By Jaspearl Tan

An elderly Nikkei-jin finally acquired his Japanese citizenship last week, the Japanese Embassy said Tuesday.

In a statement, the Japanese Embassy said that 82-year-old Samuel Akahiji received his papers last week after undergoing the “statelessness recognition” process with the support of people in Japan and the Philippines.

''Delighted to hear that Mr Samuel Akahiji, who has long been stateless in the Philippines, successfully acquired Japanese nationality last week after visiting Okinawa last December to look for his relatives,'' said Ambassador of Japan in the Philippines Endo Kazuya in his account on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.

''Any Nikkei-jin who wish to acquire Japanese nationality may contact the Embassy,'' said the ambassador

According to the Philippine Nikkei-jin Legal Support Centre Inc. (PNLSC), he acquired his Japanese citizenship on November 15.

People from Okinawa who identified themselves as his relatives came to visit him in the Philippines a day before he got his citizenship.

Based on the itinerary they sent, Akahiji left for Japan from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on December 13, 2024, boarding Philippine Airlines flight PR 426 at 10 am.

As a child, Akahiji learned from his mother that his father, Kametarou Akahiji, was Japanese.

“When he was around four to five years old, he heard from his mother that his father is Japanese,” the PNLSC told The Daily Manila Shimbun in a text message.

In a phone interview with The Daily Manila Shimbun, Japanese Embassy Press Officer Rintaro Shigeyoshi said: “His (Akahiji) relatives assisted him to correct the information that is necessary to acquire his Japanese nationality.”

In a previous interview with PNLSC representative Norihiro Inomata, he said there are 0 second-generation Japanese descendants whose applications for nationality re-registration are being processed by family courts.

He added that nearly 50 others are preparing or considering applications, but with an average age of 84, the population is aging rapidly.

He said many cases face difficulties due to a lack of documentation proving their parents' marriage or other required evidence which means a majority of second-generation descendants remain at risk of statelessness. DMS