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Appendix
Open Letter to United Nations Special Rapporteur Doudou
Diene: Report on Education Issues of Foreign Children in the
Chubu Region (Japan)
Chubu Region Multiculturalism and Gender Equality
Research Group
1. Preface
The Workshop on “Multiculturalism and Racism” at the 2005 Chuo University
Global Human Security Forum recognized the importance of education issues of
the children of foreign migrants. The Workshop, attended by Mr. Doudou Diene,
the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, discussed the report of theMulticulturalism and Gender Equality Research Group (Research Group), withthe participation of concerned parties in the Chubu Region [central region ofJapan], and debated the issue intensively. This Open Letter, made public bothin English and Japanese, is based on the discussions that took place during thefour meetings of the Research Group between the autumn of 2006 and springof 2007. The Research Group offers this report to the Special Rapporteur as areference.
2. Basic Principles
Before touching on the various education-related anxieties and insecurities
experienced by the children of migrants in Japan’s Chubu Region, we outline thebasic principles of education that frequently arose in the Research Group’s debates.
Because clear acknowledgement by the Japanese government of these principles,
which are often left ambiguous in today’s Japan, has been recognized as a fundamental
prerequisite to resolving the education issues faced by migrant foreigners, it isnecessary that we outline them to begin this report.
2.1 Children’s Right to Education
Japan has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and recognized that
all children living in Japan have the right to receive an education. The problem
is that children of foreign migrants, whatever their rights under the law, areAppendix

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in practice not given educational opportunities equal to those of children of
Japanese nationality. It is not an exaggeration to say that all the issues touched
upon in this report arise from the fact that the equal access to education principle
is not actually implemented.
2.2 Revision of Japan’s Education System
In this sense, while discussing the need to devise specific strategies to improvethe education for the children of migrants, the Research Group confirmed thatthe basic problem would not be solved by piecemeal measures, and that itwas necessary to revise the Japanese education system itself. Since the Meiji
Era, Japanese education has been placing importance on making Japanesechildren become citizens useful to the Japanese nation. This principle wasfurther emphasized in the recent revision of the Basic Law on Education. It will
be impossible to close the gap in education that exists between the children of
migrants and children of Japanese nationality without striving for an education
system that allows all children, regardless of their nationality, to gain an
independent awareness of their own rights and to reach their full potential within
the conditions of their own varied environments.
2.3 Respect for Commonalities and Differences
While the Minister of Education has stated that the education of children of
foreign migrants should be treated similar to that of zainichi Koreans (Korean
residents in Japan), there are actual cases of migrant children in Westerninternational schools getting preferential treatment from the government. On
the other hand, the differences in the environments where children of so-called‘oldcomers’ and ‘newcomers’ are raised, the requirements needed to meet theseenvironments, and their prospects for the future, necessitate that children of
migrants receive an education that considers the unique circumstances in theirrespective communities.
2.4 Cooperation from Localities as a Unit
In order to provide appropriately developed education, it is necessary to createa national education system based on the concept of integration of Japanesechildren with children of various foreign communities, and in close cooperation
with the board of education, school administration, public education institutions,schools for foreigners, and the citizens and businesses in each locality. This typeof cooperative structure, whereby the education of children of migrants is actively

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promoted at the local level as experienced by progressive localities such as thosein the Chubu Region, should be emulated by other localities.
2.5 Education in One’s Native Language and Japanese Language Education
The biggest issue in the education of children of migrants revolves aroundthe provision of Japanese language education, essential to becoming part ofJapanese society while maintaining their respective identities, and how thisreconciles with education in one’s native language that is indispensable in casethe children return to their home country. Within the Japanese education system,
the primary/secondary schools and schools for foreigners are treated differently,
though both continue to cope with limited financial and human resources. To
be able to provide children of migrants with good educational choices, there isa need to increase the availability of educational opportunities in both mothertongues and the Japanese language, as much as possible.
3. Current Conditions
3.1 “Oldcomers” and “Newcomers”
The Korean residents comprise the highest number of foreigners in Japan atpresent. In Aichi prefecture, however, the Brazilians comprise a bigger community
than that of the Korean residents. The foreign communities established in
the prefecture the Aichi Association for Residents of Foreign Nationality. Both“oldcomers” and “newcomers” emphasize multicultural education. While inprinciple the education of children of nikkei Brazilian (Brazilians of Japanesedescent) migrants and that of “oldcomers” share common grounds, theirrespective communities have different historical relationships with Japan. Thus
treating the education of these children in the same way would be a mistake.
3.2 The Education of “Oldcomers”
Regarding the problems with the education of zainichi Korean children, Special
Rapporteur Doudou Diene offers a correct analysis in his 2005 report on racism
in Japan.1 Acknowledging this, we take a closer look at the situation in the Chubu
Region in particular. There were roughly 150,000 North Korea-affiliated zainichi
Koreans in Aichi Prefecture at the time of Japan’s defeat in World War II, mostof them were first-generation migrants. But many returned to their homeland
after the war, leaving a population of about 60,000. Their ethnic education canbe traced to Korean language classes that started in September 1945. Later aAppendix

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primary school was opened for them, but it was ordered closed by the American
occupation forces in 1948. This school was closed on the eve of the Korean War
in 1950.
Eight to fifteen schools ethnic schools were subsequently established, andmore North Korean schools were established after the Korean War. Due in partto pressure from Japanese civic activists, these schools were recognized by theJapanese government through an order from the Ministry of Education in 1965.
Then, in 1970, they began receiving private-school grants. Today these schools
receive 31,000 Yen grant per student.
However, the number of students declined and today five North Korean
schools in Nagoya receive eight million Yen in grants. In Aichi Prefecture, villages
and towns that have no ethnic schools receive a specified amount of subsidy
per person. The size of the grant to ethnic schools varies, but it is much smaller
than the amount received by Japanese public and private schools. This is an
undeniable gap between North Korean ethnic schools and Japanese schools.
Despite this, Aichi’s North Korean schools currently have 10,000 graduates.
Some graduates have blended into Japanese society, with several becoming
entertainers and lawyers. The schools face discrimination in many areas, such as
grant payments and graduation qualifications, but they work hard and have been
overcoming these barriers. Japanese citizens support their work. But while North
Korean schools follow the Japanese school curriculum, they are still treated as
schools separate from the Japanese education system.
In the past, graduates of North Korean schools were not qualified to takeuniversity entrance examinations. Three years ago,2 the Ministry of Education
decided to allow each university to decide whether or not to allow North Korean
school graduates to take their exams. The inability to take the university entrance
examinations due to non-recognition of educational qualification is a major
obstacle faced by graduates of North Korean schools. By leaving it up to each
university to decide the qualifications of potential applicants, Japan is effectively
avoiding the legal steps that would give graduates of North Korean schools thesame opportunities provided by the Japanese schools.
Secondly, there is the issue of subsidy gap. Despite the fact that zainichi
North Koreans pay taxes, their educational institutions do not receive subsidies.
As a result, they are forced to spend thirty to forty percent of their income on
their children’s education. Therefore, zainichi North Koreans shoulder a heavier
burden because of the discrepancy in subsidies between foreign and regularschools. Because the overwhelming majority of zainichi Koreans are permanent

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the pressure to assimilate into Japanese society. On this point, it can be said thatthe education issues faced by zainichi Koreans are different from those faced
by “newcomers,” who often return to their home countries and are less likely to
become permanent residents.
3.3 The Education of Newcomers: The Case of Filipino Migrants
The Research Group undertook a research on the education of so-called“newcomers” - the Filipino and Indonesian migrants and the nikkei Brazilians andPeruvians. The research was deemed necessary because of the wide divergencein the living conditions of these newcomers according to their immigration status.
In particular, unlike the nikkei Brazilian migrants, the undocumented status ofother newcomers directly relates to the education problems of their children.
The situation of children of Filipino migrants in Aichi Prefecture is an example.
There is a fundamental difference between the schools for Brazilian and Koreanchildren and the “International Children’s School” for children of “overstaying”
Filipino migrants.
The “International Children’s School” is a school for children who are refusedby Japanese schools. An “International Children’s School” was establishedin Nagoya city in 1998 due to the refusal of the city to accept the children of“overstayers.” The city maintained this policy until 2002. Being an easier place tolive in, many Filipinos have lived in Nagoya city for fifteen to twenty years without
documentation. The uncertainty of their stay in the country left many of theirchildren in very insecure conditions.
Many of these Filipino children were born in Japan, and do not speak Tagalog
and Japanese well. Their language ability is at a much lower level compared
to children attending schools in Japan. The deportation of their parents would
also mean their deportation to the Philippines, where the language and culture
are unknown to them, and where they would end up as foreigners in their own
country. This was the reason for the establishment of the “International Children’s
School” in Nagoya city.
There is yet another serious problem. Japanese children play with otherchildren living in their neighborhood after school, but children of undocumented
Filipinos stay inside the house all day with only the television to keep themcompany. The “International Children’s School” is a place where these children
can go. But tighter surveillance by the immigration authorities makes it hard forthese children to go out into the open at all. Whenever a rumor circulates withinAppendix

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the Filipino community that someone has been deported, tension rises andthe school closes. And even if the parents luckily escape arrest by immigration
authorities, they face the constant risk of being dismissed from work that causes
so much financial insecurity.
The problem of getting to and from school is also a serious one. The“International Children’s School”3 is located in Owari-asahi City with twenty
children aged four to twelve attending it. Most children commute from Nagoya
City. Commuting by train is difficult, so the teachers pick up and drop off thechildren by driving a bus, without which they would not be able to attend school.
Space is another problem. The school will run out of space if number of students
increase to thirty. At the moment, the school is run from Monday to Friday eachweek in an Anglican church. Despite this difficult situation, the children enjoy
going to school everyday.
3.4 The Education of Newcomers: The case of Indonesian migrants
To understand the problems faced by the Indonesian migrant children, it isessential to know more about Indonesia, a country with 80% Muslim populationand composed of about four hundred ethnic communities. In Indonesia, literacy
includes not only the alphabet but also Arabic literacy, and the school system iscomposed of public and Islamic schools. Public schools teach Islam and otherreligions and have time for prayer. The Indonesian migrant children in Japanattend Japanese schools that do not provide the aspects of education that are
indispensable in their own country. There are also problems of bullying; theIndonesian migrant children do not leave schools for that reason though.
Problems associated with religion are reflected in different situations in
Nagoya. Schools serve lunches that are not halal (permitted in Islam) forcing theIndonesian children to bring their own lunch. Praying is also a serious problem.
There is lack of time and place for prayer for Muslim grown-ups working
in Japanese workplaces. The Indonesian children, on the other hand, feelembarrassed praying in the presence of their friends, making it a painful school
experience. Fasting during the Ramadan is not understood, and Indonesian
clothes, including the use of veil by girls, generate tension in school. There are
Indonesian schools in Tokyo but none in the Chubu Region. The difference ineducation in Indonesia and Japan is also a serious problem – Indonesian mothers
have to organize private classes to meet the educational needs of their children.
The Mosques give religious education.

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In this way, the most serious problem faced by Indonesian children isreligion-related. As far as language is concerned, Indonesian children learn tospeak Japanese fluently, before their parents do. Religious education is also the
responsibility of the family, but the lack of time for prayer at school, for example,
is a serious problem. The problem is common in the whole Japanese society andMuslim parents have problems about prayer and fasting in the workplace, but it isespecially serious in the education of children of Muslim families.
3.5 The Education of Newcomers: The Case of nikkei Brazilian Migrants
The nikkei Brazilians comprise the biggest migrant community in the Chubu
Region. Since the 1990s, when they began migrating to Japan, schools fortheir children came up in various places. Since 2000, the Brazilian Ministryof Education had been investigating the situation and found many problems.
One problem is that the children can only speak Portuguese. Even if they enter
Japanese schools, they cannot understand what is taught. Even though they arebright, they are looked down on.
Then there is the issue of culture. Since they do not understand the cultural
practices in Japanese schools, they are often considered a nuisance to theschool. Children who speak Japanese do well in school and in the community. In
many cases, however, their parents do not speak Japanese that in turn creates
the problem of communication within the family.
Children who speak the Japanese language well are rejected by their homecommunity and considered to be Japanese upon their return to Brazil. The
Brazilian government, having identified these issues, decided to license Brazilian
schools in Japan to educate Brazilian children using Brazil’s education guidelines.
One such school, Don Bosco School, opened four years ago. There are one
hundred children enrolled in the school, from nursery to high school levels.
Many problems confront the Brazilian schools, the biggest problem being theteachers. With no assistance from either Brazil or Japan, the schools must findtheir own teachers. School buildings with small and limited number of classrooms
are another problem. Without a gymnasium, they rent Komaki City’s facility forphysical education classes. The city has two Brazilian schools in Komaki, whose
students face the problem of commuting from homes located in different places
due insufficient number of school bus drivers available. Children spend longhours at school. Their parents spend long hours at work, and get home latethat they cannot look after their children. In some cases, their parents work on
weekends, and the children see them only for three or four hours during that

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time. Brazilian textbooks and other educational materials are also a problem
because they are difficult to find.
To resolve the various issues and provide better education, cooperationfrom the Japanese government and citizens is essential. Although there are
exceptions, there is still a general lack of full understanding of the education ofchildren from the nikkei Brazilian community.
3.6 The Education of Newcomers: The Case of nikkei Peruvian Migrants
The problems faced by Peruvian children are similar to those of the Brazilianchildren. However, as far as the Chubu Region is concerned, there are no
Spanish-medium schools that the children from the Peruvian community can
attend. It is unfortunate that there is no civil society support for the children fromthe Peruvian community, unlike the wholehearted support from the Brazilian
community and the Japanese civil society for Brazilian schools. If there were
Peruvian schools, the children who were bullied and had left the Japanese
schools could find an alternative place to continue their education. This could
reduce the number of children out of school.
Nikkei Peruvian children (Peruvian children of Japanese descent) have thesame face as their Japanese friends, but the latter do not accept fully the former
even if they speak fluent Japanese. Most of the Peruvian children are the objectsof bullying. There is a high percentage of Peruvian children who do not attend
school for this reason, complicated by the lack of Spanish-medium schools.
The difference in the education system in their mother country is also a serious
obstacle to their full participation in Japanese schools. Even simple mathematics
subject taught in Japanese schools differs from schools in Peru. Peruvian
children who have stayed for a long time in Japan speak Japanese fluently but do
not understand Spanish, and this creates misunderstanding between them andtheir parents who do not speak Japanese well. It is also important for them to be
fully educated about their roots and their identity.
3.7 Common Issues and Responses to Diverse Educational Needs
We have touched on educational issues confronted by the zainichi Korean
community, the Filipino and Indonesian communities and the nikkei Brazilian
and Peruvian communities. While we found that each community faces its own
particular set of problems, it is also clear that, at the root, these communities
have a variety of issues in common. We discuss these shared issues below.

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4. The Problems
We have already touched on a number of problems in Japan’s education system,
including its unenlightened attitude toward the right of children of the foreign community
to receive an education, as reflected in its targeting only children with Japanesenationality for compulsory education, as well as the legal gap between foreign schools
and Japanese public and private schools. In addition to these problems, the existence ofthe following issues has also been confirmed.
4.1 Guaranteeing an Education
The Research Group, in examining the issue of school enrollment among children
in the foreign community, and in particular having received a report based ona detailed survey conducted in Kani City (Gifu Prefecture), has confirmed that
school enrollment among foreign children is not adequately guaranteed. It isclear, based on the detailed and comprehensive survey conducted in Kani City,
that the environment for school enrollment for foreign children is not in order.
Seventy percent of Kani City’s foreign residents are Brazilian nationals, with
the next most numerous groups being Filipinos and Koreans. As of November
2006, with a population of 100,000, Kani city had 6,400 foreigners, which meantthat for every fifteen residents one is a foreigner. Within that group, children who
were not attending school included not only Brazilians but also Filipinos, Indians
and Koreans. The survey found that, for people without Japanese citizenship, it is
not an environment in which school enrollment is guaranteed.
At the same time, the data gathered from the three visits to the children’shouseholds during the survey period (2005-2006) revealed that the ratio ofchildren attending foreign schools was exactly the same each time. Thirty percent
of all foreign children in Kani City go to foreign schools. The largest number goto Brazilian schools recognized by the Brazilian government, followed by various
international schools, and then North Korean schools.
Another thirty percent of the foreign children attend Japanese public schools.
Thus the percentage of foreign children attending Japanese public schools is thesame as the percentage of foreign children attending foreign schools.
It is reasonable to assume that the remaining forty percent of the foreign
children do not attend school. If the children are not freed from this situation they
will be caught between foreign schools and Japanese public schools, attending
neither and continuing to miss out on schooling. Given such conditions, Japan,
having ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, cannot simply argue that

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foreign children are not subject to compulsory education.
Another problem that deserves public attention is the fact that many childrenof the migrant communities refuse to proceed to secondary school and theuniversity. There are many factors that cause this limit to the higher educationof foreign children. The Japanese university entrance examination system
recognizes special measures for foreign applicants such as permitting the use ofdictionaries, but this does not help eliminate the handicaps of foreign children.
More radical measures have to be taken to improve the present situation where
the opportunity for foreign children to receive higher education is limited ascompared to Japanese children.
Further, there are a variety of problems with foreign children’s school
enrollment, scholastic ambitions, hopes for the future, and present living
conditions, even among those children who attend school. These issues became
clear during the Research Group’s debates.
4.2 The Home and GuardianFirstly, children raised in foreign migrant households are affected by the factthat their parents or other guardians do not have livelihood guaranteed by thestate the way Japanese citizens do. The small subsidy for foreign schools has
an impact on the finances of foreign children’s households, as pointed out
earlier. Students of North Korean schools have been victimized by violent attacks(cutting up of their chima chogori, the traditional Korean dress for women). There
are many cases of children with a non-Japanese parent, perhaps through aninternational marriage, suffer bullying. Further, it is also common to find foreign
children spending very limited time with their parents or guardians due to thelatter’s harsh employment conditions, while children of so-called overstayers orother undocumented migrants suffer insecurity and uncertainty as to when theirparents would lose their jobs or get deported.
It was also pointed out that even among nikkei Latin Americans and otherdocumented migrants, the fact that they do not know if their parents will settle inJapan or return to their home country prevents them from dreaming of the future
and making concrete plans.
Employment of the parents and the family environment of foreign children
is another serious problem. The reason many Peruvian children cannot speak
Spanish is that both of their parents work from morning till very late at nightand have no time to meet and interact with their children. The labor situation offoreign migrants in Japan is a serious problem for the education of the foreign

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cchildren that deserves to be addressed more carefully by the Japanese corporate
sector and civil society.
Behind the education-related issues faced by the foreign migrant community
is the fact that the present and future place of foreign children in society is notassured - a problem that has no bearing on children of Japanese nationality. Thisis an important issue that is often overlooked.
4.3 Racist Bullying
The problem of bullying is serious, and not adequately met by teachers in thecase of foreign children. The teachers should contact more frequently the parents
through home visits. For the children, most problems occur at school and their
only support comes from the teachers. Their parents are completely helplessin most cases of bullying. Many Japanese deny the existence of bullying of
foreign children, but it exists widely and starts with the way Japanese children
look at foreign children, and despise their skin color or say “those foreigners!”
An atmosphere of discrimination fills the schools. Education in Japan does
not take into account the different characteristics of individuals and does notstress building individuality. It aims at producing homogeneous human beings.
Therefore, the only way to eliminate the bullying of foreign children is not to
educate them better, but to educate Japanese children differently to understandand appreciate the foreign children, their culture and their identity.
While there is no problem at the kindergarten level, foreign children begin torefuse to go to primary school when they become the object of bullying. A reverse
trend exists at the secondary school level, where foreign children sometimes join
“problem” gangs, and secondary school officials call their parents to complain
about their behavior. The parents, being foreigners, find it difficult to invite theJapanese friends of their children to visit their home. And their children tend to
make friends with Japanese children who are also excluded from the majority
and do not find their place in the society. They begin to smoke together and join
the “problem” gangs. Home visit by teachers cannot solve such situations, and amore extensive policy by the Government to address the exclusion of “problem”
children, Japanese or foreigner, is necessary to solve this problem.
4.4 Educational Guidelines and Scholastic Ambition
It was pointed out that children whose “place” is unclear, who cannot planahead or know the degree to which language ability in Japanese or theirmother tongues will be necessary for their future, are likely to suffer from aAppendix

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lack of scholastic ambition. It was also noted that academic evaluations use theacademic performance of Japanese children as the standard and thus ignore
the living condition and potential of foreign children, which tend also to reduce
those children’s desire to study. Because public school teachers have no meansof teaching students who do not speak Japanese, foreign students are often left
to practice writing kanji (Chinese writing) or Japanese sentence structure while
Japanese children learn social studies or science. However hard these children
work, their efforts can never earn proper academic evaluation.
There have been experiments in teaching in foreign children’s native
language, but in such cases the instruction duties are often left in the handsof teacher-interpreters. But while these teachers can translate the Japanesecurriculum into Portuguese or Tagalog, they cannot compensate for thedifferences in the way mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects
are taught in Japan and, say, Brazil and the Philippines. It is necessary to tailor
lessons to the age and abilities of the children so that, for example, a 15-year-old
student in the third year of middle school does not begin his or her education in
Japan by studying the Hiragana and Katakana scripts. There is also a need todevise evaluation standards so that the children themselves understand that what
they have learned is being recognized.
Unless foreign children have their academic efforts properly recognized inthis way, they will not develop the scholastic ambition at par with the Japanesechildren. Until this problem is resolved, the education gap between children of the
migrant community and Japanese children will remain.
4.5 Teaching Japanese Language
The question of Japanese language education is complicated, and even when
foreign children can speak Japanese, their linguistic capacity is less thansufficient. There is a need to teach foreign children to distinguish correct
Japanese from improper slang and socially inappropriate parlance. The language
proficiency of the foreign children begins to decrease during the primaryschool level and a 12-year-old child often has a language proficiency level ofa 9-year-old child. It is clear that they will face serious problems when they
proceed to the junior secondary school level, while the introduction of volunteers
to help them learn Japanese is insufficient for them to catch up. The classes
for foreign children are full of such children who are then put into the specialclasses of children with intellectual or learning disabilities. This causes thema serious shock, and they begin to feel inferior to the Japanese children and296

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i close motivation to learn. This is a second shock experienced by foreign children
who are already feeling unaccepted in Japanese schools. They learn to read
Chinese characters but cannot grasp their full meaning, unlike their Japaneseclassmates. The teachers do not understand the cultural problems they face anddo not know how to deal with them. The teachers and the parents should reacha common understanding about the problems faced by the children, and schools
should develop a curriculum well adapted to the specific educational needs ofthe children. Special curriculums should be adopted in schools with many foreign
children.
4.6 Problem Posed by the Japanese Educational System
Special measures for foreign children may be necessary in the Japanese schools,
but treating them excessively as special cases may hamper the development of
their individual capacity. The well-intentioned teachers tend to reduce the burdenof work for foreign children compared to Japanese children, but this does nothelp their individual development. The Japanese educational system relies toomuch on rules and regulations. Teachers fear any disturbance of harmony inclasses, so that parents are called in when Brazilian and Peruvian children quarrel
in classes for foreign children. This is meaningless because the children of thetwo communities get more intimate with each other by quarrelling. Brazil, forexample, is a multicultural country where everybody is free. Brazilian children get
tired of being forced to adapt to the innumerable rules of Japanese schools. They
are accustomed to an equal camaraderie with their teachers, but in Japan theteachers stay in their office and do not permit the children to come close to them.
The Japanese children are also less open to foreign friends than in Brazil. The
foreign children lack a place to live with a sense of security, since their parents
are always at work, causing some of them to join the “problem” children gangs.
Japanese teachers must try to better understand these problems of foreign
children. The Japanese educational authorities should make efforts to revise thewhole educational system.
4.7 The Education of Foreign Children in an Age of Decreasing Population Rate
When Japan enters the age of decreasing population, the Japanese government
must realize the importance of educating foreign children as future citizens. Thereis a great progress made in that direction by the Japanese civil society since its
support for the education of the children of the “newcomers” did not exist some
fifteen years ago. Yet there are many problems left unsolved by the Japanesestate and the civil society.

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5. Local Cooperation Towards a Solution
5.1 General Trends
We have described the various education-related issues confronting childrenof the foreign community in Japan. In addition to making Special Rapporteur
Doudou Diene aware that many problems exist, the Research Group wishes toemphasize that, during its discussions, it received reports of cases in which civic
groups and public administrators have addressed these problems seriously andachieved a certain degree of success. By acknowledging the issues, these groups
have taken a tack opposite to that of the government, which denies the existenceof any problems, and are working to make things better.
It was noted many times that the gradual progress that has been seen in
the system of ethnic education for zainichi Koreans owes much to the Japanesecitizens who helped shape public opinion in favor of eliminating the education
gap. The public sentiment has also started to be aroused by the education issuesof newcomers, and the Research Group acknowledged the importance of further
rousing public opinion on this matter.
5.2 Efforts Made at the City and Prefectural Levels
In Kani City (Gifu Prefecture), the survey of foreign families living in the city wasorganized with the support of the City Board of Education. The families wereinterviewed three times in 2005 and 2006, and asked about the education of
their children. It is one of the first surveys of this kind in Japan.
Toyohashi city emphasizes support for the education of foreign children
through close cooperation among the city, schools and families. Young womenvolunteers, like older sisters, started three “classrooms” where the children
were encouraged to come for consultation and guidance. They produced amap indicating where the children should go in case of emergency. They alsoorganized visits to the factories in Toyohashi City found to be of considerable
interest to the foreign children.
Shiga Prefecture, an inland industrial prefecture, has many foreign workers
employed to assemble and process materials in many factories. 13,000
Brazilians live there, followed by Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indonesians.
The only Finnish School in Japan is also in the prefecture. The education offoreign children is a serious issue for the prefecture. In Otsu City, there are many
Christian missionaries who teach in many languages to children of different
nationalities. The prefecture, which considers it crucial to guarantee the education

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H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cof foreign children in their respective mother tongues, has an increasing numberof classes in kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools that
introduce Portuguese language. There is an increased need for governmentlicensed childcare workers for foreign children, who are currently taken cared of
by volunteers.
Among others, a group of volunteer citizens called Tanpopo (Dandelion)
organizes activities contributing to the education of foreign children. In general,
the supportive activities of the citizens play an important role in supporting the
education of foreign children. The support group facilitates close cooperation
between the citizens and the schools particularly regarding the very important
after-school activities. Also in Shiga Prefecture, the Centre for International
Cooperation organizes summer sessions for guidance on the choice of
secondary school for foreign primary school children. This guidance program
has good interpreters and is very helpful. However, this type of guidance isbetter performed by the primary schools themselves rather than a center not
specializing in education.
The Shiga Prefecture is considering the establishment of an international
scholarship system without distinction as to nationality. Such system should
replace the present national system where foreign students, once admitted inuniversities, have to compete on equal footing with Japanese students in getting
scholarship without considering their diverse handicaps.
In Komaki City, the Ishiki Elementary School has the most number of foreign
students. The Research Group has identified a number of good practices where
volunteers play an important role. In general, citizen volunteers visit nine publicschools and organize international classes using Portuguese and other languages
to speak to foreign children who do not understand Japanese regarding different
subjects so that they can return to their class somehow better equipped to catchup.
The volunteers organize, on the free afternoon of Fridays, informal meetings
to assist the foreign children with their homework and play with them. This has
become a place where the foreign children do not only learn but also relax, andget encouraged to face the school again. These children are encouraged to teacheach other about their respective countries, by drawings and stories. Foreign
children who do not like to go to school find in these meetings an occasion toplay musical instruments and other activities, which help them overcome theirdislike for school. Having children from different nationalities study and play
together is not easy, but the volunteers persevere in their efforts to help them.

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5.3 The Task Ahead
In general, though the development of the education system at the national levelto improve the situation of foreign children is taking so much time, three trends
have emerged at the regional level that can be seen as bringing hope to thecause.
Firstly, there is the trend towards creating cooperative structures amongsupporters of the foreign community to tackle the problem. An example is the“Multicultural Education Forum 2006 Aichi” where many members of the foreigncommunities were involved in trying to find ways of dealing with the problem, andin participating in the government-sponsored conference on prefectural “citizens”
with foreign nationalities. There is a need for a system of cooperation between
those involved at the national and regional levels in the future.
Secondly, while the Research Group was able to produce a detailed reporton a comprehensive survey of the situation of foreigners living in Kani City, there
is no accurate information about the situation of education of foreign children.
But surveys are beginning to include issues such as the rate of children refusing
to go to school and thus at the very least there are parts of the country thatare taking steps toward solutions. It would be ideal if Kani City was used as amodel, and surveys and information-gathering about the education of children of
foreigners were made nationwide.
Thirdly, there are reports about the various modes of cooperation between
the parents/guardians in the foreign community, schools (Japanese and foreign),
educators, and the local government. Many examples were given, includinginter-school soccer matches, cultural understanding classes sponsored by aJapanese school where members of the foreign community participate in the
Parents-Teachers Association, and cases showing cooperation between Japanese
language educators and the government. There is need for further consultationin the future regarding the relationship between education in the Japanese
language and education in foreign languages in order to provide comprehensive
measures, bearing in mind the needs of the children. The Research Group also
reported on case studies showing boards of education and the government
making earnest efforts regarding the education of the foreign children. If the
progressive steps taken by some local governments spread among local
governments in general, then we can expect that this will be a trigger for policychange at the national level.
These are the conclusions of The Multiculturalism and Gender Equality

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Research Group for the Chubu Region after holding four study group sessions
on the education of foreign children, and which had the pleasure of presenting
its report to Special Rapporteur Doudou Diene. The report focuses only on thesituation in the Chubu Region, but this area has a high number of migrants, so
it can be considered to be a microcosm of the issue on a Japan-wide basis. We
hope that Special Rapporteur Doudou Diene finds this report useful in promoting
the fight against racism in Japan at the United Nations level.
Endnotes
For the full 2005 report of Doudou Diène see Report of the Special Rapporteur oncontemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou
Diène – Mission to Japan, E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2, 24 January 2006.
2
This development likely occurred in 2003.
3
This is formally known as the Ecumenical Learning Center for Children.
1