The following report is a brief explanation of my fieldwork conducted in the Quezon City, Philippines from the period of February 24 to March 25. This fieldwork consisted first and foremost of interviews conducted in and around my place of residence as well as before and after Catholic Masses conducted in churches within metro Manila. From these interviews, as well as my observations of Catholicism in the Philippines, the following assessments have been drawn linking the Catholic identity of the Filipino to current multicultural problems the Catholic Church in Japan is currently facing. From these interviews and assessments I have concluded that the average Filipino is unaware of the specificity of their Catholic faith and how it defines them and how others perceive it. Below, I will expound on how I reached this conclusion through my fieldwork in four sections. First, I will explain in detail what I achieved during my fieldwork giving dates and places I visited. Second, I will describe certain key publications I collected and contacts I made while in the Philippines. Third, I will explain some key ideas that have helped me reach the above conclusion. Lastly, I will critique my fieldwork experience by providing a critical analysis of key points I neglected in my research and areas that would behoove me to further explore.

I. Detailed Description of Fieldwork
 Below is a detailed description of the locations included in my fieldwork as well as some interviews that I conducted during my stay in Quezon City.
2009.2.25              Attended “Ash Wednesday Mass” at San Antonio de Padua Church
                            Conducted an interview with a 35 year old, Filipino, male doctor.
2.26~28                Conducted a preliminary search of Quezon City
3.1                        Visited San Petro Bauista Catholic Church
              Conducted an interview with a 19-year-old, Filipina helper.
3.2~3.7                               Visited Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of the Philippines, used their library and purchased articles in their bookstores.
3.8                        Visited Bakulan Church of the Black Nazarene.
              Interviewed a two 40-year-old male teacher.
3.11~3.14              Met Professors Veliah and Terada on their trip to the Philippines.
3.15                      Went to San Pedro Bauista Church
              Interviewed 50-year-old Filipino mother.
3.16-3.18                             Visited the Scalabrini Migration Center, Claretian Press, and the National Bookstore.
3.19                      Interviewed 34-year-old Filipino father.
3.20-3.21               Interviewed 30-year-old and 35-year-old Filipina teachers
3.23-34                 Visited a Filipino household and conducted interviews

II. Research development
                       As with any research, access to leading materials is a necessity. Thanks to the proximity of leading universities and research centers to my place of residence I was able to gather information vital to the progress of my research. Some of the titles of the materials most helpful to me are the following. First, a publication titled, Religion on the Move provides an excellent description of Migrant Theology and how Catholic migrants are changing the religious landscape in Japan. Next, the title, For All the Peoples of Asia: Federation of Asian Bishop’s Conferences, Documents from 2002-2006 is a publication that assesses theological and sociological issues facing the Catholic Churches in Asia. Lastly, the journal Asian and Pacific Migration Journal has a special issue on migration and settlement in Japan that has proved useful in my research of second-generation immigrants in Japan. All these titles are extremely difficult to find in Japan.
              In addition to the above research materials I also had the opportunity to meet many knew contacts useful not only to my current field of research, but also toward future involvement with Philippine-Japanese relations. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel with Professors Veliah and Terada from Area Studies. They introduced me to leading experts at Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines. These meetings reinforced my belief that the importance of hard research as articles and journals must be complimented by soft research as keeping a strong relationship with leading experts in my field.
             
III. An Examination of Society and the Catholic Church in the Philippines
           The insights I gained during fieldwork in the Philippines can be summarized into two points. These include how the relationship between the Catholic Church in the Philippines and the family is centered on ideas of the family, and secondly the difference between holding membership in a majority church or minority church.
              First, following my research conducted in Japan of Filipino migrants, I went to the Philippines under the assumption that the Catholic identity of the Filipino was centered on the family. What I found during my fieldwork was how the structures of the Catholic Church, for better or for worse, contributed to the family centered identity of the Filipino. The first place I observed this relationship was with the Church structures. I was awed by the size of these Catholic centers of worship. At the Ash Wednesday mass I attended there were close to 5000 parishioners. This is almost one-tenth the size of the entire Japanese-Catholic population in one mass! What surprised me more was how one priest conducted this entire mass. Accordingly parishioner/priest ratio in the Philippines is one of the highest in all of Asia number some 30,000 parishioners to one priest. This ratio not only makes personal communication between parishioners and the priest impossible, it also contributes to large worship communities which number in the hundreds, if not thousands. These concert size groups contribute to Filipino parishioners having a weak sense of association with a particular priest, community, or building.
              In order to substitute this weak sense of association, many Filipinos have a strong connection with their family and its worship practices. Some family practices that reflect this are strong devotions to Mary—a belief usually practiced by reciting the rosary at home or outside the church. On a series of occasions, many Filipinos mentioned how there was nothing wrong with praying at home and not attending mass. These comments show once again how the Filipino has a weak sense of a particular worship community outside that of their immediate family.
              This practice of changing churches while carried out in a country that is 80% Catholic might seem mundane. However, this loose association with a specific church causes problems when related to the lives of migrants within the Catholic Church of Japan. While in Japan, few Filipinos make the effort to construct community bonds by taking leadership positions to build communication across cultural and economic difference. Such lack of association with a particular church, or with those from different backgrounds complicates intercultural communication between Japanese, Filipinos and other ethnicities. In conclusion, the lack of interest toward community building complicates the need of the present day Catholic Church in Japan to construct a diverse, multicultural Catholic community. 

               The weak connection of Filipinos to community outside the family is endemic of their faith grown in a predominately Catholic country. It is this point that differs from the experiences of most Japanese Catholics. In a country where Catholicism consists of 80% of the populous, religious diversity in the Philippines might amount to being friends with a Protestant Christian. Few Filipinos have had to wrestle with explaining their Christian beliefs to Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists. In comparison, those from countries where Christianity is a minority, like Japan, are constantly reminded of how their beliefs differ from the majority by being forced to and negotiate their beliefs with the dominate majority. This difference is reflected in an interview of a Japanese Christian conducted by Charles McJilton.
“…Japanese Christians must clarify what Christian religion means to them, while western Christians do not necessarily need to do this, because their religion is a part of the culture. In a sense, if Japanese Christians do not clarify their faith, they will not become Christian. The person must search for his/her faith. Therefore, in a non-Christian world one’s identity as a Christian becomes clearer. Whereas in the West a church member may be considered to be enrolled, even if they do not attend the church

In this quote, we can easily replace the work “West” for “Philippines”. This difference between minority and majority affects how parishioners conduct themselves throughout their daily lives.
              Unlike in the Philippines where one’s Catholic faith is seldom associated with choice, religious choice is a daily decision in a culture that conflicts with Christian beliefs. While Filipinos might conceive Japanese as being religiously passive, Japanese consider Filipinos as loud, abrasive, and religiously insensitive. This difference between Japanese and Filipino Catholic identity is a leading factor that complicates intercultural understanding even between those who share the same faith.

IV. Points of Reflection for Further Research
              The above section has laid out in two parts some insights gained during my month-long fieldwork in the Philippines. In this section I will raise some ideas for further research, as well as areas that need improvement.
              For starters, the above fieldwork was conducted primarily in Tagalog and English. I used the former language throughout my everyday life in the Philippines, but had to resort to the latter when conducting interviews. Conducting an interview in the foreign language of the interviewee not only limits the response of the interviewee, but also the pool of potential individuals that can be interviewed. As a result, it became painfully obvious that a stronger command of Tagalog was necessary.
              Further complications involved my unfamiliarity with Manila and Quezon City. For the first week or so, getting around the city by public transportation caused me extreme discomfort and I frequently found myself lost. In retrospect, now that I am more familiar with the culture and the terrain, further trips to Manila would be less cumbersome, and my research could be conducted in much more of a timely manner.
              Finally, interviews with a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds taught me that no matter how diverse of a pool of interviews I conduct, a comparison between life and the Catholic identity of those in the city compared with those in the country is essential. Although a large percentage of Filipino immigrants in Japan come from Manila, limiting myself to this small, heavily populated area does not match the diverse makeup of immigrants from both the city and the country living in Japan

Conclusion

              The above four sections have explained briefly the content of my fieldwork in the Philippines, the important insights I gained, and some points of reflection. The opportunity to compare the experiences of Filipinos and their Catholic identity while living in the Philippines has been useful to analyze the conduct and beliefs of Filipino immigrant mothers living in Japan and how their lives have been heavily influenced by the situation of the Catholic Church in their country of birth.