Here, there, and somewhere else

Day 3: I am here

Monday, August 31, 2009

Today, carrying a handbag full of goodies from Bicol (4 packs of Laing, one lunch box-full grated Santol, half a bottle of Lihia), a backpack with my cameras and a tripod, I got on a train from Shinagawa to the small town in Kanagawa where I was to shoot a new documentary on Filipinos in Japan.

I met Manoy G, his Filipino wife and his wife's young daughter at the station. After a brief introduction, Manoy G and I walked to town's only Catholic Church while his wife and child went back home to carry the goodies Manoy G requested as pasalubong from the our hometown in the Philippines.

It was a lovely short walk from the station to the Church. I remembered that I adored it so much before, when I would visit Manoy G from Tokyo during the holidays. The end of the main road of the town actually leads to the Kanagawa sea, and this road is spacious and beautiful, with white pebbles embedded on the cement. Pretty houses, shops and potted plants line this main road and one always find it pleasant to stroll along the road. I fell in love with this town the first day I came here. The kababayans were friendly and generous with whatever they can share, even their life stories. The town felt like home as usual today.

In the morning, I walked the same road again with much anticipation. I was here to shoot a film a day before Manoy G, as he puts it, "gets sentenced." Tomorrow, I will accompany him to what is probably one of the biggest events in his life in the last two decades: the immigration office will decide whether or not he can be allowed to stay in Japan.

I wish Manoy G all the best.

Labels: japan, migration studies, Phil-Jap relations, video clips

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