[lg policy] Japan: Shizuyo Yoshitomi started a radio station to help immigrants who don't speak Japanese

Fri Apr 10 15:48:35 UTC 2015

 Shizuyo Yoshitomi started a radio station to help immigrants

Ethnic minorities in Japan didn't have a reliable source of news in their
own languages – such as what to do if an earthquake strikes.
 By Takehiko Kambayashi, Correspondent April 9, 2015

   -   Takehiko Kambayashi
   View Caption

  KOBE, JAPAN — When Shizuyo Yoshitomi and her fellow volunteers launched a
community radio station in the western port city of Kobe, in the aftermath
of the devastation triggered by a major earthquake in Japan 20 years ago,
their key priority was to give a voice to the voiceless.

The low-power FM station was established in one of the hardest-hit areas
two months after a magnitude-7.3 temblor. Both volunteers and disaster
victims lacked much-needed information following the quake, which killed
more than 6,400 people, Ms. Yoshitomi recalls.

Many immigrants and ethnic minorities, who had difficulty understanding
Japanese, were especially worried.
Recommended: The 10 most expensive US natural disasters
<http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2013/0627/Billion-dollar-weather-The-10-most-expensive-US-natural-disasters/Hurricane-Charley-August-2004-18.5-billion>

“We could only recognize the term ‘tsunami’ among the words blaring out
from a police car,” recalls Roxana Oshiro, who came to Japan with her
husband in 1991 from Peru. “We were shellshocked because we did not
understand Japanese and did not understand whether a tsunami would hit the
city or not. We wanted information in our language.”

<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0104/Could-you-pass-a-US-citizenship-test/Who-signs-bills?cmpid=prc:ctzn:e>
Could you pass a US citizenship test? Find out.
<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0104/Could-you-pass-a-US-citizenship-test/Who-signs-bills?cmpid=prc:ctzn:e>

<http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2015/Photos-of-the-day-04-09>
 Photos of the Day
<http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day> Photos of the
day 04/09
<http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2015/Photos-of-the-day-04-09>

The new station broadcast in five languages, including Vietnamese and
Tagalog, a language widely spoken in the Philippines, from a makeshift
studio in the city’s Nagata district.

Yoshitomi, who’s fluent in Spanish, took charge of programs in that
language.

Nagata was home to a growing community of immigrants and ethnic minorities,
many of whom were working at shoe or rubber factories there.

Yoshitomi, who then lived in another part of Kobe, arrived in Nagata two
days after the quake. She was shocked to see “completely burned-out ruins,”
she says.
Recommended: Opinion <http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion> 4 ways
to prevent natural disasters from becoming human tragedies
<http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0828/4-ways-to-prevent-natural-disasters-from-becoming-human-tragedies/Early-warning-systems-for-famines>

Her friend’s church had burned to ashes, and the site had already been
turned into a relief camp where injured residents were receiving medical
treatment. Volunteers were busily providing other aid to those displaced by
the quake.

Yoshitomi eagerly joined the other volunteers, mainly giving assistance to
the non-Japanese residents.

Japanese citizens such as Yoshitomi flocked to Kobe neighborhoods to engage
in volunteer activities at the same time as the government’s slow and
inefficient response began to irritate many.

Most Japanese then were unfamiliar with the term “volunteer.” The concept
of voluntarism had rarely been promoted in the country before the quake.

“It seems the meaning of the word ‘volunteer’ has changed ... since,”
Yoshitomi says. Instead of meaning that people were working for no pay the
word began to mean simply “voluntary behavior.”

Voluntarism is now woven into the fabric of daily life in Japan. Today
about 200 volunteers are involved in the radio station, known as FMYY,
which operates as a nonprofit organization and broadcasts in 10 languages.
(YY or “wai-wai” in Japanese means “buzz-buzz.”)

The work of FMYY is valuable, Yoshitomi says. Vital information should be
available in many languages so that those who don’t speak Japanese can
become more involved in Japanese society. Their participation can provide
fresh perspectives that most Japanese may not be aware of, she says.

Her argument comes at a time when some here are calling for Japan to accept
more immigrants as it confronts a declining birthrate and a rapidly aging
population.

A graduate of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Yoshitomi had had few
opportunities to speak Spanish outside of work. However, big changes came
after the Japanese government decided in 1990 to grant special visas to
Latin Americans of Japanese descent to help address labor shortages. That
prompted an influx of immigrants from South American countries such as
Brazil and Peru.

Yoshitomi, then a staff member at the Honorary Consulate-General of Bolivia
in Kobe, was providing support to newly arrived immigrants, and she came to
appreciate the different values and perspectives they offered.

In 1995 the earthquake made the predicament of minority groups who don’t
speak Japanese more visible, leading many people in Kobe to finally
recognize the city’s ethnic diversity, Yoshitomi recalls.

“I believe more people in Kobe became aware of the importance of diversity
and minorities’ views after the quake,” she says. “This is very valuable to
the city.”

Yoshitomi, who used to be a full-time homemaker, is involved in a number of
mission-driven organizations in addition to her work at the FM radio
station. She has established the nonprofit Multilanguage Center FACIL,
which provides translation services, and the nonprofit World Kids
Community, which supports education for minority children.

“Ms. Yoshitomi was the only Spanish-speaker whenever I came here to seek
advice. So, I offered some help,” recalls Ms. Oshiro, who has been in
charge of the Spanish language program at FMYY since 2000. “She put trust
in me and encouraged me to work for the radio” project, says the mother of
two children.

Oshiro also serves as the editor of Latin-a, a Spanish language magazine.
Working with Yoshitomi “has been greatly beneficial to my child-rearing and
our children’s education,” says Oshiro, whose older son now goes to a
Japanese university.

Yoshitomi felt her groups’ activities weren’t being properly recognized by
Japan’s academic community. So she decided to study for a PhD to provide a
solid theoretical underpinning for her work.

“I also thought I would be able to learn what I had been unaware of” after
10 years working in the nonprofit sector, she says.

Today Yoshitomi, the mother of two grown children, has earned a doctoral
degree at Kyoto University, one of Japan’s top schools, and is an associate
professor at the Global Collaboration Center at Osaka University.

“My life has changed tremendously since the quake [in 1995]. I had never
imagined I would earn a PhD,” she says.

“It was very difficult for her to complete her dissertation in only three
years with a long commute while doing her job,” says Yukio Adachi, a
professor emeritus at Kyoto University. “She inspired me as well as her
fellow graduate students.

“She already had a wealth of hands-on experience, but she wanted to study
theory. We then had very few students like her. She presented a new model,”
says Dr. Adachi, who now teaches public policy at Kyoto Sangyo University.

In 2013, Yoshitomi received an award from Japan’s Agency for Cultural
Affairs for her contribution to international cultural exchanges and the
introduction of Japanese culture to the world.

In 2011, after an earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan,
Yoshitomi flew to the region to support community radio stations there with
help from the international charity Oxfam.

She also helped establish Bayanihan Kesennuma Radio in the city of
Kesennuma, large parts of which were destroyed in the 2011 quake.
(Bayanihan means “mutual assistance” in Tagalog.)

The radio program played a key role in helping the Filipino community after
the disaster, she says.

To those who don’t speak Japanese, “just listening to their native language
brings a sense of reassurance,” especially in a time of crisis, Yoshitomi
says. The station has contributed to strengthening the Filipino community
in the region and made it more visible, including attracting the attention
of national news media.

While some Japanese still frown on the growing presence of other ethnic
groups, “Uplifting a minority community is very important,” Yoshitomi says.
It can “help make the entire society more resilient.”
How to take action

*Universal Giving* <http://www.universalgiving.org> helps people give to
and volunteer for top-performing charitable organizations around the world.
All the projects are vetted by Universal Giving; 100 percent of each
donation goes directly to the listed cause.

Below are links to three organizations that aid people in need:

*• Yspaniola Incorporated <http://bit.ly/Yspaniola>* supports high-quality
education in marginalized communities. Take action: Purchase three books
for a learning center library. <http://bit.ly/PurchaseBooks>

*• Eastern Congo Initiative <http://bit.ly/CongoDonate>* supports local
groups that offer girls and women academic opportunities that increase
independence and employability. Take action: Support access to education
for girls in eastern Congo <http://bit.ly/EasternCongo>.

*• Globe Aware <http://bit.ly/GlobeAware>* promotes cultural awareness and
sustainability. Take action: Volunteer to fight poverty in India by working
with children living in slums. <http://bit.ly/SlumKids>

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2015/0409/Shizuyo-Yoshitomi-started-a-radio-station-to-help-immigrants

-- 
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

-------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20150410/213d392b/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list