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The paper primarily aims to (1) highlight the profile, perceptions, and politics of using seikatsu hogo (living subsidy allowance) of Filipino migrant mothers whose everincreasing participation in the labor sector and society has inevitably shaped the public's expectations on family-related and welfare policies of Japan, (2) locate, through their subjective experiences as consumers, the impact of seikatsu hogo on their lives as non-citizens who are currently reconfiguring the Japanese family and society. This study utilizes life vignettes obtained from in-depth interviews with (30) Filipino mothers residing and leading their family in Tokyo. It also illustrates that Filipino migrant mothers are, in the existing dual welfare hierarchies vis-à-vis Japanese and other migrants, occupants of the lowest tier. Beyond dichotomization between Japanese and non-Japanese poor, Filipino mothers are further fragmented in terms of how welfare support reconfigures family life. While some regard it as a status determinant, others claim it as a resource for socioeconomic empowerment. Their politics of welfare use intersects with the politics of family relations in which Filipino mothers value parenthood over marriage. Family relations reinforce family solidarity through migrant mothers' "best mother" and "model adult citizen" aspirations. As Japan grapples with exacerbating demographic problems and economic stagnation, it may have to reconsider facilitating migration and view immigrant women as potential source of labor force. However, in making women, citizens, and non-citizens, more visible in the labor market, welfare policies should vigorously work toward allowing them to balance work and family life by having greater access to childcare.

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This chapter is concerned with Filipina single mothers’ access to diverse forms of welfare assistance in Japan and its impact on their decisions, aspirations and capabilities for migration and settlement. It fundamentally asks: Does access to the welfare system make Filipina migrant mothers settle in or move away from Japan? I argue that welfare arrangements significantly affect Filipina single mothers and the ways in which they raise their children and manage a transnational household. Access to child-rearing, subsidised living and housing benefits in Japan, combined with private welfare arrangements in the Philippines, have enabled them to navigate various life-course events. Analysis of their welfare access across time and space suggests that Filipina immigrants’ migration and settlement aspirations are contingent upon macro-level factors such as the restrictive nature of Japan’s immigration, welfare and labour policies, the ambivalent attitudes of Japanese society towards immigrants and individual factors such as legal status, residency and social networks that influence their socio-economic roles and family-related activities in Japan and the Philippines. Attaining permanent residency in Japan is a utilitarian choice which gives them flexible options for the future. Their aspirations to eventually either return to the Philippines or to settle in Japan are influenced less by the ‘adequate’ social protection available in Japan than by the age of their children, their investments and their dreams of a desirable retirement.

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