself to these types of perceptions for two reasons. First, the notion of westernization has played an integral role in the respective histories of both the Philippines and Japan as they were both occupied by the American military. The Philippines’ encounter with western occupation goes back even further to Spanish colonization. Second, the claim to being more or less western reveals an interesting politics of identity through which Filipino migrants are able to resist or conform to perceptions of them that are disseminated in mainstream Japanese society.

Several scholars have already begun a discussion that explores the consequences for Filipina migrants, positive and negative, of making claims to modernity in their host society (Faier 2007; Constable 2007; Suzuki 2003). I add to this discussion in this chapter by presenting a dichotomous understanding of Japanese society in which, on one hand, Filipinas see Japan as an ‘imagined west’ (Suzuki 2004) and on the other hand, see Japan as west’s antithesis - or at least less western than the Philippines. When speaking of western or modern identities I refer to “conflated notion[s] of ‘America’ and variants such as the ‘West,’ ‘foreign,’ and ‘modern’…[as sources of] “the powerful located on the outside” (Cannell 1999 as quoted in Suzuki 2004: 496). In many cases, respondents themselves directly labeled certain characteristics as modern or primitive. The topics I discuss in relation to Japan’s modernity are superior standards of living and a more lucrative economic atmosphere in Japan. Standard of living and economic security were appraised in moral terms, the Philippines being represented as as lacking these moral elements due to its lack of economic security and the, on average, lower standard of living. On the other hand, in relation to the lack of modernity in Japan I discuss generalized moral

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decay that some Filipinos see in Japan as a result of non-Christian lifestyles and, ironically, even as a result of economic growth and stability.

After this delineation I identify spaces of ambivalence, in which informants express their adherence to multiple and conflicting notions of Japan’s modernity or lack thereof. Thus, at certain moments, individuals perceive Japan as both an ‘imagined west’ (Suzuki 2004: 496) and west’s antithesis. When these binary

oppositions are let go space is created, enabling individuals to respect the “exteriority of the other” as one which forces him/her to “question the self’s ‘ability for power’, i.e. the very notion that something called ‘my power’ can be exercised over a passive ‘thing’” (Edgar & Sedgwick 2002: 138). In other words, notions of the west and modernity end up speaking more about the people applying them than the people they are applied to. Instead of acknowledging the Other’s exteriority these categories define the Other through the self. When exteriority is acknowledged and ambivalence is expressed the self admits –at least partially –that binary oppositions fail to

encompass another’s humanity. Agency is afforded the Other to exist in the eyes of the self as it sees fit.

Ultimately, the categorization of oneself as more or less western/modern than an Other participates two-fold in an exercise that limits agency. First, identification to a western standard can easily be construed in the light of a legacy of orientalism that “constructs the identities of cultural subjects through a relationship of power in which the Other is the subjugated element.” (Edgar & Sedgwick 1999: 266). Second,

adherence to such a standard of western/modern supremacy prevents individuals from seeing each other ethically in the way Levinas describes. The ethical relation is founded on the ability of the self to welcome the other and by welcoming it, to be challenged by the alterity of the other. By applying a western standard to the Other, one immediately denies that alterity under the pretense that the “Other can be reduced to the same” (Edgar & Sedgwick 2002: 137). Ironically, in the case of Filipina

migrants living in Japan, this standard of modernity is not even emic to the

Philippines itself but is the legacy of western colonialism and a separate, but related, narrative of the denial of the Other.

Japan as the Asian West: “the Philippines of Tomorrow”

The perception of Japan as superior to the Philippines due to the fact that it is more western or more modern has important implications for the ways in which

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Filipinos see themselves in their host society. It also has a significant effect on the ways in which Filipinos claim –or fail to claim –agency in the face of marginalization. In this section I delineate two aspects in which Japan is seen as more modern or, to quote one of my informants, in which Japan is seen as “the Philippines of tomorrow.” These are, Japan’s superior economy and standard of living.

Financial reasons being one of the primary motivators for Filipinos to leave their country in such great numbers, the economic opportunity many see in their destination country—in this case Japan—cannot be ignored. In the 1960s, the successes of Japanese and Philippine economy were relatively equal. In the next decade, the Marcos government implemented a labor exportation economy that the country became dependent upon in the economically challenging decade of the 1980s. (Barber 2000: 400). At this same time, women were finding work outside the country in increasing numbers. In this context, many women began migrating to Japan as entertainers in the 1980s to support their families back home.

When asked what they liked about Japan a few women directly addressed this notion of economic opportunity. Joan, a former entertainer who comes from a lower class background in the Philippines and is now a factory worker, explains that Japan’s economic prosperity is “why I chose Japan. Big money. And Philippines is poor.” In another interview, Neri, a highly educated Filipina with a middle class background in the Philippines succinctly framed her perception of economic opportunity in Japan in terms of the American dream. “You can have everything you want [in Japan],” she says, “as long as you work for it”. Related to this notion of the American dream is also the search for a middle-class lifestyle. Several of my informants spoke about Japan as a classless society in the sense that people from all class backgrounds intermingle and are able to speak to each other as equals.

These responses speak to what Suzuki calls “the power of imagining…[and the fact that] the conflated notion of “America” and variants such as the “West,” “foreign,” and “modern” are perhaps most popular in Filipinos’ everyday lives” (Suzuki 2004: 496). This surely seems to be the case with regard to the perceptions of economic opportunity and standard of living that Japan provides for many of its inhabitants. Moreover, the perception of Japan as a “land flowing with bounty” –as Father Resty put it –cuts across class background in the Philippines and in Japan. Across a board of varied educational and socio-economic backgrounds, Filipinos largely agreed that Japan is a land of plenty.

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Related to Japan’s economic stability, many Filipinos expressed the idea that Japanese people adhered to more modern or developed conventions of stoicism and civility. This was, many contended, because Japanese people are unfamiliar with economic hardship. For example, in a focus group with four Filipina English teachers, some of the women concluded that all Japanese people are honest because they can afford to be honest

Naomi: And you can leave [forget] your cell phone anywhere [in Japan]. Amy: Not with the Chinese around [Naomi laughs].

Anna: Chinese people steal cell phones?

Amy: SHHHH!!! [afraid people would hear me]

Naomi: I left my cell phone. And it’s back. And also my friend, he left his iPad on the train and three days later he got it back.

Malou: Me too, [I left] my cell phone. In a taxi.

Amy: Maybe there was no Chinese, or Korean [Malou laughs].

Malou: In a taxi I left my phone and then they called our home. Maybe they had seen the house number.

Anna: That’s impressive

Amy: Actually, I’m not talking bad about Chinese or other Asian people but—when they leave something and there are other Asian people don't expect that they will return it to you or it will come back to you.

Anna: Really? Why? Amy: Because they steal Anna: Do you know why?

Amy: Because they can’t afford it, unlike [the] Japanese. They are very honest.

Thus, compared to other Asians, Japanese people are in general seen as more honest. Towards the end of the excerpt Amy implies that Chinese, Koreans, and other Asians steal phones because they are poor, but the Japanese are too honest to engage in such activities. There is also the implication that Japanese are honest because they can afford material goods. In a sense then, poverty has some equivalency with dishonesty. However, Amy also claims that “99% [of] Filipinos in Japan don’t steal…but in the Philippines they do.” Thus, Filipinos are promoted as model

immigrants, while Asians from other countries such as China or Korea are portrayed as sources of petty crime. By voicing this opinion Amy also incorporates a well

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known discourse in Japan regarding the immorality of Chinese and Korean

immigrants (Shipper 2005: 304). In addition to placing Filipinos in Japan at the top of the hierarchy of migrant groups, Amy also places distance between the Filipino diaspora in Japan and Filipinos in the Philippines who –because they are living in poverty –steal. Blanket statements like these mask the diversity of situations and people that identify as Filipino, Japanese, or with a migrant diaspora. Living in a country with such morally transcendent people perhaps affords Amy and others who express similar ideas the opportunity to be seen as morally superior by association, especially when it is contended that Filipino migrants in Japan are both more honest than their Filipino counterparts in the Philippines and the other Asian migrant communities living in Japan.

In addition to being seen as honest in the sense that they never steal, the English teachers in the focus group also painted a picture of Japanese people as more dignified –this dignity, again, being the result of better infrastructure and a stronger economy. The notion of a superior level of dignity came up in the interview

seemingly randomly when I asked the women about their marriages. They began to discuss the March 2011 earthquake and their husbands’ reactions to it compared to as theirs.

Naomi: And the sense of dignity right? The sense of dignity. After the big earthquake, of course we [Filipinos] always think of ourselves: “What are we going to eat?!” Malou: Panic buying, we have that panic buying. Yeah, I learned a lot from my husband last time [after the earthquake] because in my place [neighborhood] there's no more supermarket that sells, right. Everyday there are limited stocks of rice so I wanted to buy [them] all. But my husband says, “No, it’s not only you who are eating. There are others out there too. Don’t do that.” And I'm like, “No! No!”—

Dhy: We are like that in the Philippines.

Malou: Yeah! But I was thinking, “It’s not only myself, I have a kid”, right? Person 1: And they are very calm, especially during the earthquake. In Philippines when you open the convenience store everyone rushes in.

Anna: Why do you think it is different?

Person 1: Actually in the Philippines it is like, we are very panicky.

Person 2: Maybe because they know that the buildings here are earthquake proof Amy: Yeah, unlike in the Philippines.

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Person 1: Actually, here they are all trained [to know] what to do in case there is an emergency. In the Philippines we don't know how to evacuate.

Malou: Lack of information [in the Philippines]. Here everything— Naomi: Is set.

The main argument in this passage is that the dignity of the Japanese reaction to the earthquake, compared to the panic in the Filipino reaction has a direct

connection with the fact that, one, there is more information in Japan than in the Philippines about what to do during a natural disaster and, two, the Japanese have been able to afford to build infrastructure that insures some level of safety in the event of an earthquake. Malou and Naomi make it clear that the Japanese reaction to the earthquake was indicative of a higher level of humanity that Japanese have attained. Moreover, the ‘panicky nature’ of Filipinos during natural disasters is reminiscent of one of the defining characteristics of diffusionism in which the periphery is rationally or psychologically empty (Blaut 1987: 32). For the women from the focus group, the benefit is that they could adopt this missing rational component from their husbands.

The Filipinas in the two previous examples categorize Japanese behaviors as linked to their modern and developed circumstances and thus superior to possible and actual Filipino reactions in the same contexts. However, for the women speaking, there is a possibility to claim these modern identities of being dignified and morally upright: by living with and among Japanese people. However, for other Filipinos and other Asians –for example working class Filipino, Korean or Chinese immigrants –the ability to claim these modern identities is denied by the women. They are de facto, less modern. The women from the focus group are claiming agency, but in doing so they apply discriminatory categories that dispossess others of the same right.

Though I have highlighted above how the women I interviewed view modernity in a positive light, it is not always viewed in this way. Despite the advantages of having more financial security, good infrastructure, and what they perceived to be a heightened sense of morality, there were also disadvantages that my informants mentioned. This duality in perceptions hints at the importance of

ambivalence as a space in which an ethical relation can be initiated. In other instances recognizing disadvantages serve as ways in which Filipinas identify the positive qualities they bring to the society they find themselves living in. In other words, they

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are able to identify concrete ways in which they act as agents of change—in many cases positive change—in their host society.

A less positive aspect of Japanese modernity that many of the married Filipinas I interviewed stressed was a sober and somber home life and how family members often focus too much on financial issues. Maki and Carla are two such women who describe the typical Japanese husband as one that comes home late and “the only thing they say when they come in the house is meshi –food –they need food, ofuro –the bath. After eating they go to take a bath and then neru –sleep. That’s the only conversation they have.” As Filipina wives and mothers, however, Maki and Carla bring a different –and in their opinion much needed –element to the household. “Maki jokes around with them,” Carla says, “I think that’s very very important in the family. Because it’s not like Japanese joke on their own…We are noisy because we are happy and we talk very loud and happy and everything. They don't like it. But I think they really appreciate it sometimes.” In this way, Maki and Carla are able to point out the ways in which they make positive contributions to family life and, to generalize a bit, to Japanese society as a whole.

At the same time that recognizing the disadvantages of living in a developed country allows women to claim agency, framing Japan as the “Philippines of

Tomorrow” takes agency away from Filipinos. If one sees oneself as living in a country of ‘the future’ –living a more ‘civilized’ life –then there may be a feeling of accomplishment that comes with that. However, if one finds oneself –a product of an underdeveloped country, a country of the past –living in ‘the future’, there may be insurmountable obstacles to claiming a coeval identity for the individual in question. This is because the process of othering becomes not just one of distinguishing between civilized and uncivilized characteristics, but one that places you perpetually in the past. Amy, for example, describes her childhood as “primitive living”. This mentality also adheres to the main argument of diffusionism which holds that the “permanent center is always more advanced than the other parts of the region (or of the world) as it is always emitting innovations that are adopted only later elsewhere” (Blaut 1987: 31). In other words, the Philippines will always be in the yesterday and Japan will always be the Philippines of tomorrow. On the other hand, women are also able to identify problematic aspects of modernity or ‘the modern lifestyle’ that they can improve and in this way they can assert themselves as equals in a modern world. I have already hinted at the problematic aspects that women identify in this section. In

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the next section I elaborate on these further by examining statements from Filipinos in which they assert Japan’s lack of modernity.

Japan as an antithesis to the West

Due to Philippines colonization and the resulting western influences that have permeated throughout Philippines culture, many Filipinas I met in Japan made the claim that Japan was non-western, or at least not as western as the Philippines. Most often these claims were made on the basis of English being the non-official second language of the Philippines as well as that Filipinos had inherited Christianity and, as a result, a more righteous moral code. In this section I discuss general moral decay that is seen by Filipinos as indicative of Japan’s antithetical relationship with the west. The claim to being more western or modern is, I argue, a manner in which Filipinas are able to appraise the ‘value’ they bring to Japanese society. In other words, the fact that they can draw on their western religion and its morals as a symbol of their modernity is seen as an attempt to even the playing field –a field in which Filipinos have historically been seen as impoverished and ‘third world’.

One way in which Filipinas assert equal or even superior levels of modernity is by focusing on social ills that many attribute to the lack of a Christian value system. Here I focus on the ways in which Filipinos perceive Japanese attitudes toward family as well as the ways in which Filipinas understand the role they play in changing these attitudes. Western and modern men, they conclude, are better marriage partners.

Since many of the women I spoke to are married to Japanese men, their perceptions of family life featured heavily. As I touched upon already, Filipinas often find that the ‘typical’ Japanese attitude towards family is problematic. The Filipinas I talked to describe this attitude as indifferent. Many women had faced difficulties in the beginning of their marriage because their husbands were working non-stop. This was, they explain, partly due to the bubble economy in the 1980s. Helen explains what she perceives to be the Filipino orientation towards family and compares it to the Japanese orientation.

I’d rather it to be in a Filipino way, like with values. Because we have this sort of saying like, “It’s okay, [if] we are not rich. We can even have salt with rice and be at peace with each other than having much work and having much more money but we don't have time for our family.” And we [prefer that to] end[ing] up like, you know

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getting drunk when we are tired. Eat out and stay late out. And stay home and feel lonely and watch TV because we don't have a family! And you know, what matters is—in short it’s like we cannot serve two masters. “Why you work hard?” “Because I want more money” “And if you have more money what are you going to do? You have no time! You have no time because you are all for the money.” And if it’s balanced: time to work, time to rest, and time with the family, it’s healthy! And you have the relationship. And [workaholic Japanese] don't have it.

According to Helen then, Filipinos will sacrifice material luxury to be able to spend time with their family. Moreover, she seems to imply that the Japanese attitude towards work is flawed in that it leads to alcoholism, loneliness, and ‘staying out’. While Helen links a family oriented attitude to something that is inherently Filipino, Mhy discusses the family orientation of Filipinos in terms of a characteristic that is shared –and thus legitimized –or even influenced by the west.

In the Philippines as well as the western [world] you have extended family. So you get used to big family reunions. They don't do that [in Japan]. They don't have reunions here. I am very thankful that we are influenced by the western but I am also thankful that Filipinos have this very flexible [attitude] because we have been colonized by so many countries. [From the] Spaniards we learned the

Roman-Catholic religion. We had the freedom when the Americans came. And it’s part of our history. It's a big thing with us.

This passage makes it clear that western influence on Filipino culture is important for Mhy in that several key aspects of Filipino identity were imported from the west. The way Mhy understands the relationship between Filipinos and the western world is reflective of the classical diffusionist notion that “some places are permanent, natural centers of creativity and invention” while other places, such as the Philippines or Japan merely imitate and adopt the inventions of these natural centers (Blaut 1987: 30). Though Japan has succeeded in developing a formidable economy and state apparatus, the “Japanese continue to inhabit an “amphibious” space of not-West, but North where the majority Japanese are often symbolically not quite “modern” in the global hierarchy”, (Suzuki 2004: 497). Thus, on a deeper level the Japanese have not adopted western ideals to the extent that Filipinos have. On the one hand, the lack of western ideals in Japan creates difficulties for Filipinos like Mhy who are used to the

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‘western’ and Filipino way of things. On the other hand the more western origin of Mhy as a Filipino affords her cultural capital in an environment where Filipinos have been classically characterized as backwards (Tyner 1996; Anderson 1999).

For many of the happily married women, their husbands are exceptions to the typical Japanese man. To prove the men’s exception women often cite international business experience, fluency in languages such as English or German, and western descent as proof of their husband’s modernity. Aaliyah, a Born Again Japanese-Filipina woman describes her father as the cosmopolitan Japanese man

My dad’s really a gentleman. Even my mom [who is divorced from him] would say that. He's really different. Because he's lived all over the world. He speaks German. So he's actually—my mom said he's more Filipino than Japanese. I see that whenever we go out. Because most Japanese dads, they don't really hold their daughters outside, like in public…[but] my dad does that. So I'm like, “Oh yeah. He's really different.” Which is a good thing.

From this passage it becomes clear that Aaliyah associates being gentlemanly and loving towards children as uncharacteristic of typical Japanese fathers. In fact, the reason why Aaliyah’s dad is different is because he is a modern world traveller who speaks German (and English) and has lived in other countries. Moreover, this sense of cosmopolitanism is something that Aaliyah and her mother link to notions of

‘Filipinoness’. Ultimately then, they associate Filipinos as being more western and modern while Japan and Japanese people are seen as more traditional and insular.

Another characteristic of Japanese husbands that are exceptional is the way they understand Filipino attitudes towards abortion. In the focus group, Naomi proudly explains that her “husband always says to other Japanese that Filipinas, because we are very religious, don't allow abortion or suicide.” The typical Japanese attitude towards abortion, as other women describe, is that if the pregnancy is an accident, abortion is the solution. The fact that Naomi’s husband shares this with other Japanese people proves his enlightenment on the issue, no doubt a result of him converting to Born Again Christianity. Other women add anecdotes about how they persuaded Japanese colleagues not to get an abortion and showed them that their pregnancies were “actually a blessing.” Ultimately the women from the focus group conclude that conversations between Filipinas and other Japanese actors about

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abortion are “a good influence”. This is another way in which women are able to see themselves as agents of change in their host country. They are adding a moral component to a society that is often focused too much on financial matters.

Degrees of Difference: Catholic v. Born Again

Partially due to class and religious differences, Catholics and Born Again informants had different foci in their perceptions of Japanese society. While Catholics more often framed their perceptions of Japan on moral terms, Born Again Christians focused more on Japan’s economic stability and standard of living for its inhabitants. When Born Again Christians did voice concern about negative aspects of Japanese society it was almost always in terms of how difficult it was to evangelize Japanese people. For example, Avic expressed disappointment with the dearth of Japanese and linked this to general material wealth in Japan. Ultimately “they just don’t care” about the gospel, she says. “Because they don’t need anything. Most Japanese have money. Most Japanese are happy. Most Japanese are nice people. So it’s as if they don’t need anything.” This is even true among Japanese Born Agains who, as Pastor Glen informed me, are often insufficiently evangelistic in that they are reluctant to leave the country to go on missions. Thus, the focus here seems to be on their identification or lack of identification to a Christian religion rather than on actual moral or immoral behavior.

Catholics, on the other hand, often cited specific aspects of Japanese society that they considered immoral –the Japanese attitude towards abortion that was mentioned above is a good example of this. Other social ills that Catholics in particular focused on in Japan were the nightlife industry, and crime and sexual violence associated with it. In one focus group I conducted with Catholic women, for example, the participants –aided by Sister Edita –explained the widespread and frequent occurrence of rape that happens, not just to Filipinas but to other foreigners as well. Sister Edita explained the prevalence of rape in Japan in terms of the yakuza controlled nightlife industry and the lack of a moral system. “If you measure wealth in economic terms,” she says, “then Japan is a very rich country. But I measure wealth on moral terms.” On moral terms, she concludes, Japan is “poor”. Of the Philippines and its moral system, she says that the Spanish brought them “morality and religion” and before that they were animists. Thus Philippine morality is a legacy of western

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influence. The Japanese, according to her, having no such influence are lacking a Christian, and thus western, moral system.

Ambivalence

Classifying levels of modernity in Japan as compared to the Philippines is not as straightforward as I have presented it so far. In this section I explore the grey areas in which individuals have conflicting perceptions about Japan’s modernity or lack there of. Along similar lines of Pratt, I contend that this ambivalence is a state to be valued because it “unfixes the identity of the one who enunciates the stereotype and allows us to explore the complexities of the process of stereotyping” (1997: 167). I add to this by arguing that this uncertainty solicits the beginnings of an ethical

relation in that it “allow[s the] self to be challenged by the Other” (Edgar & Sedgwick 2002: 137).

Applying a western standard is an attempt to dominate the Other instead of acknowledging his/her perpetual exteriority. However, what those who are

dominating fail to realize is that ‘my subjectivity’ can only exist because of the alterity inherent in the Other’s existence. Aaliyah and Eleanor’s comments about Japanese family values are one example of this. By insinuating that Japanese father’s have less love for their children or that Japanese men are lonely alcoholics because they fail to prioritize family life, Aaliyah and Eleanor assert a level of superiority and control over ‘typical’ Japanese men. Instead of acknowledging alternate ways in which Japanese men exhibit affection and dedication to their families, the women emphasize Japanese men’s failure to value family and link this to their failure to adopt western values.

In making these claims, Aaliyah and Eleanor deny the exteriority of the Other –in this case Japanese men –and in doing so their own subjectivities are diminished. If, as Levinas suggests, one can only find oneself as a reflection of the Other, denying the validity of that Other’s (exterior) existence is an act of violence against the self. This is especially true in the case of Filipinas who apply a standard that has been by Spanish and American colonizers to subjugate Filipinos. When the Other’s existence is granted validity and exteriority is acknowledged it is often in moments of

ambivalence.

Olive, a Catholic Filipina, expresses ambivalence about other religions. On the one hand she feels that Catholicism is the right religion for her and other religions

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such as Born Again Christianity are “brainwashing” their adherents. She catches herself after using the word brainwashing, quickly laughs it off and corrects herself by employing the more neutral word, “teaching”. Though Olive has these perceptions about Born Again Christianity she is also open to people of other religions, both western and non-western.

Olive: Ah, it’s like a Japanese. Some of the Japanese don't have religion. Deb: Because they don't raise as [religious].

Anna: Yeah, upbringing. It influences a lot.

Olive: But for me it’s natural to communicate with other religions also. My husband is a…Buddhism. Hahaha.

Anna: What do you think of Buddhism?

Olive: Uhh…it’s more on same direction, but different teaching. Hahaha. That's the way—the way they learn how to be with God is just only different, maybe. So at my age now I know how to handle—and I know what I'm believing. I think any Catholic, any religion, it’s only one God. The earth is round, it’s not a straight. So if you talk here one word, but its round and everybody is saying a different explanation. Anna: Ah, so everybody is trying to get to the same…truth

Olive: I think. It's the same center. It's the same God. But different explanations.

In this passage Olive removes herself from discussing her perceptions in terms of western standards. Though she ultimately believes that Catholicism is the best religion for her family, she acknowledges that it is not the only right way. Though at first glance her comments about everything being one God can be interpreted as reducing religious experiences to a monotheistic standard, in her own way she is also acknowledging the primacy of the metaphysical desire that Levinas contends all people share. In this way, she does allow herself to be challenged by the Other. She does this by expressing understanding towards religions with “different explanations”.

Olive also indicates that this is an understanding she has learned and

developed throughout her life. “At my age now,” she says, “I know how to handle”. She knows how to balance her own belief system with the belief systems of others. Thus, the development of an ethical gaze toward the Other is also something that may be dependent on age, maturity, and life cycle phase, a point that Father Resty makes. Once women reach mid-life their children are adults and they have more time to reflect and live what he calls the “interior life” –a time in which they want to learn

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more about their faith and improve themselves. This time of reflection perhaps also helps women develop their ethical orientation towards the Other. Perhaps living this “interior life” makes one realize the prime importance of the Other. Illich sums up Levinas in the following way: “Central to what I find in the face of the other is my subjectivity: ‘I’ cannot be except as a gift in and from the face of the other” (1998: 17). This is one realization that can be reached when one embraces ambivalence.

In another example of ambivalence, Anabel removes herself from a

western/non-western binary by claiming that Japan has modernized from within while her friend and colleague Neri argues that Japan has modernized due to foreign

influence.

Neri:. Before the housewives [were] only saying, “Yes, Okay yes. I’ll stay at home” But now… probably it [changed] because of the foreigners. When they opened the country for foreigners. Probably, 10 years ago. I cannot say exactly but when they opened their country to the foreigners, and you [started to] find some English [written in train stations]—

Anabel: Well maybe, even if there is no English they will change. There is always a change.

Neri: And lots of Japanese also got married to foreigners. That is the beginning. So there are lots of foreigner housewives.

Anabel: Maybe it’s not because foreigners are coming to Japan and they changed their [Japanese] culture. I think it changed itself. The country itself changed itself. Anna: So you don't think its necessarily from outside—

Anabel: No, they changed themselves

By asserting that Japanese have the ability to change themselves, Anabel

acknowledges the ability of Japanese individuals –in this case Japanese women –to improve their circumstances and act as agents of change in the social realities they find themselves in. This is another example of how women move away from the western/non-western dichotomy and express ambivalence. In doing this the women create space in which one can recognize the exteriority of the Other as one who is different but equally deserving of respect.

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Conclusion

Understandings of Japanese modernity discussed in this chapter have

important implications for the way migrants perceive each other and negotiate these perceptions. For example, notions of superior levels of humanity and dignity that were discussed here are also echoed in terms of class in the perceptions Filipinos have of each other. Filipinas’ perceptions of Japanese modernity are contradictory. On one hand many Filipinas I spoke to contend that Japan is more modern on an

infrastructural and economic level and associate this modernity with a superior level of humanity. On the other hand, some informants highlighted Japan’s lack of

Christian moral system as indicative of Japan’s lack of modernity.

Previous literature has highlighted how the claims made by Filipinas to modernity help them achieve a coeval status with their Japanese contemporaries (Faier 2007; Suzuki 2004). In some cases, Filipinas’ historical connection with

western colonialism has proved to even give them a self-perceived edge of superiority over Japanese individuals (Suzuki 2004: 498). Though, in the eyes of the women speaking, this brings status to Filipinas as a marginalized group in Japanese society, there are negative consequences that adhering to a modern or western standard results in.

Other scholars in the field have yet to touch upon these negative

consequences. Using Levinas’ theory of the ethical relation, I contend that employing an arbitrary standard to measure worth has negative consequences for all parties involved. If one participates in a categorization that disgraces the face of the other, one’s own sense of self is marred at the same time. Eleanor and Aaliyah’s comments regarding Japanese men for example, legitimate the same type of discriminatory attitude that informs images of Filipinas in Japan as licentious women or cheap labor. Though claiming modern identities superior to those of Japanese may seem like it is evening the playing field, they also lower it in a way that deprives all individuals of the dignity they deserve. Levinas argues that one’s own subjectivity can only be found in the face to face encounter –when the self is open to being challenged by the exteriority of the Other. He proves this by implicating the metaphysical desire to find something greater than the self, through, for example, religion art, or science. The ability to define oneself then, is quite limited. It is the Other who defines the self and, more specifically, the relation with the Other that defines oneself. An ethical relation

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is thus instrumental in developing a self that does not suffer from marginalization by the Other.

However, to conclude that individuals should always strive towards an ethical relation would be idealistic and impractical. Moreover, assertions of modernity on the part of marginalized Filipinas in Japan has indeed created more equality in, for

example, marriages (Faier 2007; Faier 2008; Suzuki 2003; Suzuki 2004). This should not be overlooked or written off as meaningless. Though an ethical relation is a worthy goal, my use of it here is only to examine the inequalities intrinsic to notions of modernity and how these affect Filipinas as migrants and with a history of

marginalization.

The next chapter looks at perceptions of Filipinas held by Japanese actors. Perceptions emanating from the host society are key to understanding the

development of perceptions migrants have of their host society and of fellow migrants. By examining these perceptions I provide contextual knowledge for understanding both how Filipinos perceive Japanese society as well as how they perceive each other in the migration context.

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Beyond the Entertainer

Japanese perceptions of Filipinas

In this chapter I explore common perceptions of Filipinos in Japanese society. First I discuss the immigration policy in Japan and how it plays a key role in

legitimizing negative perceptions and treatment of Filipinos in Japanese society. Following the discussion on immigration I present three different images or characters ascribed Filipina migrants in Japanese society. The first image is that of the Filipina entertainer. Though migration for the purposes of entertainment has, for the most part, come to an end it still has a lasting impact on the way Filipinas are perceived.

Industries of care work such as entertainment place Filipina women in subservient and marginalized positions (Parreñas 2008: 37). Currently in Japan there is a push to attract Filipinas as care workers in nursing homes. As Lopez notes, this trend reflects the “wider ramifications of a discourse that recommodifies women perceived to have been entertainers, now shedding one image for another” (2012: 263). Thus, the entertainment image that fixes Filipina identities as ones that are based on affective labor and subservience reinforces the new images that are now being attached to Filipinas. This is as true for the entertainer as it is for the other two images I discuss in this chapter: the religious Filipina and dedicated homemaker and the hard worker.

Japanese perceptions of Filipinas have a bidirectional influence on both how Filipinas perceive Japan and how Filipinas perceive each other in the migration context. Common perceptions of Filipinos in Japan that are shared by many Japanese actors tend to reduce them to static and fixed characters that not only mask diversity but also attenuate agency. To explore these perceptions I use secondary literature as well as interviews with Japanese Born Again Christians. In addition, I supplement this with interviews from Filipinos themselves regarding treatment they have received, perhaps as a result of these perceptions. The three Japanese women that I interviewed were not at all ‘typically’ Japanese in that they are all Born Again Christians.

Nevertheless, as Japanese people they are familiar with mainstream perceptions of Filipinas. Moreover, since they are Christians and have more contact with Filipinas than the average Japanese person would, they also offer a unique perspective.

The Japanese women who’s voices are highlighted in this section are: Sayo, 24 years old, Megumi, 37 years old, and Naoko 44 years old. All three women have

Saints and sinners : perceptions of Filipinas in Christian religious communities in Tokyo