Japayukis: Are they heroes, or hoes?

Majority of Filipinos think that being a Japayuki is synonymous to being a whore. In universities, there are many students who are half-Japanese and half-Filipinos, whose mothers were Japayukis who worked in Japan. Because of this scenario, the true nature of a Japayuki’s work is left unexplained. The writer would try her best to explain what really goes on in the Land of the Rising Sun.
According to Fuwa (1999), the meaning of the term “japayuki-san” literally means “Miss Go-to-Japan”, or someone who goes to Japan. There is nothing in the term that suggests women who go to Japan will immediately work as prostitutes. In fact, Filipina Migrant Workers (FMW) leave the Philippines labeled as Overseas Performing Artists (OPA), or, in common terms, dancers, singers, entertainers, cultural dancers, and the likes. They leave their homeland in search for a greener pasture for those they’ve left behind; usually families with meager income. These women bravely took the role of a breadwinner in order to provide a better life for those that they love.
With their OPA visas, these women are actually geishas reincarnated; they mingle with customers, serve drinks, and entertain them in the form of singing, dancing, and conversing. Successful FMWs make it plain that they do not sell their skin in exchange for yen. They will return to the country laden with money; sometimes enough to start their own livelihood. Their neighbors and relatives will suck up to them for the pasalubongs the FMWs graciously distribute, but despite the generosity they are still the targets of intrigues and gossips.
According to Kamusta Ka Foundation, the negative connotation of the word “japayuki” is only emphasized by the Filipinos. In truth, the FMWs are just “entertainers” who enter Japan in order to work a decent job. Anderson (2004) agrees by writing that the job the Filipinas were asked to do was simply to be a hostess, or companions and conversationalists with their clients. Their job was to entertain in the form of “inconsequential talk, serving drinks and offering companionship and not sex.”
True, sometimes there are Filipinas who would come home in the Philippines with her stomach bulging with a Japanese man’s child. Some would say that these Filipinas only became pregnant in order to get Japanese citizenship once their boyfriends marry them. Yet there are stories of real love found between a Japayuki and her customer. Though they are prohibited from talking to each other outside of the workplace, relationships would be forged, and the love would run its course.
According to Fuwa and Anderson (2004), there were eight Filipinas who returned home with good money, enough to build their own businesses and provide for their families. Some of these women married Japanese men, and an hour into their company would prove that the relationship is based on love.
Yet despite these positive pictures, Filipinos would still show off their chauvinism, and say that Filipinas should not go to Japan to serve Japanese men at all. But given the financial stability in this country, even Filipinos would go abroad to work for their families.
Now the writer has provided a clearer picture of what really happens in Japan. She would only leave this to the readers: when men leave the country to provide for their families, they return home as heroes. Why is it that when women leave and do the same sacrifice, they are labeled as whores?