The identity of children of Japanese-Filipino marriages in Oita, Japan

• Main Author: Jabar, Melvin A.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Subjects: Racially mixed children—Japan—Oita; Family, Life Course, and Society; Race and Ethnicity
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/7199
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper examines the identity of children of Japanese-Filipino marriages from the perspectives of children, their parents, and their homeroom teachers. Eight family cases were involved in the study. Thirty-two informants were interviewed face-to-face. Results indicate that the children viewed themselves as being either Japanese or "half." The fathers and the homeroom teachers viewed the children as being Japanese due to their Japanese physical attributes, their proficiency in the Japanese language, and their being born and raised in Japan. The Filipino mothers viewed their children as having a "mixed" cultural background, although it was evident that the children were not adept to the Filipino culture in general or the language in particular. Overall, the children exhibited an identity closely associated with being Japanese. These results suggest that the stereotype that children of intercultural marriages necessarily reflect the cultural values and behaviors of both their parents needs to be reconsidered. Second, the very effectiveness of the terms "intercultural, "cross-cultural", and "bicultural" are problematized.