LINAPACAN, Philippines—Two sisters in their 80s of Japanese descent in the Philippines who had been stateless before being granted citizenship from Japan last year met with their Japanese relatives for the first time Sunday.
The meeting between Esperanza Morine Cabrillos, 87, and Lydia Morine Galalan, 85, and their relatives from their Japanese father’s side came as this year marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and eight months after they were recognized as Japanese nationals.
The Naha Family Court in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture allowed the siblings in September to create a Japanese family registry after it confirmed that their father was a Japanese…