Calderon resumes classes as parents prep for deportation

SAITAMA (Kyodo) A Filipino girl whose parents face deportation Monday started her second year at a local junior high school Wednesday prior to her parents' departure for the Philippines.

Allowed to stay: Filipino Noriko Calderon heads for school Wednesday morning. KYODO PHOTO

In March, the government granted Noriko Calderon, 13, special permission to stay for a year. Her parents had to decide whether to leave her behind in Japan, where the girl has lived her entire life, or be deported together.

"I would like to make efforts in both study and club activities," said Calderon, who has joined a music club at the school run by the city of Warabi, in the hope of eventually becoming a dance instructor.

Her parents saw her off to school in the morning.

Her father, Arlan, 36, said it was good his daughter can continue to study in Japan.

The couple decided to entrust their daughter to the care of her mother Sarah's younger sister, who lives in Tokyo, their lawyer said.

Arlan Calderon came to Japan in May 1993, a year after his wife. Both entered using other people's passports and stayed undetected in Japan for years.