Following the economic boom in the 1990s, Japan opened its doors to foreign workers, offering opportunities that drew thousands of Filipinos seeking a better life.

However, this influx of foreign labor led to unforeseen social problems, including a rise in crime, which caught the attention of authorities in cities like Osaka.

Our story today revisits one of the most sensational cases from that era: the tragedy involving Miguel Puyat, a Filipino OFW, whose desperate circumstances and intense jealousy led to homicide.

The Struggle for Survival in Japan

Miguel Puyat, born in Manila in the 1960s, arrived in Japan in 1986, seeking opportunities that exceeded his working-class upbringing.

Like many OFWs, his life was initially marked by struggle. He worked demanding, low-paying jobs in construction and painting, often having to move quickly when his Filipino coworkers were apprehended for possessing illegal status.

Eventually, his luck seemed to turn when he secured stable work as a painter, earning 1,500 Yen a day—a wage comparable to Japanese workers at the time.

His improved income allowed him to frequent omise (snack bars), where he met Julie, a Filipina waitress. Though Julie rejected his advances, Miguel met her sister, Joan (whose real name was Marico), who was also working as a hostess at the bar.

Joan, a single mother of two children in the Philippines, had accepted the hostess job because it provided better income. Her work involved being a dutojo—offering alcohol and, often, providing sexual services for extra pay—a necessity to support her family back home.

Miguel and Joan quickly became romantically involved and moved in together. Their relationship, however, was clouded by their shared secret: both were illegally residing in Japan with expired visas. This constant risk of deportation dictated their every move.

Joan continued her work at the bar, cultivating relationships with Japanese customers to maintain her income. She explained to Miguel that her job was a “strategy” to ensure their continued financial survival.

The Proposal: Visa for Love

One of Joan’s regular customers was Mr. Ueda (33), an English-speaking employee at a large IT firm. Ueda became infatuated with Joan, often inviting her to Kyoto for sightseeing.

Unbeknownst to Miguel, the relationship had intensified. Ueda proposed marriage to Joan.

Joan, viewing the proposal through a pragmatic lens, accepted. Marriage to a Japanese national like Ueda offered the stability she desperately needed: legal residency, a visa, and financial security that would allow her to return to the Philippines to see her children and then return to Japan without fear.

Joan told Miguel about the proposal, but minimized the details of her connection with Ueda. She explained that she intended to marry Ueda solely for the visa and economic stability. She promised Miguel that she would only clean, cook, and serve Ueda, but she would never be intimate with him because her true love belonged to Miguel.

Surprisingly, Miguel agreed to the unusual arrangement. His lawyers later claimed that Miguel’s love and trust for Joan were absolute, and he believed Ueda was merely desperate for female companionship.

However, the prosecutor revealed the painful truth. The long-distance economic arrangement and Miguel’s deep insecurities proved corrosive.

Joan confessed that she and Ueda had been intimate multiple times. She was receiving substantial payments—sometimes 100,000 Yen per session—from Ueda, and another customer, Matsuda, even gave her 500,000 Yen.

In fact, she and Ueda celebrated his birthday at a church, where he proposed, making her realize that while she loved Miguel, her rational choice was Ueda’s financial security.

The Fatal Confrontation

Consumed by jealousy and feelings of inadequacy, Miguel’s anger grew. He believed Joan was choosing Ueda’s money and stable life over his love and unstable circumstances.

The prosecutor revealed that the final trigger was not the marriage proposal, but the discovery of Joan’s betrayal—the fact that she had been repeatedly intimate with Ueda despite her promise.

On the morning of July 12, 1993, Miguel rode his bicycle to Ueda’s apartment. He knocked and introduced himself as Joan’s boyfriend.

The two men spoke calmly until Miguel learned that Ueda and Joan had been physically intimate numerous times. In a blinding fit of rage, Miguel fatally wounded Ueda in the chest.

The trial lasted over two years, complicated by the foreign workers’ illegal status and the emotional complexity of the motives.

The judge sided with the prosecution, rejecting Miguel’s claim that he was defending Joan from assault or that he acted in self-defense.

In the end, Miguel Puyat was convicted of homicide and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. His appeals to the Supreme Court were denied.

Upon serving his time, Miguel was immediately deported back to the Philippines. Joan, who had achieved her visa and financial stability through the economic arrangement with Ueda, was also deported, as the terms of her marriage were not fully legalized before the crime.

The tragic case remains a stark example of how desperation for economic stability and legal status can warp human relationships into dangerous, zero-sum arrangements, where one man’s need for a visa tragically cost another man his life.