1 JAPAN VISIT 2016 “Beyond ‘Tolerance’: Working handinhand to promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families” Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants visiting the Kalabaw – no – Kai in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Overview • Purpose: To better understand issues of social inclusion and exclusion for migrants and their families in Japan. • Date: 2226 July 2016 • Location: Kanakawa Prefecture, Tokyo, and Kyoto Prefecture, Japan • Host Organization: Meiji Gakuin University • Project Partners: 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, MAP Foundation, Legal Support for Children and Women, and Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center • Participants: Members of 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, MAP Foundation, Legal Support for Children and Women, and MMN Secretariat • Funder: The Toyota Foundation
Transcript
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JAPAN VISIT 2016
“Beyond ‘Tolerance’: Working hand-‐in-‐hand to promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families”
Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants visiting the Kalabaw – no – Kai in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Overview
• Purpose: To better understand issues of social inclusion and exclusion for migrants
and their families in Japan. • Date: 22-‐26 July 2016 • Location: Kanakawa Prefecture, Tokyo, and Kyoto Prefecture, Japan • Host Organization: Meiji Gakuin University • Project Partners: 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, MAP Foundation, Legal
Support for Children and Women, and Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center • Participants: Members of 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, MAP Foundation,
Legal Support for Children and Women, and MMN Secretariat • Funder: The Toyota Foundation
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Introduction The Mekong Migration Network (MMN) is a network of regional and national civil society and research organizations from across the Greater Mekong Subregion. The network was established in 2003 to act as a platform for member organizations to exchange information and conduct cross-‐border projects advocating for the protection of migrants. MMN carries out activities in the areas of joint information monitoring, research, capacity building, and advocacy. One of MMN’s current joint projects is “Beyond ‘Tolerance’: Working hand-‐in-‐hand to promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families.” Financially supported by the Toyota Foundation, “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” strives to better understand and promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families while addressing causes of social exclusion. These themes are being explored in the context of origin countries Cambodia and Myanmar and destination countries Thailand and Japan. Coordinated by the MMN Regional Coordinator, Ms. Reiko Harima, the core project partners include Ms. Thet Thet Aung from the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society from Burma/Myanmar, Mr. Brahm Press from the MAP Foundation from Thailand, Mr. Sopheap Suong from the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center (CWCC), Mr. Sokchar Mom from Legal Support for Children and Women (LSCW) from Cambodia, and Ms. Yuriko Saito from Meiji Gakuin University from Japan. Equipped with knowledge from previous visits to Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma/Myanmar, the “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” team visited Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo, and Kyoto Prefecture for 5 days to expand their understanding of issues of social inclusion and exclusion for migrants and their families in the context of Japan. From 22 to 26 July, the project team participated in a symposium titled: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’: Working hand-‐in-‐hand to promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families,” which was hosted by MMN in collaboration with the Faculty of International Studies at Meiji Gakuin University. In addition, participants met with representatives of Kanagawa International Foundation (KANAFAN) in Kanagawa prefecture and exchanged information with CSOs that provide assistance to migrant workers in Kanagawa and Kyoto prefecture. Participants also had the opportunity of visiting a factory hosting Myanmar migrants under the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) and speaking with Myanmar migrant workers in Komatsu City. “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” project partners will use the information they gained throughout the week to finalize the country chapter on Japan for the project’s advocacy paper. Findings from these visits and additional interviews will be used to write the advocacy paper and create a multimedia presentation promoting the social inclusion of migrants, which will be presented at roundtable discussions and photo exhibitions in Bangkok, Thailand, Yangon, Myanmar, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in October 2016.
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Day 1: Learning about a Government–NGO Partnership & Participating in a Symposium Kanagawa International Foundation (KANAFAN) On 22 July, the project partners of “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” had the opportunity of visiting the Kanagawa International Foundation (KANAFAN). KANAFAN was established in 1977 and was the first initiative involving civil society organizations (CSO) collaborating with a prefecture administration office. The Foundation aims to build mutual understanding between Japanese and non-‐Japanese residents, promote a multicultural community, and increase the accessibility of government assistance to non-‐Japanese people in Kanagawa. KANAFAN’s main activities include:
• (1) Sharing information through social media (i.e. Facebook, SMS, and blogs on several issues) and providing translation services for translating text into foreign languages such as Chinese, Portuguese, or English depending on the size of the foreign population in the area. In order to improve their services, KANAFAN sends a feedback questionnaire to their users once a year to evaluate what kind of information needed.
• (2) Providing multi-‐lingual medicalization which available online and that the user could use everywhere in Japan health department. The health care supports will be translated into English and other 18 languages.
• (3) Japanese language class by provide information on the mapping of where and when to learn Japanese language, and website available.
• (4) Support to Natural Disaster through coordinate with the local government to provide support for Non-‐Japanese in the area and provide information concerning safety and relevance issues.
• (5) Empowerment migrants mother, this new project aims to provide assistance to migrant mother on how to educate or look after their children i.e regular vaccination, status/documents, enrollment to school etc. and provide scholarship on nursery teacher to children of migrant mother.
Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants visiting the KANAFAN office in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
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The participants also learned current trend on migration to Japan in which migrants migrate to Japan through regular channel, however, they end up become migrant workers working without proper document due to the visa restriction of Japanese government. It was obviously that the Japanese government more welcome the skill workers than unskill workers, and that the difficulty in obtaining work permit, rely on employers, low wage paid, no labour rights protection, complicated and time comsuming in applying for asylum status in Japan are key challenges faced by migrants in Japan that shared during the visit. Concerning social inclusion and exclusion, Mr. Jigyan Kumar Thapa, the representative of KANAFAN has shared his experiences living in Japan that although he lives in Japan more than 16 yeas, but local people still asked when he would go home. The Japanese community does not so call a migrant friendly community, despite the fact that only few migrants do not follow Japanese norm/policies, but the Japanese community would generalized and stigmatized that people same nationality would be the same, it looks like sometimes the Japanese aware of rights of other foreigner less than the Japanese. However, the relationship between Japanese and Non-‐Japanese during the natural disaster many went well, they support each other. Mr. Jigyan Kumar Thapa shared with the team that in order to promote the social inclusion, awareness rising in Japanese community is important to improve they understand about foreign culture and also the policy dialogue with the government. A Symposium on “Beyond ‘Tolerance’: Working hand-‐in-‐hand to promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families” at Meiji Gakuin University
On 22 July 2016, the Mekong Migration Network (MMN) in collaboration with the Faculty of International Studies at Meiji Gakuin University in Kanagawa, Japan organized a symposium entitled: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’: Working hand-‐in-‐hand to promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families.”
Over 40 people, including representatives of non-‐governmental organizations (NGOs), self-‐help groups, universities, and research institutes, attended the symposium. The symposium began with an introduction to MMN’s project and by welcoming participants representing the Faculty of International Studies at Meiji Gakuin University. The first session of the symposium involved presentations by three of MMN’s project partners on issues related to labour migration in the Mekong Sub-‐region and Japan in the era of globalization. The session was followed by presentations from representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) working on migration issues in Japan.
Link to the symposium minutes: http://www.mekongmigration.org/?p=5288
Day 2: Visits to CSOs in Kanagawa Prefecture Kalabaw–no–Kai On 23 July, the participants visited to the Kalabaw–no–Kai organization, which the name is Tagalog word meaning water buffalo, and referred to the early group of migrants they has provided supports since organization was found were the Filipino migrants. The Kalabaw was founded since 1987, a well – known organization in providing assistant to workers
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including migrant workers on labour rights, legal assistance, welfare, education and language class and assist the undocumented migrant workers by circulates phone number and provide information for workers who seek assistants and/or invite them to the office if they live nearby.
Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants visiting the Kalabaw – no – Kai in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Mr. Hideyoshi Watanabe shared the fact that Japanese society highly demands on labour force, but the Japanese government does not recognize the migrant workers; the Japanese government need only labour not human being. Given the barrier on language and the close society to foreigners, migrants remained experiences on social exclusions and discriminations both in work place and in everyday life even those who migrate to Japan through the Technical Internship Program. Mr. Watanabe emphasized that labour exploitations, lack of labour protections, and fear of immediate dismiss and deportation remained concern issues faced by migrant workers in Japan. For instance, in reality migrant workers under TIP program were put in the agriculture, fishing industry instead of in the high technology industry. The program benefits to employers who were the small company that used to hire the one-‐day workers and now looking for the cheap labour, which TIP contract only 3 years and hire migrant workers. Technical trainees often confined in small place, confiscated of passport, unable to contact outsider for assistances, low paid, long working hours etc. Following this, the Kalabaw provide shelter for trainees who escaped from the factory and help negotiate with the employers. Besides, the Kalabaw also advocate to the Japanese government on responses to the labour exploitation problems.
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Health of Migrants in Japan
The afternoon session, the project partners had opportunity to meet Dr. Takashi Sawada, the Minatomachi Medical Center and Multi-‐cultural Information Center Kanagawa, to discuss on health issues migrants faced in Japan. Dr. Sawada provided a brief overview on migrants’ health situations in Japan by showing number of key factors such as infant mortality rate, Completion rate of TB treatment by nationality, age-‐adjusted death rate between Japanese and Non-‐Japanese etc., which reveal that migrants remained difficulty in access to healthcare services.
Following this, Dr. Sawada shared the initiatives to minimize health gaps and provide healthcare services to migrant workers including Medical Interpreter Program (MIC) in Kanagawa prefecture. The program started in 2001, under memorandum of understanding between the local government, NGO and Medical Associations in providing medical volunteer interpreters at the hospitals. The volunteer interpreters, and currently about 11 languages and 173 volunteer interpreters available to provide services throughout the program. Dr. Sawada also highlighted the self-‐help group called “Taa Wan” which is the group of Thai patients who living with HIV/AIDS and become the volunteer interpreters at the hospital. In addition, member of Taa Wan group also visit all prefecture and help providing information and campaign on HIV/AIDS prevention.
Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants meeting with Dr. Takashi Sawada, the Minatomachi Medical Center
and Multi-‐cultural Information Center Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Dr. Sawada emphasized that NGO-‐GO collaboration was effective in developing social resources to improve access to healthcare of migrants, and peer support was one of the effective action to minimize health disadvantage.
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Day 3: Site Visits to a Factory in Komatsu City
Teijin Company & Shinwakosen Factory On 24 July, the participants travel to Komatsu city to meet with the representatives of the Teijin Campany & Shinwakosen factory, which recruited Myanmar trainees to work in the factory. The Shinwakosen factory produced polyester thread used for textile of sport ware. In April 2006, the factory started joined the TIP program and recruited the trainees which the first group from China. Currently the factory recruited 12 trainees from the TIP program, and 8 of the trainees from Myanmar (2 women, 6 men). Due to the factory run 24 hours and that it short of labour on the night shift especially the Japanese labour and also some women Japanese workers do not want to work on the weekend, even though women workers work only in the day shift. The representative of the factory shared that migrant trainees may acknowledged the skill on how to choose the good quality of thread, as the factory produce only the thread with high technology. The representative of the factory also shared that migrant trainees may not bring back the specific technology, but they could apply to work with the factory branch in Yangon in the future and the factory in Japan will recommend the workers to the new factory. The representative of the factory ensured that the migrant trainees under cover of the labour laws, however, the different only salary that they will not receive the same amount concerning their status as trainees.
Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants visiting the Shinwakosen factory in Komatsu city, Japan.
The representative of the factory highlighted that they involve in the recruitment process and send representative to Myanmar to interview the potential migrant trainees by themselves. The potential migrant trainee will receive the result at the interview, but the actual work will start after 6 months due to the factory need to prepare supporting documents. The factory was allowed to recruit maximum 18 migrant trainees through this system due to their scale of business. The factory planed to recruit 6 trainees per year, one
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contract per 3 years. However, due to time processing, the factory try to recruit once a year, and not all 6 trainees at one time. The participant from Myanmar spoke with Myanmar migrant trainees, learning their experiences and the all participants also had opportunity to visit inside the factory, explore how migrant trainees working conditions and later visit the dormitory for migrant trainees.
Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants meeting with Myanmar trainees of the Shinwakosen factory,
Komatsu city, Japan.
Day 4: Visits to CSOs in Kyoto Prefecture
The Kyoto YWCA On 25 July, the participants had opportunity to visit the Kyoto YWCA, which is the CSOs provide support to migrants in Kyoto prefecture, especially migrant women marriage with Japanese. The representative of the Kyo YWCA provided an overview of the migrant in Kyoto and introduced the program called “Asian People Together (APT)”. The APT aims to multicultural society by providing support to foreign resident in Japan through hotline. The volunteer under APT program provided services in various issues such as information on the Japanese Laws, Referral to specialist etc. Currently, APT program could provide services in 5 languages. The Kyoto YWCA also provided assistance to migrant women including information and legal support on issues related to visa, renting apartment, child education, domestic violent, medical care. The participants also learned how important role of the embassy of the migrant women country of origin in protecting and assisting migrant women in Japan.
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The participants also had opportunity to meet the migrant women who marriage with Japanese and now become volunteer interpreters of YMWA and sometimes help the local government. We heard her stories and learned about the situation in Japan.
Image: “Beyond ‘Tolerance’” participants visiting the Kyoto YWCA, Japan.
Day 5: Internal Planning Meeting
On the last day of the Japan visit, the participants discussed and provided comments to revise the draft country chapters of advocacy paper, and agreed work plan for submission of advocacy paper from each project partner/country. The participants also discussed about the outcomes of the multimedia presentation, as well as the production process. The participants also agreed with work plan for photo exhibitions in October 2016.
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APPENDIX A
Japan Visit Agenda
“Beyond Tolerance” -‐ Working hand-‐in-‐hand to promote the social inclusion of migrants and their families
Location: Kanagawa prefecture, Kyoto prefecture, and Tokyo
Host organization: Meiji Gakuin University
Program Visit Japan (22 -‐ 26 July 2016) Morning Afternoon Evening Hotel
21-‐Jul TG581arrive Haneda, move to Totsuka St.
Sotetsu Fresa Inn Totsuka
22-‐Jul
6:05 Thet Thet Aung arrive (Yuriko Pick up) 9:30 Dep. For Yokohama 10:00-‐11:00 Activate JR rail pass 11:00-‐12:15: Interview a representative of the Kanagawa Interntional Foundation, Mr Jigyan Kumar Thapa, near the Yokohama Station 12:15 Move Yokohama to Meijigakuin University
12:30-‐13:30 Lunch at Meijigakuin University 13:30-‐15:00 Briefing about Japan's trip, preparation & Rest 15:05-‐16:35 Class "Life and Career Development " 16:45-‐19:15 Seminar on Migration in Mekong and Japan
19:15-‐19:45 Move to Restaurant @ Totsuka 19:30-‐21:00 Dinner with some guests (Chinese migrants)
Sotetsu Fresa Inn Totsuka
23-‐Jul
7:00 leave the hotel 10:00 Meet representative of Kalabaw, Mr Hideyoshi Watanabe, Mr Ando, Ms Pachanda Karayaa,
Lunch and meeting with Dr.Takashi Sawada
Visiting migrants community
Sotetsu Fresa Inn Totsuka
24-‐Jul
07:09 Totuka to Ueno (07:49) 08:18-‐11:34 Ueno-‐Kanazawa 11:03-‐11:34 Kanazawa -‐Komatsu
Visit Factory and Worker of Myanmar
Ppossibley meet Japan Association for Refugees-‐TBC
Komatsu Grande Hotel
25-‐Jul 7:32 Komatsu; arrive at Kyoto at 9:34 10:30 Visit YWCA-‐Kyoto
Meet migrant representatives at the YWCA-‐Kyoto (to be confirmed); travel to Tokyo
