<div dir="ltr"><h1 itemprop="headline" id="headline" class="">Ethnic Kurds Find Haven, but No Home, in Insular Japan</h1>
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<p class=""><span class="" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">By <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/by/motoko-rich" title="More Articles by MOTOKO RICH"><span class="" itemprop="name">MOTOKO RICH</span></a></span><time class="" datetime="2016-08-17T02:04:15-04:00" itemprop="dateModified" content="2016-08-17T02:04:15-04:00">AUG. 16, 2016</time>
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<figcaption class="" itemprop="caption description">
<span class="">Mahircan Yucel is one of
about 1,300 ethnic Kurds who have settled in Kawaguchi, an industrial
city north of Tokyo, and in the neighboring city of Warabi. Their plight
offers a stark illustration of Japan’s approach to refugees.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="">KAWAGUCHI, Japan — Mahircan Yucel moved to <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/japan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Japan." class="">Japan</a> a dozen years ago as a teenager fleeing sectarian violence in <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/turkey/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Turkey." class="">Turkey</a>.
He learned Japanese, got married, had two children and grew to love his
adopted homeland. But Japan has refused to accept him and could force
him to leave.</p><p class="">“The
truth is, I have lived in Japan for such a long time,” he said on a
recent evening in a small living room that doubles as his infant son’s
bedroom. “All I want to do is work and carry out a decent life.”</p><p class="">Mr.
Yucel, 27, is one of about 1,300 ethnic Kurds who have settled in
Kawaguchi, an industrial city north of Tokyo, and in the neighboring
city of Warabi. They live in a perpetual limbo, seeking protection as
refugees in a country that is among the most reluctant in the world to
give it.</p><figure id="media-100000004576791" class="" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">
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<figcaption class="" itemprop="caption description">
<span class="">A Japanese language lesson at a Kurdish cultural association.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="">Though
the government has issued temporary permits allowing many to stay for
years, no Turkish Kurd has ever been granted refugee status in Japan,
which would allow them to settle here permanently. Their plight offers a
stark illustration of this insular nation’s approach to refugees as it
comes under pressure to admit more amid the world’s worst <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/09/world/migrants-global-refugee-crisis-mediterranean-ukraine-syria-rohingya-malaysia-iraq.html">migration crisis</a> since World War II.</p><p class="">Japan values ethnic homogeneity and has long guarded fiercely against outsiders. According to a <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/migrationreport/docs/MigrationReport2015_Highlights.pdf">United Nations report</a>,
migrants represent less than 2 percent of the population, compared with
14 percent in the United States. Because of Japan’s shrinking, aging
population, many have proposed allowing more immigration to jump-start
its stagnant economy. But the government and the public have resisted.</p>
<p class="" id="story-continues-1">At
the same time, growing numbers have sought asylum in Japan, and almost
all of them have been rejected or told to wait. More than 7,500 people
applied for refugee status in 2015, up 52 percent from a year earlier.
The government granted asylum to just 27 of them.</p><p class="">Oxfam, the human rights group, recently cited Japan in a <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/poor-welcome-worlds-wealthy">report</a>
criticizing the world’s wealthiest countries for accepting so few
refugees for resettlement, particularly those from Syria. According to
the group’s analysis of each country’s relative wealth, Japan’s “fair
share” would be close to 48,000 refugees.</p><figure id="media-100000004576792" class="" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">
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<span class="">A magazine featuring
photographs of Kurdish fighters who were killed in June. Kurds first
began arriving from Turkey and seeking asylum in Japan in the early
1990s, when the Turkish government was fighting an armed insurgency by
Kurdish militants.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="">In
2010, Japan began to accept refugees who had fled Myanmar to camps in
Thailand. But it has taken in only 24 families since then, according to
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This summer, the government also agreed
to host up to 150 Syrian refugees as foreign exchange students.</p> <a class="" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/world/asia/japan-kurds-refugees.html?_r=0#story-continues-2">Continue reading the main story</a>
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<p class="" id="story-continues-3">At the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the United Nations." class="">United Nations</a>
General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the
country needed to focus on its economy before considering whether to
accept more refugees or immigrants.</p><p class="">Nearly
14,000 people in Japan are in some stage of an asylum process that
usually lasts more than three years and that some critics say is
designed to deter new migrants from applying. Asylum seekers may work
while they wait for an answer, but those denied refugee status can be
given temporary permits that prohibit them from working while giving
them no living stipends.</p><p class="">Yasuhiro
Hishida, assistant to the director of Japan’s Refugee Status
Recognition Office, said officials suspected widespread abuse of the
refugee process. Most applicants come from countries that are not
currently considered conflict zones, including Nepal, Vietnam and Sri
Lanka, he said, suggesting that they are economic migrants rather than
refugees fleeing persecution.</p><figure id="media-100000004576793" class="" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">
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<figcaption class="" itemprop="caption description">
<span class="">Happy Kebab, one of a few Kurdish-owned kebab restaurants in Kawaguchi.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="">Immigrant
advocates say the government exaggerates the number of unfounded
refugee claims. “In reality, there are so many people who are waiting
and are facing a life of danger,” said Shiho Tanaka, spokeswoman for the
Japanese Association for Refugees.</p><p class="">With the native Japanese population declining, she added, “there are companies that want to hire them and need laborers.”</p>
<p class="" id="story-continues-4">Mr.
Yucel said he and his family had fled Turkey because they were afraid
the government would brand them as terrorists and imprison them. Now,
watching events in Turkey from afar, including a war between <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/world/middleeast/turkey-attacks-kurdish-militant-camps-in-northern-iraq.html">the government and Kurdish militant</a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/world/middleeast/turkey-attacks-kurdish-militant-camps-in-northern-iraq.html">s</a> in the southeast and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/world/middleeast/turkey-coup-erdogan.html">recent failed military coup</a>, Mr. Yucel said he could never go back.</p><p class="">“If
you see my country, there is a lot of bullying and people being
killed,” he said, growing visibly agitated. “I can’t even speak
anymore.”</p><figure id="media-100000004576795" class="" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">
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<figcaption class="" itemprop="caption description">
<span class="">Turkish Kurds drinking on a
street in Warabi. Japan is an easy destination for Kurds seeking asylum
from Turkey because they do not need visas to travel there.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times </span>
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<p class="">Mr.
Yucel married a Japanese-Brazilian woman with permanent residency, but
that does not allow him to work in Japan legally. The authorities
detained one of his elder brothers this spring after he overstayed a
temporary permit, and Mr. Yucel fears he could be next.</p><p class="">Kurds
began arriving from Turkey and seeking asylum in Japan in the early
1990s, as the Turkish government battled an insurgency by Kurdish
militants. Japan was an easy destination because Turkish citizens do not
need visas to travel here. As family and friends followed, they settled
around Kawaguchi and Warabi. Local residents named the community
Warabistan.</p><p class="">Over
time, some married Japanese citizens, which conferred long-term visa
rights, and some opened their own businesses. There are a few
Kurdish-owned restaurants in Kawaguchi, and many of the immigrants work
at Kurdish-owned demolition and construction firms.</p><p class="">But
most Kurds here, like Mr. Yucel, are stuck on temporary permits that
need to be renewed every six months. Those without permission to work
cobble together off-the-books jobs, which puts them at risk of being
detained for months or deported.</p><figure id="media-100000004576794" class="" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject">
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<figcaption class="" itemprop="caption description">
<span class="">Mr. Yucel at home with his
son. He and his family left Turkey because they were afraid the
government would brand them as terrorists and imprison them.</span>
<span class="" itemprop="copyrightHolder">
<span class="">Credit</span>
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times </span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p class="">“I
want the Japanese government to understand that real refugees are in
trouble,” said Eyyup Kurt, 29, a Kurdish journalist who applied for
asylum 18 months ago. He said he had been arrested five times in Turkey
and had been shot at by a member of the Islamic State while
investigating a training site.</p><p class="">The
Japanese public has mixed feelings about refugees. Some say the country
has a moral responsibility to welcome those fleeing danger in their
home countries, while others fear the newcomers could bring increased
crime or take jobs from Japanese workers.</p>
<p class="" id="story-continues-5">“You see what’s happening in Europe: terrorism, crimes, lots of social unease,” said Emi Aoi, a founder of <a href="http://www.sakuranokai.org">Yaezakura no Kai</a>,
a group that opposes taking in more refugees or immigrants. (Emi Aoi is
the name she uses professionally, different from her birth name, she
said, because the group’s views are not “well accepted.”)</p><p class="">Kurds
have worked hard to integrate. Many take Japanese language lessons at
the cultural association, which also runs neighborhood patrols to make
sure Kurds are not bothering their Japanese neighbors. This year, after
an earthquake struck Kumamoto on the southern island of Kyushu, a group
traveled south to help clear the rubble.</p><figure id="THasia-newsletter-module" class="">
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<p class="">Some
Japanese remain wary. City officials in Kawaguchi said they received
complaints about late-night gatherings and garbage in Kurdish
neighborhoods. Young Kurdish men tend to congregate outside a
convenience store near the train station in Warabi, and merchants say
they frighten some customers.</p><p class="">“Sometimes
I see that they get into fights, and the police have to come,” said
Hiroe Hokiyama, 21, a college junior. “It is a little bit scary.”</p><p class="">Others
are more welcoming. Shori Nishizawa, 57, the owner of an appliance
store a few blocks from Happy Kebab, a Kurdish-owned restaurant here,
said he often watched young Kurdish mothers walking with their children
on the street in front of his store.</p><p class="">“Japan
is such a peaceful country,” Mr. Nishizawa said. “We should not think
about countries, but about the world. We are all citizens of the world,
right?”</p><p class=""><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/world/asia/japan-kurds-refugees.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/world/asia/japan-kurds-refugees.html?_r=0</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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