10. Children with Foreign Roots in Japan and Educational Support for Them - Hina Shiiya

I. Introduction

Globalization has advanced these days and a lot of foreign people have come to Japan for various reasons. When I think about the diversity in Japan, it is impossible to exclude foreigners from the

elements which form current Japanese society. On the other hand, the fact is that they are minorities who sometimes suffer from discrimination and have more difficulties in terms of language, education, jobs and so on. In this report, I would like to focus on foreign people, especially foreign children who have the less power to live independently. I will look at two communities of foreigners: Korean permanent residents and children who go to Korean school, and Brazilian people who are called “new comers” and children who go to Japanese public school. Also, I will mention one organization in Kanagawa, Stand By Me, which supports foreign children in the end. Through this report, I will consider what kind of support is necessary for people with different situation by nationality and what organizations, schools and the government can do for them. II. Korean permanent residents in Japan In the first cycle, I researched Korean permanent residents in Japan and Korean schools, because I have heard about Korean school from some of my Korean friends, and then I realized that I had no idea about them. According to the Ministry of Justice, there are 2,232,189 foreign residents and 457,772 Koreans living in Japan in the end of 2015, which is 20.5% of the total (the second largest group after Chinese residents: 665,847 and 29.8%). The prefecture with most Korean residents is Osaka (106,368) and the second is Tokyo (89,520).

The history of connection between Korea and Japan dates back to ancient time, in 7th century. By the end of world war II, 2,400,000 Koreans were forced to move to Japan to work and living here. In 1950, the population of Korean declined to 544,903 because most of them returned to Korea, and in 1972, they finally got permanent residency, which means their stateless existence was over.

In accordance with the large number of Koreans living in Japan and the liberation of Korea after WWII, they desired to have Korean schools to enable their children to maintain their ethnic identity and pride as a Korean. However, the Ministry of Education banned having such schools, and in 1965, they said that they did not recognize these Korean schools as official schools. The reason for it is that they thought the purpose of Korean school would not bring any benefits in Japanese society and there was no domestic relationship between Japan and North Korea. Nevertheless, a Tokyo metropolitan governor Minobe Ryokichi recognized such schools and provided some funding for them in defiance of the Ministry. Others also followed suit, and in 1997, 29 prefectures had Korean schools.

As of 2010, there were 73 schools all over Japan and approximately 8,300 students went there. Such a school is regarded as non-Japanese general school by the School Education Law, and is called national school or miscellaneous school(各種学校). While these schools have advantages such as choosing textbooks freely and deciding their own curriculum, there are more disadvantages; lack of school funds, no school lunch and health care, difficulties for their students to enter Japanese national universities and some public and private schools, and not being allowed to apply to free school fee introduction. Regardless of these defects, still now a certain number of Korean children continue to go there. In Japan Times, July 24, 2007, some voices of students, parents and teachers at a Korean school in Okayama were written. Some go there to have their own identity and become a Korean in the true sense, which are very significant for them and connect to respecting their ancestors and roots. Others go there to just enjoy their school life. Most of Korean students seemed to hope to find or keep their identity and pride by going to Korean school, or parents hope their children to feel like that. As everyone can feel in the same way, the ethnic identity and pride are the keys to think about the diversity, because if foreigners living in Japan tries to hide their own culture because of avoiding discrimination or just dislike, the culture will fade and finally disappeared. In such a case, all culture can be seen similar. I think that the diversity will exist in a society where each foreigners can have the ethnic pride, hope to pass the culture, thought and history to the next generations, and have the moderate cooperativeness together.

III. Brazilian children

In the second cycle, I focused on educational support by the government and private organizations for Brazilian children in Japan. First of all, I will explain about Brazilian residents and their background. They are categorized as “new comers,” who have come to Japan from the mid-1970s onwards. Because of the 1990 implementation of the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act(出入国及び難民認定法), foreigners of Japanese descent can be allowed to work in Japan to help resolve the labor shortage. As 2015, it seemed that about 1,900,000 Japanese Brazilians lived in Japan to work in manufacturing and construction industries.

Through the research of Korean school, I had a question; How about other children who go to Japanese public school? According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology(文部科学省, MEXT) the number of foreign children who went to public schools in Japan in 2014 was 73,289 and among them, there were 29,198 students who needed Japanese instruction, which is nearly 40% of foreign students going to public school. These groups of children are different from Korean “old comers” who usually have grown up speaking Japanese fluently. Seeing by their mother tongue, Portuguese occupied 28.6% of them, and Chinese(22.0%), Filipino(17.6%) and Spanish(12.2%) followed it. They are the highest proportion of such students, so I chose Brazilian children and researched what the government, school, and other organizations do for them to ease difficulties of language and others.

First, I will introduce national support. The first one is distribution of the guidebook for reception of foreign student at the public school by MEXT. It’s about the Japanese educational system and procedure and translated in 7 languages. Conducting training for Japanese instruction at independent administrative agency National Center for Teachers’ Development (独立行政法人教員研修センター) is another example. It targets at teachers, principals, vice principals and others, and once a year the training has been held for 4 days. In addition to that, the government has carried out some projects, 帰国・外国人児童生徒等教育の推進支援事業 and 特別の教育課程. The former is the support for 55 prefectures and regions financially. Under this project, each region can get subsidies up to 1/3 of all the expenses of the project, and in 2015, about 2,110,000 yen was the budget for this. The latter one is the system that students who need Japanese instruction can take some classes like Japanese class and main subject at a slow pace with instructors, instead of participating in usual classes. As of May 1, 2014, 21.3% of elementary school children, who needed Japanese instruction and 18.0% of junior high school students, had been instructed through this system. As you can see from this data, a lack of teachers for instruction and having no time to consider the special class for the children are current issues.

Second, I will explain about local support with some examples in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture. The city has a population of 810,642 and among them, 20,952 are foreign residents. About 42% of them are people who have Brazilian nationality, which is the highest ratio of Brazilian residents in Japan. I will choose 2 organizations there. The first one is Hamamatsu Foreign Children’s Educational Support Organization, which is called NPO TOMO2. The Japanese and study support section for returnees and foreign students provides Japanese instruction, supplementation of academic ability for going to high school and so on. Moreover, there is the mother tongue and education section, and foreigners whose mother tongue is Portuguese, Vietnamese or Spanish can improve it and communicate with others in their language. The second one is jabora NPO. Among the activities there, Japanese class is a project which the Agency for Cultural Affairs(文化庁) entrusts jabora with. While jabora organizes the class itself, the agency holds a training for persons involved with planning the program and makes a report based on the results of the programs. In addition to that, this NPO has done some projects in cooperation with MEXT. Terakoya-kyousitsu(寺子屋教室) and Niji-no-kakehashi-kyousitsu(虹の架橋教室) are the examples. The former was the volunteer work by both Japanese residents and foreign parents, which was held in 2012. The target was also both Japanese and foreign children, doing their homework, learning Japanese and studying. The feature is that the project was not only for foreign children but also Japanese, which led up to good communication among them. The latter one was held from 2009 to 2011. For Brazilian children who did not go to school, some local organization carried out Japanese instruction classes to let them enter Japanese public school smoothly.

In my opinion, supports by the government and private organizations have the limit respectively, so cooperating together to make up for what each cannot do. Among the actual way to support I mentioned, having the class as a project which the Agency for Cultural Affairs entrusts is the most effective one, for the connection with the government makes the organizations improve the contents of the support and both can understand the view of national and local situation.

IV. Organization which supports foreign children

Through researching this organization, I noticed that Stand By Me has the great different point from others. It is the children’s actual participation in planning and managing. While some activities there are similar to ones at other organizations, the children who should be supported by volunteers normally are committed to running the organization. Of course in the first stage, Stand By Me did not take such a way. Until 1999 autumn, only Japanese managed activities and thought what was helpful and necessary. After that, children started to commit themselves in the planning and management. They shared the work with volunteers, and a steering committee(運営委員会) which was made up by children began. In 2001, Stand By Me became independent of one volunteer group and kinds of activities and the number of children concerned with the committee increased. Through such their own commitment, recognition on the part of the persons concerned(「当事者」としての認識) grew among the children. To say more precisely, through the active commitment, they have to think about their own identity or background and ask themselves who they are in their daily life.

In order to know the activities, the situation and the real voice of the staff, Yui and I visited Stand By Me on 10th December. We talked with a secretary-general(事務局長) Chuop Sararn, who is Cambodian. She was born in a refugee camp in Thai land and came to Japan as an Indo-chinese refugee at the age of 5.

I will mention 4 things which we got from the interview below.

○ Mother tongue classes

The classes have been continued since the start of Stand By Me. The situation in which children born in Japan increased (2000~) and the chances to use their mother tongue decreased was behind having the mother tongue classes. The staff think that it is necessary for children to learn the language for knowing their own roots and help their parents, so the classes have been held still now.

We could watch the Vietnamese class after the interview. There were 16 students including preschool children, one teacher and two other staff members. The children studied writing and reading basic Vietnamese words. The atmosphere was good, not strict at all and it looked fun to learn the language.

○ The role of schools and Stand By Me

School is an educational institution and forces student to do something there, for example, tests. On the other hand, Stand By Me is a NPO and the atmosphere is not strict. It is more free and opened for everyone. The staff tries to teach them minimum knowledge which are not taught at school but important to enter the society.

In addition to that, Ms. Choup Sararn talked about the difficulties children with foreign roots feel at school. Teachers and schools have to treat every student equally, but foreign students often feel lonely and isolated, so hope to be cared about somehow. However, once the students with foreign roots talks about their feelings, in many cases, teachers try to respect for the difference and diversity excessively by having a class about his/her country or giving a chance to make a speech in front of all students. It cannot be said that always such students hope to be treated like that.

○ Children’s limited view of things

There is a tendency that children living in Icho Danchi are affected easily by others, for example, one child said “I want to be a person who separate trash in the future” because it is the parent’s work. Another example is that in a graduation ceremony of the nursery school, most of the children declared “I want to become a fireman,” for firemen came there before. Therefore, Stand By Me tries to broaden children’s view through visiting lots of places, for example, museums and camping.

○ About volunteers

Though Stand By Me puts emphasis on the independence, children’s active participation and 当事者性, they recruit Japanese volunteers. However, it seems that they do not want to get anyone. Ms. Choup Sararn said that some people had the very high motivation and prepared a lot, and others came to do volunteer work for knowing themselves or what they wanted to do. The latter people do not continue to work for a long time and suddenly they say “I quit it.” They do not think about the original way to manage the organization and do not listen to voices of the staff, but try to do what they want to do first. As I mentioned above, the class at Stand By Me is not so strict, but some volunteers think of the tight schedule of the class, and then the gap between Stand By Me and them may be generated.

Ⅴ. My opinion

Through doing the research, I learned lots of things which I had never known before and could know the real voices of persons concerned. For me, all things become one step to understand foreigners in Japan and a good chance to think about the Japanese society and the future. I have two things to mention below.

First, I think that it is very difficult to make and keep a society where everyone lives comfortably. While the majority are Japanese in Japan, a certain number of foreigners live here, too. Their nationality is various and each person has different culture and views toward Japan. It is better to think of all foreigners and support them, but realistically it is hard because each foreigners have the different situations and necessity. Moreover, some Japanese think that we should not change the original way which has lasted for a long time, but others think that Japan should deal with globalization more. For me, the conventional Japanese way is important and I like Japanese custom and culture, but as more foreigners come to Japan and globalization advances, things which we have to alter and compromise will arise. I need to get more knowledge and think about what we can do for minorities in Japan, and what kind of society we will make. The most important thing is that people should look at foreigners in Japan and know about them more.

Second, I am interested in education for foreign children. I understand that the national government has some plans for them, but there are a few examples in which there are not enough teachers for language support and the plan just exists and does not work. All children have the right to get an education and education is most important for their life. Schools, volunteer groups, local communities, home, and other things around children are significant and their cooperation is indispensable. Through the research, I knew the basic information and just the surface of the fact, so I hope to know this area more.

Ⅵ. Reflection about the visit Stand By Me

Though we did not have time to do volunteer work and only had the interview, it was the very meaningful time and learned lots of things. Before visiting there, I had thought that Stand By Me was the strict group and felt anxious, but in fact, they answered each question carefully based on the fact and ideas and I could watch the Vietnamese class and children who learned in a relaxed manner. It convinced me of the importance of direct visit and see things through my own eyes.

What I can suggest about doing this kind of fieldwork is that preparation is very important. Stand By Me published one book and I read it a few times, which was helpful when asking questions and talking with the staff. Also, it is necessary to think of what we hope to know deeply and list questions beforehand. Anyway, doing such fieldwork is significant for deepening the research and know the reality, so don’t hesitate to contact with the organizations and visit there with politeness and appreciation.

Ⅶ. Resources

・法務省 国籍・地域別在留外国人数の推移

・Koreans in Japan

・jabora NPO

・文部科学省 大学入学資格について

・Seeing from the Korean side, The Japan Times, May 22, 2007

・Koreans speak out on schooling, The Japan Times, July 24, 2007

・日本語能力が十分でない子どもたちへの教育について 文部科学省 平成28年3月22日

・Tsuneyoshi, R, Okano, H, and Bocock, S (2010 ) Minorities and Education in Multicultural Japan – An interactive perspective. London: Routledge.

・外国人児童生徒等に対する教育支援に関する基礎資料 文部科学省

・帰国・外国人児童生徒等に対する文部科学省の施策について 文部科学省

・浜松市 HP

・TOMO2

・Japan, Brazil mark a century of settlement, family ties The Japan Times, Jan 15, 2008

・新・都道府県別統計とランキングで見る県民性 在日ブラジル人

・「いちょう団地発！外国人の子供たちの挑戦」清水睦美・「すたんどばいみー」編著 岩波書店

・案内：横浜プレスツアー

・コトバンク インドシナ難民と神奈川県

・Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People

・外務省 ブラジル共和国 基礎データ

・The Agency for Cultural Affairs