This page describes the current situation in Hamamatsu such as attemp tion for foreigners , foreign workers, and coronavirus in fluences.
1,About the education for foreign children
Hamamatsu City has a various.
Supports for foreign children.
There are many places in Hamamatsu City that offer free education, and anyone can easily participate. ⬇︎
A wide range of choices, dreams come true!
In order to realise their dream.
There are many foreigners, children living in Hamamatsu City, we will introduce the educational support provided in Hamamatsu City and the results of that support with using graphs.
The SDGs, are “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all” Hamamatsu City is working as an SDGs future city. One of those goals is “quality education “. This goal was established to ensure that all people have equal access to education without disparity. Hamamatsu City has one of the largest populations of foreigners in Japan. People with different cultures and languages so that they can receive a high quality education.
☆supporting activities☆
・Supporting Japanese language learning for foreign citizens, from children to adults
・They offer various activities such as Japanese language classes, multicultural experience classes, and training of Japanese language volunteers.
・Project for foreign childrens to go to school .
・Japanese language learning support program for foreigners program of reading and writing native language . and native cultural experience.
・Native and Language education projects are conducted.
☆Foreign Elementary and Junior High School Students present condition☆
The number of foreign students attending public elementary and junior high schools in Hamamatsu City decreased in 2009 ～ 2014 due to the influence of the Lehman Shock.
However, in recent years, the number of foreign students has begun to increase again because more and more foreigners continue to live in Japan with their entire families.
This fiscal year (2020)
Primary schools students 1,294 ，Secondary schools students 556 Total 1,850
Nationality 28 countries, 17 languages spoken
⇓
There are children from so many different countries!
☆Effectiveness of Educational Support☆
Because of Hamamatsu city’s activities. The interest in education has increased and the high school enrollment rate has exceeded 80%!
２,About Foreign Workers
There are － some status for foreign workers.
What is the Foreign Skills Training Program?
Foreigners with qualification for stay train jobs with some reward for set term.
For example , there are agriculture , architecture or fishing .
The number of foreign workers in Japan is increasing every year, and in 2019, the number of foreign workers was 1,658,804.
Compared to the previous year, the number of employees increased by 198,341 (13.6%), which is a record.
There are for example,manufacturing, wholesale, retail, accommodation, food service, service, and construction industries are among the foreign workers.
In the last few years, the number of foreign workers of Vietnamese nationality has been increasing. One of the reasons for the increase is that they have similarities in personality and customs to Japanese.
On the other hand, the number of foreign workers of Chinese nationality is decreasing. The reason for the decrease in the number of Chinese workers is that there is less need for them to work and learn technology in Japan as Chinese technology is advancing.
3,About COVID-19
Effect of the COVID-19
Those whose apprenticeships ended in September isn’t able to return home until the end of the year. Those whose apprenticeships ended in May have not been able to return to their home countries for more than a year. They were not directly dismissed during the break, when a state of emergency was declared. However they were concerned about their finances and their inability to return to their home countries.
There was a female technical intern who became pregnant in Japan due to the corona disaster, she was unable to return to her home country and had no one to talk to about it. It is very difficult for a foreigners to give birth and raise a child in Japan. Because of the cost.
↓ Correspondence
Since public institutions cannot provide direct financial or childcare support to foreigners, public health nurses and business people worked together to help pregnant women give birth and raise their children.
Support for the COVID-19
Currently, there are many points that are difficult for foreigners to understand like documents written in Japanese about the support the government is providing due to the new coronavirus. For this reason, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare provides information in easy to understand Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean and other languages to understand.
For example.
・Information on health and medical advice
・Information on life and work
・Domestic Outbreaks of COVID
・Government actions
・Preventing the spread of infection and improving the healthcare delivery system
・Q & A, information for municipalities, medical institutions and welfare facilities, etc.
There are some foreigners who find it difficult to understand information about the number of people infected with corona, etc. in Japanese. Therefore, HICE provides information in simple Japanese other languages are easy for foreigners to understand.
These actions seem to have relieved some of the concerns of foreigners.
food bank
Food bank is donating foods that cannot be sold to the market even if there is no quality problem due to damage to the packaging to companies and distributing them to people in need of living is also an activity carried out by NPO corporations.
＜Foods that can be handled at food banks＞
Canned foods, vegetables, fruits, etc.
＜Foods that cannot be handled by food banks＞
Foods that have a short expiration date, such as lunch boxes and sandwiches, and are easily damaged.
＜Benefits of using a food bank now＞
・Benefits of the recipient (merits of the recipient)・・・Saving food costs
・Merits on the company side (merits of the giver)・・・Benefits of social contribution activities
・Benefits of the administratios・・・Reducing financial burden
4,About refugees
Refugees are in their own country because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or belonging to a particular social group.
They refers to people who have been persecuted or have fled because they may be persecuted.
1950：United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established
It was created to help Europeans who lost their own homes in World War II, it is now helping refugees around the world．
1951：Refugee Convention
It states that crimes against peace, war crimes, and those who commit serious crimes before going to evacuation countries are not applicable.
1967：Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees
The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol are collectively referred to as the “Refugee Convention”.
By UNHCR
I will introduce the women who are working for refugees among the Japanese↓↓↓
Mrs.Sayaka Watanabe
Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1991, raised in a family that supports children who have grown up in various situations. In her college days she engaged in building peace projects as an apprentice of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), an NGO expatriate in a conflict area in Bangladesh. Now she is working to connect refugees and corporate businesses.
As of September 2020, 149 asylum applicants and 81 companies are registered. Even after refugees get jobs, they are allowed to work as “permanent employees” for a long time. It’s not just about getting jobs, it’s about connecting them with companies that really need the abilities of refugees and becoming a bridge to discover and demonstrate the potential within them through their work.
By WELgee
Hmmm…
World famous refugees
○Albert Einstein（1879〜1991）
Born in Germany, he was persecuted because he was Jewish. In 1935, he applied for and obtained permanent residency and citizenship in the United States.
○Freddie Mercury（1946〜1991）
Leader vocal of “Queen”. His father was born in India and his mother is Zoroastrian. He was born in Stone Town, Gandival Island (now Tanzania). However, he moved to Feltham, England, due to the Zangimbal Revolution in 1964.
○Jackie Chan（1954〜）
Jackie’s father’s occupation was a Kuomintang spy. Therefore, he went to Hong Kong because the Communist Party aimed at his life, but after that only his parents moved to Australia.
By Japan Association for Refugees
Status of Refugees in Japan
As shown in the graph below, while the number of refugee applicants in Japan has been increasing every year, the approval rate of Japanese government has been very low. The reasons are as follows
(1) A strong focus on “managing” refugees rather than “protecting” them.
(2) As the issue of refugees is not well known in Japan, it is important to understand that accepting refugees is unsubstantiated misconceptions and prejudices that there is an increased risk of deterioration in public safety
These are some of the most common reasons for refugee status.
In Japan, it takes averagely three years to be recognized as a refugee, and in some cases it takes nearly ten years. While applying for a refugee status, it takes several months to receive the governmental assistance, and the amount is low.
The Immigration Bureau has established detention centers for foreign people, and refugee applicants who do not have a status of residency, who have made false applications, or entered the country using a forged passport may be detained at these facilities.
By Japan Association for Refugees
