TOKYO - A night junior high school in Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture, where all 30 students have roots overseas, is taking on a new role as a bridge between foreign residents and local communities in Japan.
The students were seen taking a music class at the private Mitsukaido Junior High School night program. Once mainly seen as a place for adults to resume basic education, night junior high schools are increasingly serving foreign residents as Japan's foreign population grows.
Fourteen first-year students entered the school in April. Classes are held from 5:30 p.m. on weekdays, with students learning basic Japanese, including daily conversation and reading and writing hiragana and katakana.
Their reasons for studying vary. Some say they want to go to high school, while others want to learn more about Japan. One student said, "I do business. I don't understand Japanese, so it is a little difficult. That is why I go to school."
Sakurai, a teacher who has worked at the night junior high school for five years, said many students are determined to adapt to Japan's school system as they continue living in the country. "I feel they want to fit properly into the Japanese school system and keep learning so they can continue living in Japan," Sakurai said.
Among the students is second-year student Yuichiro Mihira, who came to Japan from the Philippines two years ago because of his father's work and is now studying at the school. Born to a Japanese father and a Filipino mother, Mihira has been attending the night junior high school for two years but is still not used to Japanese.
Asked what kanji he finds easy, he mentioned simple characters such as mountain, river and teacher. Asked about his teachers, he said, "They are kind. Very kind."
His father, Kazuhiro, who spent many years living in the Philippines, said he feels his son has not yet been able to fully blend into the area. "The first thing is that not being able to communicate in the language probably makes him anxious," he said. "If they can start talking, they are the same. What they are thinking is the same."
Because language is a barrier, Kazuhiro said the night junior high school is important as a place to learn Japanese. "It is necessary," he said. "It is a place for that first contact with Japan and Japanese culture."
In Joso, where the night junior high school is located, one in eight residents is foreign. To prevent trouble and discrimination and help students become part of the community, the school puts emphasis on local interaction.
Students practice traditional festival music so they can take part in local festivals. Sakurai said face-to-face activities help local residents understand that foreign nationals are not outsiders to fear, but people who can live together with others in the community. "As a night class, I think we should carry out activities that help residents understand that foreign nationals are not bad people, but people who can enjoy living together with everyone," Sakurai said.
An international exchange event was held at the school to deepen understanding of classmates' cultures and histories. Local residents and the mayor of Joso were also invited. Traditional dishes prepared by students, representing their home countries, were laid out at the venue.
The event also drew students from Takushoku University in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture. A university instructor said the students were brought to the event because even though the university has many international students, opportunities for direct interaction are limited. "Watching that situation, I thought the best thing would be to bring them here, have them actually talk and see people as they are," the instructor said.
One student said there are few chances in daily life to interact with people from overseas and that negative impressions can sometimes come through the news. "But after practicing face to face like this, I realized there are many very kind people," the student said.
Asked what food he had prepared, one student said, "Sri Lankan curry and Sri Lankan rice. I heard my university friends ate a lot." Asked whether they were now friends, the student replied, "Yes. Now we are friends."
A graduate of the night junior high school is now working as a bridge between foreign residents and Japanese people. Akari Imanishi works as a Japanese-language support staff member at a public elementary school in Joso, helping foreign children who have difficulty with Japanese in their classes.
Imanishi was born into a Japanese-Brazilian family in Brazil and came to Japan at the age of 6. She attended elementary school in Joso but struggled to adjust to life in Japan. After graduating, she attended the night junior high school, where she says the people she met became an important source of support.
"I was able to meet so many people, and there are friends I still interact with now," Imanishi said. "It became a place that supported me, a place that eased my sense of isolation and loneliness."
At the elementary school where Imanishi works, one-quarter of all students are foreign nationals. She said she wants to pass on to the children the joy of learning that she discovered at night junior high school. "I want them to feel that studying is fun, and when they finish sixth grade, I want them to feel glad they came here," she said.
Night junior high schools are becoming places that connect students with foreign roots to society. Across Japan, foreign nationals account for more than 60% of students at night junior high schools, and demand for Japanese-language instruction is high.
The education ministry in May released its first guidelines on Japanese-language instruction at night junior high schools. Night junior high schools were originally established to provide compulsory education in subjects such as Japanese and mathematics, but Japanese-language teaching has often been left to individual schools to figure out on their own. Teachers at the Joso school said they initially did not know how to teach Japanese effectively.
The growing number of foreign residents in Japan is expected to continue, raising concerns among some people over the pace of change. Educators and students at the school say that learning about one another is the first step toward living together, and that expanding places where people can connect equally is increasingly important.
Source: TBS
