“Naglalaro ang Niño na yan,” the Tokyo-based Filipino visual artist Dennis Sun playfully quipped as I gazed at his painting called “The Child Prince” (mixed media acrylic) depicting a Santo Niño surrounded by colorful toys. Apparently, the romantic pursuit of child play emerges as a running theme in Sun’s paintings (works done between the years 1996 to 2023) at his first ever solo exhibit in the Philippines. Sun’s homecoming exhibit was sponsored by the Kuliat Foundation, Inc. at the Vicente Alvarez Dizon Gallery of the Museo ning Angeles in his beloved hometown Angeles City, Pampanga, which ran from February 16 to 18, 2024. 

The Santo Niño is only one among the many figures of light depicted in Sun’s paintings: an angel garbed in white surrounded by flowers growing in clouds under a star-studded red canopy is shown in “An Angel with a Heart” (mixed media acrylic), an angel in a playful black hat surrounded by blooming flowers is depicted in “An Angel in Paradise” (mixed media acrylic), and another angel with floral clouds and rainbows hanging over its head appeared in “Celestial Blooms” (mixed media acrylic).

The cheery lightfulness of child’s play is felt and seen in Dennis Sun’s portrayals of childhood via teddy bears riding a pail floating on water with plastic ducks and paper boats in “Friends at Strange Places” (acrylic on canvas), dragonflies hovering above a rain puddle with paper boats and flowers sticking on the surface in “Calm After a Storm” (acrylic on canvas), paper airplanes flying around a city skyline littered with all sorts of stuff toys in “Evening Fun” (acrylic on canvas), and multi-colored stuff toys and steam boats playing with a party hat-wearing crescent moon in “Moonlight Celebration of Friends” (acrylic on canvas).

The theme of flight is also present, what with hot air balloons drifting away in “A Flower Blooms” (mixed media on canvas), counter-balanced by the theme of buoyancy manifested by a floating mermaid surrounded by lotus flowers and koi fishes on aquamarine water in “Little Mermaid: A Breath of Air” (acrylic on canvas).

The artist’s own belief system manifests in references to Biblical figures, like the Santo Niño, and allusions to Biblical stories, such as The Great Flood and the Noah’s ark and the appearance of a rainbow as a beacon of hope after the Great Deluge. In this cataclysmic time brought about by viral outbreaks, wars, economic crises and climate change, Sun’s sunny images brings a lightness of spirit with the message of hope it conveys. The artist, like a child, shares his message of hope with unadulterated faith that good times will come despite the pervading darkness. 

Hope springs eternally in Sun’s rainbow paintings. His obvious tour de force, “Over the Rainbow”, shows an ark built on land with no high waters in sight, seemingly signifying an act of faith that even things that would go wrong is part of the divine plan and a rainbow manifesting is part of divine promise not to annihilate creation no matter how bad they turn out to be.

However, inasmuch as Sun foregrounds the theme of light (ness) in his work, this doesn’t mean he totally dispelled the existence of darkness. He hinted at it as darkness hugged the city in “A Light in the Dark” (mixed media acrylic) and the moon and stars appeared in the night sky in “Anywhere, Somewhere, Nowhere” (mixed media acrylic).  

The artist himself discloses in his website (www.dennissun.com) that in his art, he puts together “unusually cute creatures and objects that have been consolidated and converged together”, which are products of his confrontations with his own “inner child” and the “divine within”.

In the end, Dennis Sun evocatively brings home with his sunny images that art itself is child’s play. The romantic pursuit of play captured in Dennis Sun’s sunny paintings refreshes any exhibit viewer with a cheery feeling reminding them of the child within.

Dennis Sun is a Tokyo-based freelance Filipino graphic designer and is the Editor in Chief and Creative Director of Jeepney Press, a Filipino migrant newspaper in Japan. He received his art training from the Chevalier School and the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. He is a recipient of the SM Pinoy Global Award and the Most Outstanding Kapampangan Award for Culture.  

Aside from the SRA, JP had served two other Philippine government agencies – as Planning Officer I of the Council for the Welfare of Children from 2006 to 2007 and as Legislative Staff Officer IV of the Office of Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago of the Philippine Senate from 2004 to 2005.

At the SRA, JP rose from the bureaucratic ranks from being Legal Assistant II in 2007 to Sugar Production Regulation Officer II (from 2008 to 2011) to Sugar Production Regulation Officer III (from 2011 to 2018) up to his current rank as Senior Sugar Production Regulation Officer. Seeing his potential for the organization, he was endorsed by his SRA boss through the Department of Agriculture to pursue the Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship Project in 2009. This Japanese government scholarship enabled JP to pursue and complete a Master’s Degree in International Business and Development Studies last September 2011 in Sophia University, a leading liberal arts institution in Japan. Quoting Precy Madrid in Personnel Matters, an SRA newsletter, “With this accomplishment, JP further solidified his post as one of SRA’s future goldmines.” 

Before his Japan stint, JP obtained his first master’s degree, Master of Public Administration, from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City in 2008. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from AMA Computer University in 2003, where he graduated with Latin honors (cum laude) as Class Valedictorian and garnered the Best Thesis award. He was also named as one of the Most Outstanding Psychology Students of the Philippines by the Psychological Association of the Philippines in 2002. JP is currently pursuing a Doctor of Public Administration degree at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

As a return migrant, JP made use of his human capital acquisitions and social capital networks from Japan to continue doing research and development work. After returning to the Philippines, he continued to do research collaboration with his Sophia University professor and published an article titled “Brightening Philippine Airlines (PAL): Strategizing for the Future of Asia’s Pioneer and Sunniest Air Transporter” in the book Case Studies in Asian Management published by the World Scientific Printers in 2014. Another collaboration with the same professor led to the publication of his article titled “Gets You Going: Lipovitan Needs More than Energy Booster in the Japanese and Global Market” in the book Business Development, Merger and Crisis Management of International Firms in Japan (Featuring Case Studies from Fortune 500 Companies) published by the World Scientific Printers in 2017. Since then, JP has also done research and publications on undernutrition, sugarcane farming, urban farming and biofuels production.

Moreover, JP’s achievements reached a higher level as he was given a global platform to contribute his skills with his participation in the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration in 2017, where he was the lone presenter and was part of the Philippine delegation. He was also a part of the Board Governance Training Workshop of the Wikimedia United Kingdom in 2014. In addition, he joined the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations 2012 Asia Conference in Taipei, Taiwan.

During his long travels by bus to Cagayan, JP reckons one important Japanese cultural trait he observed while studying in Japan: resilience. Considering the challenges faced by the country and the world today, JP is a changemaker who opted to stay in his homeland and work for change in a resilient manner.

Last January 3, 2024, Filipino Monbusho scholars held a shinenkai at Nono’s Restaurant at the UP Town Center. It was a rare occasion that brought together Filipino scholar returnees from Japan to celebrate the New Year and catch up with one another. Although thirteen Filipino members are already permanent returnees to the Philippines, one was a balikbayan from Japan, Mr. Julius Santillan of Tsukuba University, who was spending his holidays with his family in Manila, Philippines. 

In attendance at the get-together were the following Filipino Monbusho scholar returnees:

1. Dr. Ferdinand B. Pitagan (International Christian University) of the University of the Philippines College of Education and Director IV, ICTS, Department of Education

2. Dr. Levi Elipane (Tokyo Gakugei University), newly appointed Deputy Dean of the College of Advanced Studies of the Philippine Normal University

3. Dr. Pilar Pajayon-Berse (Waseda University) of the Political Science Department of the Ateneo de Manila University

4. Dean Kristoffer Berse (The University of Tokyo) of the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance

5. Dr. Karl Ian Uy Cheng Chua (Hitotsubashi University), Lecturer of the University of the Philippines Asian Center

6. Dr. Marie Danielle Guillen (Tsukuba University), Associate Professor of the University of the Philippines Diliman Asian Institute of Tourism

7. Dr. Jocelyn Celero (Waseda University) of the University of the Philippine Diliman Asian Center

8. Dr. Nappy Navarra (The University of Tokyo) of the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Architecture and former PHILAJAMES President 2022-2023

9. Engr. Oscar Antonio (Tokyo Institute of Technology) of the University of the Philippines College of Engineering

10. Mr. Michael Padilla (The University of Tokyo) who is currently running their family business Mikee’s Home Furnishings & More

11. Prof. Jeorge Alarcon, Jr. (Sophia University) of the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Los Baños

12.  Ms. Yellowbelle Duaqui (Sophia University), Full-time Lecturer of the Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences Department of De La Salle University 

Over dinner, the members of the shinenkai heartily exchanged stories about their current lives and recollections of their Japan stint. They hope to regularly hold a get-together at least once every year.