New Immigrants Magazine

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]The Tokyo Shimbun reports (Japanese) the publication of a new Japanese language quarterly magazine called "Immigrants" which will serve as a platform for the opinions of foreigners living in Japan. The Editor in Chief is Susumu Ishihara, a former journalist with the Mainichi, who describes covering the problems of the foreign community in Japan as his "lifework". The magazine had been due to come out last autumn but the economic downturn forced a postponement. Ishihara says, however, that in some ways it is more important than ever for the views of foreign residents to be heard in these difficult times. The first edition is on sale now for 680 yen or you can sign up for a 2,500 yen yearly subscription. More details on the website.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Who's the target audience? If it's gaijin living in Japan then there might be a problem since so many of the them are not literate enough to read a magazine article.

[Mulboyne]

Who's the target audience? If it's gaijin living in Japan then there might be a problem since so many of the them are not literate enough to read a magazine article.

The editor wants Japanese to read it. In various interviews, he mentions employers, politicians, academics and bureaucrats specifically. I suppose other journalists also.

[Samurai_Jerk]

The editor wants Japanese to read it. In various interviews, he mentions employers, politicians, academics and bureaucrats specifically. I suppose other journalists also.

Interesting. I hope it works but somehow I doubt it.

[Mock Cockpit]

Interesting. I hope it works but somehow I doubt it.

Sounds like it's gonna be some Japanese telling other Japanese what they think gaijins think of Japanese

[omae mona]

Sounds like it's gonna be some Japanese telling other Japanese what they think gaijins think of Japanese

Well so far it mostly seems to be Japanese telling other Japanese what they think of gaijins. But there is some of what you said (e.g. an article about how hard it is for those Indonesian nurses to learn the Japanese language).

A few interviews with foreigners (MC Beto and the Brazilian ambassador) are in there too.

They have the table of contents for the first issue online so you can take a look. I'm sending away for a copy & will try to comment on it here when it arrives, if there's anything interesting to write about.

[Visitor K]

i thought it was ironic how japanese always wanted to hear what foreigners thought about japan, but they always looked at it as if you would never be able to fully grasp or understand japan.. whats the point (other than hearing that japanese food is good and the language is difficult)?
... i guess i answered my own question.

[Mulboyne]

The Japan Times has an article about this magazine:

Opening the door to foreigners

...Susumu Ishihara, 57, president of the Japan Immigrant Information Agency... recently spent \5 million of his own money to launch a quarterly Japanese-language magazine, called Immigrants, focusing on immigration issues. The goal is to provide more information on foreigners living here to Japanese people to bridge the gap between the two sides. The first issue of the quarterly, circulation 10,000, included messages from ambassadors of South American countries as well as interviews with immigration policy experts, including Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Taro Kono, and Shigehiko Shiramizu, a professor of global media studies at Komazawa University.

Ishihara, a former journalist for the daily Mainichi Shimbun, claims that when Japan revised the immigration law in 1989, during the bubble economy, and started accepting Japanese-Brazilians the following year, the revision was not discussed fully due to political situation at that time. "Japanese politics was in turmoil in 1989 with the death of Emperor Showa (Hirohito), the collapse of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita's Cabinet after the introduction of the consumption tax, and the pounding defeat of the ruling LDP led by Prime Minister Sosuke Uno in the Upper House election," he said. "Though the revision was such an important policy shift with serious ramifications for Japan, it cleared the Diet without much debate," said Ishihara, who wrote extensively about Japanese politics as well as defense and human rights issues during his journalistic career. By attitude if not policy, the government has tried to discourage foreigners from living here permanently, he said. But the revision triggered an influx of Japanese-Brazilians, who numbered 317,000 by 2007.

Recently, however, the government has offered to pay for laid-off Brazilians and Peruvians of Japanese descent to leave Japan, with the promise of never coming back. Counting some 600,000 Chinese and 590,000 Koreans, Japan was home to 2.15 million foreigners as of 2007, nearly twice as many as in 1990, according to the Justice Ministry. Many Japanese-Brazilians here must make do with low wages earned from long hours in factories, leaving little time to care for their children, the 57-year-old editor in chief of the magazine said. Without the ability to communicate fully with Japanese children, Japanese-Brazilian kids tend to stick together. Some, alienated from society, turn to crime, he said. "When I use the term 'immigration policy,' people may think I am urging Japan to accept more foreigners, but it's not quite true. What I'm saying is that there are already so many foreigners living here, so we have to think about them. We have already opened the door to foreigners, and companies need them, too," Ishihara said.

His views are shared by politicians in the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc. In February last year, about 80 LDP politicians, led by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa, formed a group to promote foreign personnel exchanges. The group submitted a proposal to educate and train foreigners who wish to come to Japan and to accept 10 million immigrants over the next 50 years. The policy proposal also called for accepting 1,000 asylum seekers annually and others who need protection on humanitarian grounds. Separately, current Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura established a lawmakers' group to create a bill to support schools for foreigners living in Japan. In addition, the Cabinet Office set up an office especially to deal with problems facing foreigners here earlier this year. "For a long time, the issue of foreigners here has been regarded as taboo in the political arena because working for foreigners' rights won't help politicians get elected, and it may even anger some Japanese who don't want to accept foreigners. So, I welcome such moves by politicians," said Ishihara, who is also an expert on Korean residents in Japan.

Behind such moves is the growing uncertainty about Japan's future. Ishihara notes Japan's population is expected to drop below 90 million by 2050, 30 million to 40 million less than the 2005 level. Every industrialized nation finds itself in a similar situation and competition is heating up to attract immigrants, Ishihara said, adding, "Even other parts of Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, have shaped their immigration policy to legally accept foreign workers." Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and China are currently experiencing population growth and supply workers to other countries, but they, too, will see declines in population by 2030. "But Japan has done nothing to cope with the looming crisis so far," he said. Ishihara noted many industries in Japan are already dependent on foreign workers, including convenience stores and farming, where many Chinese and other non-Japanese work. "These days, even the sumo industry is dominated by foreigners," he added with a smile.

Ishihara plans to use part of the magazine's proceeds to help foreign children get a higher education in Japan, given the current difficulties they face, including financial constraints. "Japanese society should support these children who work hard to get into universities. They are the ones who have overcome various difficulties since arriving here, and I'm sure they will be active in bridging the gap between Japan and foreign countries," he said.

[Bucky]

..Susumu Ishihara, 57, president of the Japan Immigrant Information Agency... recently spent \5 million of his own money to launch a quarterly Japanese-language magazine, called Immigrants,

Hope he has money to burn. In this economy? Getting folks to advertise in a new publication? Good luck!:shake:

[omae mona]

Hope he has money to burn. In this economy? Getting folks to advertise in a new publication? Good luck!:shake:

In fact, there is not a single advertisement in this issue. So, it looks like all revenues are coming from the subscription fee.

I got my issue a week or two ago. I know I promised to write back here if there was anything interesting. But nothing really stuck out; mostly interviews with folks who aren't saying anything particularly interesting or novel (to me, anyway).

[Greji]

But there is some of what you said (e.g. an article about how hard it is for those Indonesian nurses to learn the Japanese language).

Why does that not surprise me. Take out Indonesian nurses and insert gaijins, for the basic Nihonjinron since nobody but a true Nihonjin can speak the language properly.

[omae mona]

Why does that not surprise me. Take out Indonesian nurses and insert gaijins, for the basic Nihonjinron since nobody but a true Nihonjin can speak the language properly.

I gave that author (Ferris University's Fukihara Yutaka) a chance and read the article. He attempts to do a little empirical research on Kanji reading ability, though he admits his sample size of 3 students is not enough to draw conclusions. He also references a larger study of 100 Indonesian workers' verbal communication skills. His basic point is that in the 3-4 years these nurses have to pass the national qualification exam, there is no way in hell they can get to the level of Japanese they need to pass. He implies they set the standard too high for 3-4 years. A few of his supporting points:

• Possibly because Indonesian language is so different, only a small minority of the full time Japanese students at a national university in Indonesia can pass the JLPT Level 2 by graduation. (can this be true??) And JLPT 2 seems to be the basic standard for this nursing course, because candidates who already passed JLPT 2 are exempted from the language study section.
• In his study of 3 Indonesians who have been in Japan for 2 years or more and studied Japanese in an academic setting for at least 5 years, he tested the number of Kanji they understood from a list of 1150 characters used in a portion of the nursing test. A PhD student basically understood over 98%. A former Japanese teacher could read just under half, and another was around 86%. He expresses concern that even the 86% candidate would seriously misunderstand the meaning of some sentences.
• The verbal communication survey pretty much has 95% of Indonesians in the "beginner" category, regardless of length of stay. Only a tiny fraction are ranked "intermediate" (and they are all 9+ year residents), and nobody was ranked as advanced. No details on how they came up with the standards for each level, though.

My personal take: I'd guess that understanding 50%, or especially 86%+ of the kanji will get this type of person through the exam just fine. Also, an acquaintance of mine is married to the head of a hospital, and apparently his commentary is that nurses don't need to communicate. As long as they can read the names of medicines and amounts (written in English and numbers) and have the core training from their home country, they can basically do their jobs without worrying about Japanese too much.

[Doctor Stop]

The question is not how many Indonesians can pass JLPT 2, but how many Japanese can pass JLPT 2. Believe me, there are many Japanese who can't, and I'm not pointing the Japanese Prime Minister out, this time.

[Takechanpoo]

The question is not how many Indonesians can pass JLPT 2, but how many Japanese can pass JLPT 2. Believe me, there are many Japanese who can't, and I'm not pointing the Japanese Prime Minister out, this time.

Unfortunately NO. Even JLPT 1 can be easily passed by almost every Japanese who just graduated from high school.
When I once tested the past exam of JLPT 1, I frankly thought "Why is it difficult for fuckin gaijins to pass these fuckin easy exam? So gaijins are useless. And they better go home".

[TFG]

Unfortunately NO. Even JLPT 1 can be easily passed by almost every Japanese who just graduated from high school.
When I once tested the past exam of JLPT 1, I frankly thought "Why is it difficult for fuckin gaijins to pass these fuckin easy exam? So gaijins are useless. And they better go home".

I see, then by your own criteria, obviously this man is a sub standard Japanese national?

[YT]MnA57htSS5M&NR=1[/YT]

[Greji]

I see, then by your own criteria, obviously this man is a sub standard Japanese national?

[YT]MnA57htSS5M&NR=1[/YT]

Naturally. He was educated in London. Most likely a kohai of Mulboyne, which probably also accounts for his continued confusion....

[6810]

Unfortunately NO. Even JLPT 1 can be easily passed by almost every Japanese who just graduated from high school.
When I once tested the past exam of JLPT 1, I frankly thought "Why is it difficult for fuckin gaijins to pass these fuckin easy exam? So gaijins are useless. And they better go home".

Although a long time fan of yours Take, sometimes I think your powers of cognition are somewhat limited... Kind of like you taking an English test, right? They're so fucking easy!

[TFG]

Unfortunately NO. Even JLPT 1 can be easily passed by almost every Japanese who just graduated from high school.
When I once tested the past exam of JLPT 1, I frankly thought "Why is it difficult for fuckin gaijins to pass these fuckin easy exam? So gaijins are useless. And they better go home".

Note Taketanpon says, "When I once tested the past exam of JLPT 1, I frankly thought "Why is it difficult for fuckin gaijins to pass these fuckin easy exam?"

Which means he took this test more than ONCE because he failed the test he "Thought was easy"!

So, not only is PM-Asshole an intellectually sub standard Japanese national but, so is Taketanpon!:smoking:

[CrankyBastard]

Some of Take's posts are thought provoking, others give me an insight into how the back of my balls feel....... all they can see is an arsehole spouting shit.

[Greji]

[quote="CrankyBastard"]Some of Take's posts are thought provoking, others give me an insight into how the back of my balls feel....... all they can see is an arsehole spouting shit.
]

Cranky, I love the poetic touch you have with your descriptions.....

[Mulboyne]

Sorry, I can't be arsed to summarize these in English but some of you might be interested in links to the original Japanese articles. The Nishippon Shimbun has recently been running profiles of foreigners living in Kyushu. Their stories have been chosen to highlight some of the issues facing the greater part of the foreign community i.e. not westerners. Most of the problems are already well-known but the personal angle is interesting.

Two Indonesian girls on the nursing care worker programme

Two Chinese girls on the trainee worker programme

3rd generation Japanese-Brazilian owner of Fukuoka Brazilian restaurant

Filipina single mother getting divorced from her violent husband