Japan's wartime children in Philippines search for identity

AFTER a lifetime of searching, Jose Villafuerte this month finally found the Japanese father he lost during the dark years of World War II in the occupied Philippines.

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The 82-year-old, a former gravedigger, was still in the womb of his Filipina mother, Benita Abril, when her partner, imperial army officer Gin-jiro Takei, returned to Japan during its brutal occupation of the archipelago from 1942-45.

His quest ended this month, days before the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, after an advocacy group found Takei’s tomb in Japan, where he had raised a family following the war.

A living half-brother and half-sister were also found, with DNA swabs sealing the family ties.

“I'm excited. My mother had spent years trying to make this happen,’ Vil-lafuerte, a slightly built father of eight, said at his home in San Pablo city, south of Manila, ahead of his first visit to Japan.

Escorted by his son, he lit a candle and prayed before his father’s tombstone in the city of Takatsuki, between Kyoto and Osaka, on August 7.

He met his half-brother Hiroyuki Takei for the first time a day earlier and now expects to get a Japanese passport, as well as visas for his children and grandchildren.