Chisato ShizumeIt’s not easy to put yourself in someone’s shoes, especially if you were born and raised in a politically, economically or environmentally stable country.
Take, for instance, life in Japan. The young generation has no experience of war or life-threatening conflicts that would force them to flee their homeland. In most cases, people in Japan can live in peace for granted without worries.
But that’s not the case for at least 1% of humanity today. According to UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, the number of people who were displaced forcefully hit a record high of 79.5 million in 2019, almost twice as many as that of 2010.
Among them, 26.3 million are refugees, and 4.2 million are asylum seekers. Over two-thirds of all refugees originate from five countries, either from the Middle East, Africa or Asia. 86% of all refugees are hosted in developing countries like Turkey, Columbia and Pakistan since most refugees evacuate to neighboring countries. In contrast, in Japan, 10,375 people applied for refugee status in 2019, out of which only 44 were accepted.
This low acceptance rate seems to resemble the harsh situation asylum seekers face in Japan. Temporary permission given to them is valid for up to six months but does not grant work permission. Therefore, economic support or temporary shelter is essential for some during this period. Although most requests are denied due to the strict standards, many face various difficulties settling in Japan even if they gain approval.
As could be expected, a typical problem refugees face would be job hunting. Not many workplaces have a good understanding of refugees and the situation they are in. If they cannot understand Japanese, it could get even more difficult. A Kongo refugee in Japan shared, “First, I thought Japanese people are not open-minded, but they became very friendly once I learned to speak Japanese.” His honest impression resembles the importance of supporting refugees’ language education in Japan.
Supporting employment and language is essential, and so are social behaviors and manners. Very often, body language varies by culture. For example, in Congo, folding one’s arms during a conversation shows respect, while in Japan, such behavior would be considered impolite. Mastering new social behavior is not going to happen overnight. This group needs help and time, just like we learned our own as we grew up, to adjust to the new environment.
The current issues related to refugees in Japan are not just about the acceptance rate or the temporary support when they arrive. If Japan is to accept more refugees and immigrants in the future, these issues head the list of problems to be solved.
