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AISHO, Shiga – Foreign nationals living in Japan are closely watching the upcoming House of Representatives elections on October 31, although they are not eligible to vote, hoping that candidates and the political parties that hold them argue will get wins.
These people include technical trainees and others who work in the country while adapting to the local community. Like Japanese nationals, many of them have been greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and are influenced by the various policies and systems of the national government.
Such observers include those involved with the Brazilian Colegio Sant’ana School in Aisho Town, Shiga Prefecture, western Japan. The school provides education and care to a group of around 80 people, ranging from babies to third-year high school students. Founded 23 years ago, the school consists of six classrooms and a kitchen room in three buildings, including a two-story prefabricated school. Subjects such as Portuguese, English and arithmetic are taught at the establishment.
The students’ parents include Japanese-Brazilians who were sent to work in auto parts factories in Shiga Prefecture. Factories have been temporarily closed amid the spread of the coronavirus, and although there have been few layoffs, many workers have seen their wages drop significantly. Thus, households that cannot afford school fees – which cost between 30,000 and 50,000 yen (approximately $ 264 to $ 440) per month per person – have appeared one after the other. The school uses the tuition fees to pay the salaries of its seven teachers and to cover expenses related to lunch ingredients and gasoline for the vehicles that pick up and drop off the children. He said he was in the red for an extended period.
Kenko Nakata, a 64-year-old second-generation Japanese-Brazilian, commented: “There are quite a few children who attend Brazilian school because they were bullied or could not fit into mainstream Japanese schools. We can’t make them drop out of school just because they can’t afford the school fees. “The school said it is currently soliciting donations to fill the gaps and explained,” The parents of the children work with the greatest effort and they support the economy of Japan. I would like the Japanese government to offer warm help to these parents and children, as well as the schools the children attend.
At Colegio Sant’ana, classes are given with masks and masks worn as a preventive measure against coronavirus infections. However, the school does not receive national grants for the purchase of hand sanitizers, as it has not been licensed as a “diverse school”. Nakata said, “We would also like support for infection prevention, in the interests of children’s health.”
Meanwhile, foreign residents who came to Japan as technical trainees, as well as organizations supporting such people, demanded, among other measures, improved working environments. A 23-year-old Vietnamese man who arrived in Japan three years ago and worked as a technical intern at a manufacturing plant in Kagawa Prefecture has revealed a distressing episode. “I suffered a bone fracture after my foot got stuck under a shelf (falling), and the effects persist, but I was told that a claim for workers’ compensation insurance would upset the patient. It was a difficult experience, â€he said. .
In September 2020, a shelf collapsed on his right foot as he tried to measure the size of a metal mold, and three of his toes were fractured as a result. He was hospitalized for about three weeks, and when he took time off work due to pain after being released, the company told him to take paid leave.
Even after a year, the man is unable to bend his toes and feels pain. After seeing a support organization he found online and receiving advice on getting checked in a hospital, he was diagnosed with after-effects from the injury in September this year. Although he asked the company to file a claim with a labor standards inspectorate for workers’ compensation insurance, he was dismissed and told: “If you want to apply, prepare the documents and do it yourself. After thinking about it, he filed a claim with a labor standards inspectorate in early October, and he was apparently told he would likely be eligible for a payment.
The man said, “I was able to apply somehow as I study Japanese regularly, but felt I was being treated coldly. I would like them to make sure. that those who are in the same boat will not have gone through the same ordeal. ” The man has completed his training, and is currently preparing to return to his country.
Kyosuke Sakai, general secretary of the Osaka Heartful Union of the Japanese Confederation of Trade Unions (Rengo), which offered to help the man, said: “It is suspected that the company was hiding the accident at work, and we We heard about similar problems from separate technical trainees working in other prefectures. If this current reality where technical trainees and other foreigners who come to Japan are seen only as consumable workers continues, there will be no more people willing to come to Japan. He added, “What can be done is to improve the way foreign residents in Japan are treated. It should not be abnormal that this issue is contested during the general election, when one also thinks of the future of the Japanese economy. ”
(Japanese original by Koichi Kirino, Osaka City News Service)
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