Paruyon: A peace of mind for foreign women in Japan

Few of us will ever have the experience of moving to another country on a long-term basis. That is when we call the new place home, the place to return to. But what if you came to the realization that that you are unable to fit into the community properly? Do not understand the language? What if you are a mother raising a child in an environment you are unsure of? In Japan, Paruyon is here to help you.

Paruyon supports foreign women living in the Tokyo and Kyoto areas (our Finnish readers will recognize this word from “Paljon” as a localized romanization). It was co-founded by Nina H. Hakkarainen. She had graciously offered her time for this interview, and we learnt how Paruyon is improving the quality of living for foreign women in Japan.

Understanding the concerns of foreigners living in Japan

Japan is not a difficult country to live in. It is safe, clean and its people kind. But that itself was a blindspot 20 years ago.

Japan has always paid attention to its population issues, and the biggest concern then would have been its greying population. So the policies and initiatives targeting its own citizens are strong. Topped with the fact of relative ease of living in Japan, there was little focus on improving the quality of life for foreigners in Japan. Programs targeting foreigners living in Japan were instead limited to those of cultural understanding.

“Tea ceremonies or ikebana lessons are fine experiences to learn about the Japanese culture. However, there is a shortage for day-to-day support: medical, child rearing, disaster response and many more,” shared Hakkarainen. “These are the key information a person needs to live in a country without worries.”

Even though she was a member of a committee to improve information dissemination to foreigners, fundamental actions were still lacking. Finally in August 2007, while working in Kyoto, she met like-minded people from China, Paraguay, Indonesia and even a local Japanese. Together, they founded the group Paruyon.

Paruyon’s support for foreign women living in Japan

Every month, Paruyon holds events for foreign women in Kyoto. Japanese are also welcomed to participate, which creates an opportunity for friendship.

Puhuu for Foreign Women

One of the most important events is Puhuu For Foreign Women (puhuu meaning “speaking frankly” in Finnish). Just as the name suggests, it is a meetup where foreign women come together to exchange information regarding their concerns. This can include medical matters, family-related issues, concerns about the habits of their neighborhood, and language barriers. That is, a place where they can talk about anything.

And the meetup has been very useful for many foreign women! “There was a young foreign mother, who communicated only in her native language with her child,” Hakkarainen shared. “She was worried about her young child not speaking yet. The people around her were giving advice that she was doing something wrong, heightening her worries. Puhuu relieved those worries when she learnt she was doing nothing wrong, that bilingual children often takes longer before speaking their first words.”

Workshops and Telephone Support for Foreign Women

As useful as the meetup is, there are some who are not able to attend. For such ladies, Paruyon offers the Telephone Support for Foreign Women. However, it does not limit to calling only, but also through Skype, LINE, and email.

This year, they are conducting the call sessions twice a month. The paid staff receive proper training, a part of which is from TELL Japan. Telephone Support for Foreign Women also offers the service in English, Chinese and Korean languages.

Paruyon also offers workshops from time to time, getting experts to share useful information like local customs, medical care and welfare services. These are highly relevant to the foreign women as they’d eventually interact with such services and places at some point.

Kotona in Kamigyo

The Kotona book is another highly useful service Paruyon provides for foreigners living in Kamigyo, Kyoto. It is a guidebook sharing small but essential information. These include the map of the area they live in, the garbage disposal rules particular to Kyoto and useful contact information in Kyoto.

In fact, it can be used by any foreigner living outside of Kamigyo. Because the guidebook also contains information like how to interaction with Japanese neighbors, health and medical information, and preparing for disasters.

The local Japanese wants to connect with foreign neighbors too

Paruyon doesn’t only help foreign women adapt to Japanese life. There are also Japanese who often contact Paruyon about providing advice for their foreign neighbors. These emphatic Japanese wants to make sure their foreign neighbors are looked out for.

As we have shared, the Japanese are also invited to join the events. This not only allows them the opportunity to connect with the foreigners living in Japan.

And since there is a demand for how to reach out to their foreign neighbors, Paruyon has also printed a guidebook “Making friends with your foreign neighbours”. In a way similar to the Kotona in Kamigyo guidebook, it includes conversations beyond the usual greetings, visual explanations for rules like garbage disposal, and a simple way to introduce the neighborhood association.

Encouraging the use of “Easy Japanese”

One interesting advice Paruyon gives Japanese is to use “easy Japanese”. Japanese language has various forms used in different situations, so this may confuse foreigners not acquainted with the language. Using an easy to understand speech will improve communication, ie “easy Japanese”.

For example, instead of saying “Please protect your head with a head wear”, it is much easier to understand “Please wear a hat.” Nuances are dropped, simple vocabulary is used, but the outcome is the same. Therefore, the Japanese are encouraged to do the same when explaining matters like rules in taking out the garbage or introducing the neighborhood.

The existence of organizations like Paruyon provides a peace of mind

There are many reasons why Paruyon plays such an important role for foreigners living in Japan. And we’ve looked at certain themes that supports that role. For example, Paruyon understands that while big matters like child rearing are important, smaller matters like communicating with neighboring Japanese are important too.

Paruyon also wants to lower any barriers to language, making their services accessible to all foreign women. Simple English is encouraged at Puhuu sessions so it’ll be easy for those not familiar with Japanese or English to participant. This is important since Puhuu gets participants from a wide range of nationalities, from the U.S. to the U.K. to the Middle East.

Paruyon is not only providing a peace of mind for the foreign women in Kyoto and Japan. It is also connecting foreign women with local Japanese communities. There’s even contact from Nagoya regarding interest for such a group. If the sustainable development goals hasn’t taken it, Paruyon’s motto might have been “Leave no foreign women behind”.