Lonely Swallows This is the website for a documentary movie (in Japanese) that follows the struggles of Japanese-Brazilian children living in Hamamatsu.
Forgotten In Japão: Education in the Brazilian Dekasegi Community A film about the Brazilian-Japanese community in Toyota City by Sam Holden
New link added 26 May 2021 Foreign middle-schoolers getting Japanese help still at high school disadvantage: survey About 17% of foreign middle-schoolers who received special Japanese language lessons and graduated from public junior high schools in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, went on to study at high schools with evening classes, a higher proportion than the trend among student generally, according to a survey by the Kanagawa International Foundation. The article explains the system of "international classrooms" in schools to help foreign children with learning Japanese and some of the challenges for the support system in Kakagawa. Mainichi, 4 May 2021.
New link added 26 May 2021 Teachers left to work it out at Japan schools with foreign students in special ed With many children of foreign nationality being placed in special education classes (for children with learning difficulties) at Japanese schools despite it being suspected that they do not have intellectual impairments, the Mainichi Shimbun went to see how teachers are using their skills to support these students. Mainichi, 5 Nov 2019.
New link added 26 May 2021 Night junior high schools in Japan offer chance for an education but more needed These night schools are often attended by children with foreign roots in Japan but many local areas have not set them up. The article looks at a nighttime junior high school opened from the 2020 school year at Mitsukaido Junior High School in Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture, where 70%, of the students are are foreign nationals from 10 different countries, including Pakistan and Nepal, with Brazilians accounting for the largest number at eight. Mainchi, 24 May, 2021.
Seeking a Better Society for Children of Multicultural Backgrounds An issue of of Takarabako, that looks "at the ways in which efforts are being made by schools, citizens, and government to resolve the problems facing children of multicultural backgrounds", in Okubo (Shinjuku, Tokyo), Nagata Ward, Osaka, and Ota City, Gunma.
The Education of Foreign Children in Japan by Yukari Himeno. The aim of this paper is to describe how Japan’s education system treats children from other countries, especially in regard to junior high schools and the high school entrance examinations. I use statistical data from documents of the Japanese government, published material explaining the state of “newcomer children,” and interviews with teachers of junior high schools and high schools in Kanagawa prefecture. David Ewick's homepage, Chuo University Faculty of Policy Studies, 2004.
Language help lets foreign students fit in There are lots of foreign children in Japanese schools, and their numbers are growing. Unfortunately, most schools aren't equipped to teach newcomers the Japanese they need in order to learn and become part of the school community. Japan Times, May 17, 2002.
Over 22,000 foreign kids need Japanese-language guidance at school The number of foreign children attending public elementary and secondary schools in Japan who are in need of Japanese-language guidance as of last September increased 8% from a year earlier to a record high of 22,413, the education ministry said Tuesday. Japan Today/Kyodo, August 1, 2007.
Country kids need language support: Growing educational diversity not limited to urban areas This article focuses on Yamagata Prefecture which was the first prefecture to encourage international marriages and where 1 in 17 of all marriages are international. It looks at the need for better Japanese language support for 'newcomer' children - children born outside of Japan whose parents bring them to Japan - especially in the Japanese countryside. Japan Times, March 14, 2006.
The Multilingual Education Institute (Ijime Zero) This organization is a national multilingual network to help multicultural and multilingual children and their families who area suffering from burying in schools in Japan. See also this article, An NGO reaches out to bullied foreign kids, about Ijime Zero and the education of foreign children in Japan. Japan Times, Nov. 28, 2008.
Project on the Elaboration of Educational Materials for Foreign Children, Center for Multilingual Multicultural Education and Research, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Support Programme to Facilitate School Education for Foreign Children This is a project of the International Office for Migration Japan. Go down to the bottom of the page for details. More in Japanese here.
Junior high school admissions to be eased for non-Japanese kids The education ministry plans to allow foreign children living in Japan to enter junior high school without having to graduate from elementary school because of a rise in the number of non-Japanese children of foreingers, including Japanese Brazilians, who are tending to live in Japan for a longer period of time, the officials said. Japan Times, June 29, 2008.
Multicultural studio' offers hope: Yokohama volunteers help kids with studies, social problems An article about volunteers working to help school students with non-Japanese, mostly Vietnamese, cultural backgrounds at the Icho Danchi public housing complex in Yokohama. Kanagawa Prefecture is home to about one-third of the Indochinese who have settled in Japan since the late 1970s. Japan Times, Nov. 28, 2002.
More children born with a foreign parent: Japan needs to deal with legal ramifications, experts say One of every 30 babies born in Japan in 2006 had at least one parent originating from overseas, according to a recent government survey....This article looks at the issues this raises including the need to provide language support for foreign children. Japan Times, Aug. 4, 2008.
Shimofukuda Junior High School A school inn Yamato-shi, Kanagawa, that has students who are Indo-Chinese, Nikkeijin and returnees from China, which has set up a special International Elective (kokusai sentaku) course for these students.
Helping Brazilian kids master local life An article about Japanese-Brazilian Tetsuyoshi Kodama helps young Japanese-Brazilian dropouts in Hamamatsu by helping them to learn karate. Japn Times, 23 Aug, 2011.
Education woes beset Brazilian children Of 33,000 Brazilian children here between the ages 5 and 14, 10,200 are enrolled in public schools and another 10,000 are studying in Brazilian schools in Japan. This means more than 10,000 are not receiving an education. Japan Times, 14 Nov, 2008.
TOMO2 Hamamatsu Foreign Children's Educational Support Organisation is an NPO which sends teachers of Japanese to schools in Hamamatsu to help foreign children.
Nonprofit brings together foreign, Japanese residents in Hamamatsu Hamamatsu's foreign population of about 30,000 people largely like in separate areas from the Japanese population, making it hard for foreign children to integrate into society and contributing to the fact that half of foreign children don't go to high school. This article looks at this situation and at the work of Hamamatsu NPO Network Center to change the situation. Japan Times, Mar. 13, 2010.
Feminized Migration, Community Activism and Grassroots Transnationalization in Japan by Keiko Yamanaka In the absence of governmental policy to incorporate immigrants into the nation’s political and legal structure, Brazilian children growing up in Japan have encountered great difficulty in acquiring an adequate education. In response, a group of Brazilian mothers founded an organization, ALA Brasil, to help their children cope with study in a public school in Hamamatsu, Japan. 2003.
Support Information for Foreign Children by Hamamatsu NPO Network Center (N-Pocket) "We made this website for foreign children be able to receive appropriate education and live in harmony in Japan. On these pages, we provide information about the difference of education system between Japan and foreign countries, senior high schools and organization which works to support the immigrants." Includes information on Japanese language classes.
City strives to school foreign youth: Toyota, Brazilians offer their own types of user-friendly education Toyota, home of the nation's top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., had one of the largest concentrations of Brazilians, totaling 4,972 as of the end of 1998. Many came to the city in the early 1990s to work for the carmaker, the firm's affiliates and its parts suppliers. Japan Times, May 9, 2000.
Immigrant teaches peers: Brazilian helps other newcomers to Japan Brazilian-born Elisa Kemmisaki, 22, is a newly assigned English language teacher at Ushioda Junior High School in Yokohama. She also helps pupils in the "kokusai kyoshitsu" (international classroom) pursue their study of Japanese and other subjects. Japan Times, June 18, 2003.
Enrollment at Japan's Brazilian schools plunges 39 percent Enrollment at Japan's Brazilian schools dropped 39.1 percent from December to February, a Ministry of Education survey has revealed. The sudden drop in the number of students has gone hand in hand with the current economic crisis, as Brazilian parents have lost their jobs and cannot afford to pay tuition fees. Mainichi Daily News, March 29, 2009.
Career Counseling for Brazilian Children in Japan Some 10% of the residents of Minokamo city, Gifu, are non-Japanese, of which two-thirds are Brazilian, and have come here to work at Japanese factories. Many of their children attend the Sociedade Educacional Brazilian School. The Nippon Foundation, Apr. 2, 2008.
Brazil Related Initiatives for People from Brazil, A Country Mitsui Has Strong Links With Information from Mitsui's 2014 report on it's CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities for Japanese -Brazilian migrants, mainly involving support for Brazilian schools in Japan and the students attending them but also some Japanese language support and help for NGOs working with the Japanese-Brazilan community. Starts on p54.
Brazilian schools in Japan see drops in students as recession bites Brazilian schools in Japan have seen drops in Japanese-Brazilian students as the global recession started hitting provincial Japanese economies where many of the schools are located, forcing parents to give up or change jobs or return to their homes. This article looks ta the numers of Brazilian schools in Japan as well as the problems facing the majority of these schools because they are not recognised by the Japanese government. Breitbart.com, Dec. 1, 2008.
Brazilian elementary school. Hamamatsu, Japan 2002 Children who's families intend to return to Brazil usually are studying at Brazilian schools. Choosing between Japanese and Brazilian education systems is one of the hardest tasks Brazilian parents face in Japan. Discover Nikkei.
Hiro Gakuen School in Ogaki, Gifu Ken for Nikkeijin(website in Japanese and Portuguese).
Kalakasan Migrant Women Empowerment Centre in Kawasaki is an orgnaisation statred by Filipino women in Japan to help other migrant women, especially Filipino women, and which provides educational support for their chilfren.
Multicultural Coexistence in Japan--Japanese Filipino Students and Overcoming Their Difficulties by Sena Nukata, Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, 2015. The paper discusses the problems faced by Japanese Filipino children and how the educational system supports them including in terms of Japanese language support.
A glimmer of hope for castoffs: NGO finding jobs for young, desperate Japanese-Filipinos In the Philippines, Japanese-Filipinos, known as "Japinos," are often looked down on as children of "Japayukis," or Filipino women who work as bar girls, waitresses or entertainers in Japan. This article looks at their situation and at the work of an NGO in the Philippines, Shin-Nikkeijin Network Association, Cebu Inc., or SNN, that helps these children locate their Japanese fathers and seek financial support. It also gives some background about the immigration in recent years of Filipino workers, esepcially women, to Japan. Japan Times, Oct. 11, 2006.
Citizen’s Network for Japanese Filipino Children We are a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Tokyo. We support Japanese-Filipino Children (JFC) who are born to Filipino mothers and Japanese fathers.
OM conducts project for Japanese Filipino children The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has announced that it is undertaking a two-year project to improve multi-agency cooperation and raise awareness on issues faced by an estimated 200,000 Japanese Filipino children (JFC) in Japan and in the Philippines. abs-cbn NEWS, 03/26/2009.
Japanese-Filipino children from the Philippines-based NGO “DAWN” visit the Center An article about the visit of Seven Japanese-Filipino children (JFC) and three female staff members of the Filipino NGO “DAWN (Development Action for Women Network)” to the National Women's Education Center in Japan. It also descibes the work of DAWN to help Filipino women with children fathered by Japanese men and their children, mainly by supporting women’s independence and providing legal and financial assistance to both mother and her children.
The Development Action for Women Network (DAWN) is a non-government development organization created on February 6, 1996 to assist Filipino women migrants in Japan and their Japanese-Filipino children (JFC) in the promotion and protection of their human rights and welfare.
Most Jap-Fils prefer dad's 'love' over citizenship Most Japanese-Filipino children (JFC) would rather meet their fathers in person and be recognized as their children than be granted Japanese citizenship. This article also gives some background on Filipino women who went to work in Japan, mainly in the 'entertainment industry' and on the identity crisis faced by Japanese-Filipino children. GMANews.TV, 08/21/2008.
New link added 04 May 2019 Traffickers target Filipino-Japanese kids This articles looks at how brokers (or traffickers) target Filipino women who have gad children with Japanese men want to get Japanese nationality for their children. "This has given rise to an increasing number of brokers seeking to profit from women seeking a better life for their children. For many it turns into nothing more than a nightmare." Nikkei Asian Review, November 02, 2016.
New link added 04 May 2019 Educational Challenges of a Japanese-Filipino Child in a Japanese Classroom A short academic article that looks at the experinces of a Japanese-Filipino elementary school studnt to understnad the challgnes facing bicultural children in Japan, especially in terms of language, classroom discipline and parent-school relationships. Click on the blue button int he top right to download the pdf file. By Melvin Jabar, DE LA Salle University, July 2011.
New link added 04 May 2019 Japanese-Filipino Students and Overcoming Their Difficulties This academic article looks at the history and situation of Japanese-Filipino families and, through a case study of a school in Kyoto, the difficulties faced by Japanese-Filipino children in terms of family life (especially for single mother families), language issues, questions of identity and and the Japanese school system. By Sena Nukata, Kyoto University, no date but probably 2015 (includes data from 2013 and 2014).
Kalakasan Migrant Women Empowerment Center - supporting Filipino-Japanese school students with their studies and Filipino mothers with Japanese documents for school, etc, 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month.
Citizens Network for Japanese Filipino Children (Nishi Shinjuku) Legal support for finding Japanese fathers and confirming nationality, plus livelihood and education support.
Asian People's Friendship Society (Itabashi ku) Support with health, legal and other issues for mainly undocumented foreign workers and their children
The Multilingual Education Institute (Ijime Zero) This organization is a national multilingual network to help multicultural and multilingual children and their families who area suffering from burying in schools in Japan. See also this article, An NGO reaches out to bullied foreign kids, about Ijime Zero and the education of foreign children in Japan. Japan Times, Nov. 28, 2008.
Project on the Elaboration of Educational Materials for Foreign Children, Center for Multilingual Multicultural Education and Research, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
The Multicultural Community Learning Support Center also at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies contributes to the education of our university's students through encouraging and supporting them to engage in learning-assistance volunteer activities for children from foreign countries, as well as, through promoting human resource development to meet the demands of contemporary multilingual/multicultural society.
Support Programme to Facilitate School Education for Foreign Children This is a project of the International Office for Migration Japan. Go down to the bottom of the page for details. More in Japanese here.
TOMO2 Hamamatsu Foreign Children's Educational Support Organisation is an NPO which sends teachers of Japanese to schools in Hamamatsu to help foreign children.
Education Support Information for Foreign Children by Hamamatsu NPO Network Center (N-Pocket) "We made this website for foreign children be able to receive appropriate education and live in harmony in Japan. On these pages, we provide information about the difference of education system between Japan and foreign countries, senior high schools and organization which works to support the immigrants." Includes information on Japanese language classes.
Seeking a Better Society for Children of Multicultural Backgrounds An issue of of Takarabako, that looks "at the ways in which efforts are being made by schools, citizens, and government to resolve the problems facing children of multicultural backgrounds", in Okubo (Shinjuku, Tokyo), Nagata Ward, Osaka, and Ota City, Gunma.
Ivy Japan is a voluntary organisation in Yamagata that provides support for foreigners including children in Japanese schools, as well as other activities.
Multicultural Center Tokyo (in English) / 多文化共生センター東京（日本語）”Multicultural Center Tokyo organizes and implements programs for people with multicultural backgrounds, mainly designed for children and women”, in three areas: education, child-rearing and multicultural understanding. It runs a 'Multicultural Free School' to "support children from other countries who wish to go to Japanese high school with Japanese language study".
Stand By Me - group supporting children with roots foreign roots (both with mother tongue language education and support for their Japanese education) in Icho Danchi (Yokohama and Yamoto cities). Part of Ed.Venture 教育支援グループ
Support 21 / さぽうと21 is an volunteer organisation based in Meguro, Tokyo, that provides counselling about living in Japan, scholarships for education, and Japanese lessons for refugees, nikkeijin (descendants of Japanese) and returnees, including those from China, living in Japan. It has developed out of the Association for Aid and Relief which was started in 1979 to help refugees to Japan from Indochina and which has now become an international aid organisation.
多文化まちづくり工房 is an organisation based at Icho Danchi in Yokohama/Yamato cities which provides Japanese language classes for children there with foreign roots, taught by volunteers including university students.
World Kids Community "多文化なこどもたちと育ち、在日外国人コミュニティと協働するワールドキッズコミュニティのサイトです"