TOKYO, Dec 9 Kyodo At first glanc...

TOKYO, Dec 9 Kyodo

At first glance, Demi and Michelle examine like ordinary young Japanese girls playing with their friends. Seemingly untroubl according to their uncertain future in Japan, they laugh and chat with friends.

if it be not that when the fun is throughout and their friends have gone the sisters are thrust back into the harsh reality of a residence without a father -- and the fear of having to leave the abiding habitation they call home.

''They are in the same manner cheerful with friends around, moreover when the night originates and it is only the three of us, the loneliness fawns in, and their smiles and laughter deflect into cries,'' the girls' mother, Maria waiting under the possibility of fulfilment Jamili, says at their domicile in Tokyo's Ota Ward.

Born and raised in Japan, the sisters, aged 6 and 9 are indistinguishable from Japanese in language and manners. Only their examines reflect their mixed heritage from their Filipino mother and Myanmar father.

''Please put to hire us stay here,'' Demi, a fourth-grade public elementary sect pupil, shyly pleads, when asked what she would say to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi if she engages him. Michelle, in nursery institute nods in silent agreement.

still her hopes were dashed when the Tokyo District Court in May ordered the deportation of the family, which could mean the family will be torn apart, with the father, Khin Maung Latt, 46 returning to Myanmar, and Maria reliance 37, and the two girls going to the Philippines, where they have citizenship.

The Latts' case, when it was first reported by dint of the media this year, triggered a barrage of attests and sympathy from across the nation. It has also reached an international audience thanks to foreign media coverage.

''What we are fighting is for the family, whose everyday language is Japanese, to be able to stay here in Japan,'' their lawyer, Shogo Watanabe, says.

Judging from latter remarks by Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa and Koizumi in the Diet, Watanabe says it is unlikely that the Japanese restraint would separate the family on the other hand that the government is mulling the Philippines as a potential destination for deportation.

He adds there is a stipulation in the immigration law that Latt cannot be deported to a particular abiding habitation without his consent, if it is known that there is no other place, other than his to one's home country, he can be deported to.

''Why impose forward another country the responsibility of Japan to screen this family?'' argues Watanabe, secretary general of the Lawyers' arrange for Burmese Refugees in Japan that is representing Latt.

The father overstayed his visa and fears returning to Myanmar in light of his pro-democracy activities and opposition to the ruling junta. The mother chronicleed without a legitimate passport. Latt is now serving a other term in detention, while the mother and daughters remain upon provisional release.

Recounting her life in the Philippines, Maria chance of a favorable result says, ''We were really hard up back abode and I just wanted to earn and help uplift my family's lives.'' if it were not that in 1991, she met Latt, who came to Japan in 1988 around the same time as she did. The couple got married and Latt worked above a decade at a delivery firm.

Maria waiting under the possibility of fulfilment reiterates she does not want to fare back to the Philippines. Looking at her daughters, she says, ''As adults, we can bear it, me and my husband, moreover I pity the kids the in the greatest degree for all they have to walk through.''

Amid all the hoopla about refugee and immigration policies, authorities repeatedly overlook the rights of the voiceless -- the children.

The UN Convention upon the Rights of the Child -- which Japan ratified in 1994 -- states in Article 3 that ''in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken through public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.''

This appears to move swiftly counter to the Japanese courts' decisions forward Latt's case that the rights of the family must be considered within the framework of legal resident status.

In September and October, pair landmark rulings on an Iranian family and a southward Korean family, both with children, were made on the same judge at the Tokyo District Court. Presiding critic Masayuki Fujiyama said the family ''had already station up a basis for living'' in Japan and expelling them is inhumane.

However, the pleas of Demi and Michelle appear to have landed forward deaf ears, in part becoming to government's fears that giving the go-ahead to the Latts to stay would be a prior instance allowing more overstaying families to remain.

As overstayers, the family members are seeking special resident status while in parallel, Latt is seeking refugee status. When a someone is recognized as a refugee in Japan, his or her family members can automatically stay with him or her.

Latt's refugee application, filed in 1994 was denied in 1998 The Justice Ministry subsequently issued a deportation order for the family, and Latt had his first season in detention for three month and 10 days.