People call me Rica. Then, I introduce myself as Rica. This (nick)name is quite useful here in the Philippines because my real (Japanese) name sounds new to my friends. I thought it is important people remember my (nick) name so I accepted that name.
But there are some more reasons. My friends and colleagues often teased me that my Japanese name sounds male's name. In Japan, name such as Mariko, Noriko, Aiko and Sachiko...names ending with "ko" is recognized as girl's one. But here, Marco, Mario..these names ending with "co" are for male.
Here-- I am living in the Philippines. But not in Manila. about 400 km away from Manila, called Bicol region which has beautiful mt. Mayon, tasty food with coconut milk (most of my favorite food is with coconut milk) and beautiful people. But this region is often hit by typhoon. My residential place is surrounded by rice fields, which is often flooded once rain falls for consecutive days. Our place is one of the lowest places among neighboring areas. Is it terrible? If I am farmer, I will say yes because flood water damaged crops. But I observed our neighbor children enjoying "free temporary swimming pool" after typhoon. And I enjoyed bike in the flood, which is my first experience in my life.
People here often think I am Korean because quite a bit of Korean national come to the Philippines to learn English. That is a trend for past few years. In fact, there are many language institutes which were built by Korean business persons. In addition to that, East Asian look alike. So, I am not wondering why people sometime greet me by saying annyong (안녕) or something sounds like Chinese language but it was not and I may not correct them unless they personally approach me.
Today, vendor in the local market also asked me the same question whether I am Korean or not. There was no reason to tell a lie. I corrected her Japanese. Then, next question is whether I am living alone or not.
The reason to live here is to stay with my Filipino husband. People sometimes still wonder what makes me stay here longer term? Simply marriage, I said. (If my husband was with me, he might have said "love". I do not use that big word as a Japanese even though essentially reason is something like that.)
I also know the reason why people are very curious of our relationship because our case is bit different from cases which people often observed. The couple between Japanese and Filipino, most of cases are that Japanese husband and Filipino wife. In fact, the statistic of Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry showed that the case Japanese husband and Filipino wife indicated 5 755 whereas another is 156 couples.
Of course, this figure does not simply show the reality because total number of international marriage of Japanese national has gap between men and women. According to the statistic, Japanese male's total number of international marriage is higher than female one. But still we can see certain tendency of marriage pattern between Japanese and Filipino. What I want to say that the local rarely see Japanese women to stay here with Filipino men (I guess).
I am going to write how international marriage can work or sometime not in the case of Japanese lady married to Filipino man. We love each others but it does not mean that we accept and feel comfortable to all of our differences. It surely takes time to reach the certain level of feeling accepting and being accepted..comfortable.
Aside from spotting international marriage life, I want to share the life experience here via writing and pictures.
But there are some more reasons. My friends and colleagues often teased me that my Japanese name sounds male's name. In Japan, name such as Mariko, Noriko, Aiko and Sachiko...names ending with "ko" is recognized as girl's one. But here, Marco, Mario..these names ending with "co" are for male.
Here-- I am living in the Philippines. But not in Manila. about 400 km away from Manila, called Bicol region which has beautiful mt. Mayon, tasty food with coconut milk (most of my favorite food is with coconut milk) and beautiful people. But this region is often hit by typhoon. My residential place is surrounded by rice fields, which is often flooded once rain falls for consecutive days. Our place is one of the lowest places among neighboring areas. Is it terrible? If I am farmer, I will say yes because flood water damaged crops. But I observed our neighbor children enjoying "free temporary swimming pool" after typhoon. And I enjoyed bike in the flood, which is my first experience in my life. People here often think I am Korean because quite a bit of Korean national come to the Philippines to learn English. That is a trend for past few years. In fact, there are many language institutes which were built by Korean business persons. In addition to that, East Asian look alike. So, I am not wondering why people sometime greet me by saying annyong (안녕) or something sounds like Chinese language but it was not and I may not correct them unless they personally approach me.
Today, vendor in the local market also asked me the same question whether I am Korean or not. There was no reason to tell a lie. I corrected her Japanese. Then, next question is whether I am living alone or not.
The reason to live here is to stay with my Filipino husband. People sometimes still wonder what makes me stay here longer term? Simply marriage, I said. (If my husband was with me, he might have said "love". I do not use that big word as a Japanese even though essentially reason is something like that.)
I also know the reason why people are very curious of our relationship because our case is bit different from cases which people often observed. The couple between Japanese and Filipino, most of cases are that Japanese husband and Filipino wife. In fact, the statistic of Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry showed that the case Japanese husband and Filipino wife indicated 5 755 whereas another is 156 couples.
Of course, this figure does not simply show the reality because total number of international marriage of Japanese national has gap between men and women. According to the statistic, Japanese male's total number of international marriage is higher than female one. But still we can see certain tendency of marriage pattern between Japanese and Filipino. What I want to say that the local rarely see Japanese women to stay here with Filipino men (I guess).
I am going to write how international marriage can work or sometime not in the case of Japanese lady married to Filipino man. We love each others but it does not mean that we accept and feel comfortable to all of our differences. It surely takes time to reach the certain level of feeling accepting and being accepted..comfortable.
Aside from spotting international marriage life, I want to share the life experience here via writing and pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment