MANILA (Kyodo) The long wait is over for Primorosa Hamada, a 63-year-old Japanese-Filipino teacher from the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga.

For 63 years, the Philippine government classified her as a "stateless national."

But last month, the Tokyo family court granted her Japanese citizenship, along with seven other sons and daughters of Japanese men who lived, worked or fought in the Philippines before and during World War II, according to a Japanese nonprofit organization.