VITTORIA

Today many migrant tomato pickers from the former eastern block

Vittoria is situated in the Province of Ragusa on Sicily. It is a center

countries have come for work at the plantations. These are mainly

for cherry tomato production. Spread along a 100 km stretch of

Romanians, but also some Poles, Albanians and Ukrainians. Many ofcoast covered with sheet-plastic greenhouses.

which are no longer seen as illegal due to the expansion of theEuropean Union*.

Developments in industrial agriculture have made it possible toRegulations for working conditions on the plantations are often

produce vegetables throughout the year. The most successful

neglected. For example migrant workers usually work on 5 monthproducers are able to ceaselessly cultivate high quality organic

seasonal contracts but stay on for another 3 months without pay,

tomatoes and vegetables in large scale greenhouse complexes

receiving unemployment benefit from the Italian governmentand distribute them all over Europe.

instead. Also the regulations on working hours are easily ignored

This industrialized system has enabled seasonal migrant tomato

since the pickers often live on site, making it possible to work day

pickers from Tunisia to stay and work all year round. During theand night.

1980's and 90's low-cost labour played an important part in the

The black labour market has flourished due to the hard competition

growth of the industry.

between the Tunisian and Romanian workers. This can be seen at
the town square early each morning when migrant workers without

In between the many greenhouses are small brick buildings.

contracts, standing in ethnic groups, wait to be picked up by

These are homes to the migrant tomato pickers. They look like thefarmers for day work.

stereotypical huts seen beside meadows in Sicily or found on the

Nearby there is a huge wholesale vegetable market which

locations of spaghetti western films. But today they adorn satellite

provides some of the best quality tomatoes in Europe. The area

dishes.

around Vittoria functions as one giant vegetable factory. Trailers

However in recent years many of the Tunisian pickers have left theand trucks owned by global distribution companies areplantation huts and moved to apartments in the town.

continuously seen coming and going day and night.

Some of them belong to the third generation of migrants.

*The Schengen Agreement was extended to include Romania and Bulgaria in

Some are involved in the recruitment of new laborers to the farms.

2007 and has gradually been disassembling internal borders and checkpoints.

They are often seen at the Ferry Port in Palermo welcoming newFederico Baronello + Takuji Kogo

recruits and their families from Tunisia.

A CANDY FACTORY PROJECT 2009

HOMI / TOYOTA
In a rice field on the road leading up to Homi-ga-oka (Homi hill)founded there before WW2. The original buildings of the Toyota

there is a brand new billboard advertising the Emirates airline.

head quarters and factory gates which can still be seen are over

Recently the Emirates cancelled their flights from neighboring

shadowed today by the Toyota Technical Center and the many

Nagoya to Brazil via Dubai.

new office buildings.

The billboard announces that the airline now only operates

The city is tidy and provincial, interspersed with large factories,

between Osaka to Sao Paulo but offers a free bus connection fromsubcontractors and car show rooms most of which run along the

Nagoya. The advert is written in Portuguese with no Japanese text.

route 248 connecting the city to the main factory site.

Situated at the top of Homi-ga-oka is the Homi Public Housing

In 1990, in the backdrop of an ever declining population in need of

Estate which consists of over 40 apartment blocks, shops andan unskilled labour work force, the Japanese government began toschools. It is divided into two sections, one was originally owned byissue special long term resident permits to descendants of

the Government funded Housing and Urban Development

Japanese emigrants.

Corporation, the other section is still rented through the prefectural

These were offspring to the many thousands of Japanese who had

government. It was originally constructed in the 1970's as a suburb

emigrated to South America in the early twentieth century.

to Toyota City and was intended for young Japanese families.

A revision of Japan's strict Immigration and Refugee Recognition

Like most Public Housing Estates in Japan, today many of the

Act made it legal to admit people of Japanese ancestry up to theresidents are old age pensioners, some of whom live alone.

third generation together with their spouses.

Many of the apartments are uninhabited.

This scheme resulted in over 300,000 Brazilians moving to Japan,

The Homi Public Housing Estate has a population of around 11,000

most of whom could not speak Japanese.

and more than 4,000 of these are Brazilian immigrants.

However language ability was not a hindrance for obtaining work

Consequently most of the streets signs and shops use Portuguese.

within the unskilled sections of the manufacturing industries, work

Neighboring Toyota City, known as the Japanese Motown, waswhich they obtained through recruitment agencies andnamed after the family run automobile company which was

employment brokers set up in Brazil.

These recruitment networks were often run by Brazilian Japanese

Seen as a safe-haven by the protesters and a place where

and operated under the guise of travel agencies offering flights to

Brazillians can live without having to speak Japanese, the Homi

Japan, assistance with permits, accommodation and access to

Public Housing Estate houses the largest Brazilian community in theunskilled manufacturing jobs. In some cases they offered loans that

Aichi prefecture.

would be repaid after a period of work in Japan enabling even the

However, despite the many empty apartments in the Homi Estate,poorest Japanese Brazilians to emigrate.

the local government only allows a limited number of them on to
the market each year as an apparent attempt to stave off an

The U.S financial crisis in 2008 and the declining value of the US

escalating influx of immigrants.

dollar badly effected the export industries in Japan, especially the
Automobile industry and precision manufacturers. For example,

In April 2009 in response to the present situation the Japanese

Toyota City lost 30% of its tax revenues due to Toyota Automobile

Government initiated a support program for unemployedCompany losses. These circumstances led to hundreds offoreigners of Japanese descent. It offers 3.000 USD towards a plane

temporary contract workers, including many Brazilians, being

ticket home (and 2000 USD for each additional family member) inlaid-off.

exchange for an agreement to never return to Japan on a special

Brazilian workers have been publicly protesting these layoffs which

resident permit again. The program even includes unemployed

are effectively forcing thousands of migrant families who haveforeigners of Japanese descent who have already received theirinvested many years of there lives in Japan to return home.

permanent resident status.

Finding alternative work is almost impossible due to the language
difficulties and some of these workers have now lost their

Mike Bode + Takuji Kogo

accommodation.

A CANDY FACTORY PROJECT 2009

At a recent demonstration in Nagoya Aichi one of the participants
was seen holding up a sign exclaiming:"Please put us in the Homi Prefectural Public Housing!! 350 rooms".

BUKIT TIMAH SHOPPING CENTRE

Q. Are there any educational requirements for Foreign Domestic

Q. What are the steps involved in employing a Foreign Domestic

Workers?

Worker (FDW)?

A. She must have a minimum of 8 years of formal education and

A. The followings are the steps in brief;

possess the necessary educational certificates as a documentaryi ) Search and select your desired Maid Agency

proof of her education.

ii) First time employer to complete the Employers Orientation
Programme

Q. Is it illegal for a Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) to have aiii) Apply work permit for the selected Maid Agency

boyfriend in Singapore?
A. It is not illegal for a FDW to have boyfriend, however the concern

When work permit approves;is always associated with the problems that she may have ori) Purchase the Maid Agencys Personal Accident Insurance andcaused because of the boyfriend.

get the security bond done

The Work Permit and Security Bond conditions states that:ii) Make arrangement for the Maid Agency's arrival.

a) The FDW shall not get married to a Singapore citizen or apermanent resident during her stay in Singapore;

Upon arrival;b) The FDW shall not become pregnant during her stay ini) Collect the Maid Agency at the airport

Singapore;ii) Bring the Maid Agency for a medical check-upc) The FDW shall not indulge or be involved in any illegal, immoral oriii) Within the next 3 days after arrival, the Maid Agency has toundesirable activities, including breaking up families in Singapore.

attend the compulsory Safety Awareness Course (SAC)and pass
the MOM-stipulated test.

Q. What should I do if caught my Foreign Domestic Worker behaveiv) Within 14 day of arrival, submit documents to Ministry ofsuspiciously/intimately with a man at my home?

Manpower (MOM) for processing.

A. You should make a police report immediately and if possiblev) Within 7 days after the document submission, bring the Maidobtain the particulars of the man. As for the Maid Agency, perhaps

Agency for photo taking and thumb printing at the MOM.

itʼs a good idea to repatriate her for her irresponsible behaviorvi) 4-5 days later, collect the work permit card at MOM.

and for breaking your trust.

DEMILITARIZED ZONE BUS TOUR WITH BULGOGI LUNCH

travel agencies the license to run the tour for this Korean people to

WHAT'S YOUR NATIONALITY?

visit this Panmunjeom area . . . so totally separated and divided. . .

1. Yes, how can I help you, sir?. . . O.K., I want to recommend the2. Hm, the -- we have a schedule on the Friday . . . this Friday wePanmunjeom-DMZ combined tour -- to visit two places in the same

have it and the we go to the DMZ, the Panmunjeon, and the Third

day. Yeah, then in the same day you can, uh, visit, the two main

Tunnel. . . Uuuh . . . I heard from the at the our customers is the, um .

DMZ places in Korea. . .the Third Infiltration Tunnel and Panmunjeom. . each . . . the other Korean companies very expensive, and someConference Room . . . and another place such as the Observatory

Korean companies the tour's price, one is the Panmunjeom andand the railway station in Imjing gang Park . . . and this one is

one is the DMZ tour -- uh and one is the Third Tunnel. But the we arestarting from eight o'clock, returning time is about, uh, five ---- we go to the both . . . and the DMZ and Third Tunnel and Dorabetween five and five thirty . . . the price is 120,000 won per person.

Observation. Dora Observatory . . . The . . . just a moment . . .

Uh, but the -- I want to ask you something: Uh, what is your[Korean exchange between the caller and a colleague] So . . .

nationality? Your group. All your group. . . Uh, 'cause -- in case of

Dora . . . Dora is staying in the o-b-s-e-r-v-a-t-o-r-y. . . Yes, the you

the Korean people . . . in Korea, the -- visiting this Panmunjeom area

can see the the the the North Korea. . . Korean cannnot join.

. . . 'cause uh this is, which is uh military site . . . so the . . . we have --Korean cannot join . . . the French and the Swiss and Japanese O.K.

so we have to do the strict proce -- proce -- process to visit here . . .

but the Korean cannot join. . . No, the the JSA don't permit theand that place, so domestic Korean people and foreign people --some country like China, Malaysian, India, Russia, Korean. Bye.

the process if different, and the time also different. They're
separated. You -- so the Korean person cannot join . . . this tour. . .

IF I WERE YOU I'LL GO TO THE PALACEHe or she . . . lives in . . Korea? Usually, in Korea, and has a Korean. . . Um, I think is depend on what you like about Lotte World is like

passport. . . then, uh, no . . . he cannot visit Panmunjeom. . . No,

amuse-- amuse-- a park. JSA is like, um, like a military area, like in'cause, in case of the Korean people -- the domestic Korean

North and South Korea borderline, like in a demarcation line . . . you

people do, uh, directly contact the government and get an -- aactually see the, uh, um, uh, North and South Korea demarcation

background check . . . and get an approval, it takes about two orline if you go to the JSA Tour . . . so you cannot cross thethree months . . . yeah, 'cause, uh, the time is restricted, but the,demarcation line, so you would see the demarcation line inside

many Koreans want to visit there, so they have to do their job, dothe, uh, uh, Map (53) Building, military armistice building inside thethis job, in advance, three or two months before, but the -- in case

JSA . . . ah, um, if you go inside the Map Building you can see theof the foreign people, they stay just, uh, for short time, and they

microphone, uh, like in a closed, uh, table -- that's actually thecannot speak Korean, so that's why UNC, uh, gives the, just the threedemarcation line inside the building . . . so you can see the pictureinside the Map Building . . . and then you see the, um, at the

Lotte World . . . Lotte World's like, you know, the, what is it . . . Six

Checkpoint Three, you see the North Korean side, uh, at theFlag in Texas, like that? Or kind of amusement park . . . But if I were

Checkpoint Three . . . and then sometimes you can see the North

you I would go to the palace . . . Yeah, maybe I will go to

Korean soldier at the, um, uh, JSA, inside the JSA and . . . Uh, you

Changduk Palace or like in a like, um, what is it? Palace? Or what itmean -- you cannot cross, you can . . . yeah, you can see Northis . . . Gyeongbokgung or Folk Village, whatever? I will, I will go -- I

Korean soldier but you cannot wave hand or you cannot make eye

don't go to JSA . . . or Lotte World . . . But Lotte World -- in United

contact with them but just -- but sometimes you can see like, um,

States there's a lot of amusement parks so I don't think I'll go to Lotte

100 meter from, uh, you, or 200 meter -- I don't know -- very close --World . . . because it's small . . . I think I, I went to the Six Flag in

but sometimes very close but sometimes kind of far . . . but, but if

Texas? There's a big large amusement park . . . but the Lotte World

you're lucky you can see, uh, just right out- outside Armisticeis kind of small . . . so you will disappointed . . . So you go, if you go

Building, you can see, but you cannot make eye contact because

to the with the your friend maybe just to the Gyeongbok Palace

that's a rules, you cannot make -- I mean, you should not make eyeor . . . or, uh, like Folk Village? Maybe I'll go there . . . But in a -- justcontact with them, but sometimes you see the North Korean

think about it because JSA, like, you know, you can see the politics,

soldier, but, very, sometimes, so . . . I, the -- I don't you can takeI mean, I mean, the situation about the South and North Korean

picture of North Korean soldier but inside the Map Building you cansituation -- like, you know, we have the demarcation line, that's the,take pictures of South Korean -- the the soldier who guard the uh uh

uh -- one country in the world, right? Because we still have atour uh tour group -- that's North Korean sol -- I mean, South Koreandemarcation line . . . Uh, the bulgogi -- bulgogi is beef uh with, uh,soldier -- but you cannot take pictures of South -- North Korean

soy sauce, bulgogi with, um, soy sauce and sweet -- sugar on it,

soldier . . . Uh, they say, uh, who will take picture of the Northand the onion on it, so like in a bulgogi -- they never tasted before?

Korean soldier, uh they might make they might take your camera. . . Not a real beef like in a -- just uh um not a bone in it just meat,away maybe, so, yeah, so, do not wave hand, do not makeor bean -- just meat with soy sauce and sugar on it, so, like, youeyecontact, that's the rules inside the JSA . . .. . . It doesn't happen

know . . . Not like kalbi, but uh but it's just uh -- I think you'll like kal -- I

since 1978? Something like that? There was a shooting inside themean, bulgogi -- You not vegetarian? . . . That's the Third Tunnel, yes

JSA, uh, because the Soviet Union, uh, Soviet uh civil- civil- . . .

-- you can go both, um, on a on a same day, but, uuuh, Tunnel

defect from the uh North Korean side . . . since since then no uh

leave at eight o'clock, and then, after lunch you change the bus toshoot -- uh, since then . . . so, if you scare, maybe you cannot go

the the J -- I mean, the JSA bus, and then go to the the JSA . . . Bye.

JSA . . . but since 1970-something -- I don't know year but . . . So, if
depend on the -- you feel like amusement park you can go to theYoung-hae Chang Heavy Indutries + Takuji Kogo

I am looking for an Asian Wife.
because I like their attitude towards their men and their families.
I like their devotion to their husbands.
I also think they are the most beautiful women on earth
with their soft skins and beautiful dark eyes.

I JUST DIVORCED
FEEL LONELYWOULD LIKE TO MEETA NICE JAPANESEOR FOREIGNER WOMANDIVORCED OR MARRIEDOR SINGLE OR ANY TYPE
BLACK ALSO WELCOME