Understanding neighbors a key to coexistence with foreigners, says Kobe NPO chair
The 62-year-old is a third-generation South Korean resident of Japan who was born and raised in Kobe's Nagata Ward. In addition to long-term Korean residents, foreigners in Hyogo Prefecture include refugees and their families who fled from Vietnam and other countries after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
"There's no system in schools to teach children with foreign roots how they came to live in Japan. This means that many of the Japanese kids sitting next to them also don't know either," Kim pointed out.
The KFC supports people with foreign backgrounds by providing consultations about daily life and welfare, and by teaching children Japanese and other subjects. Such children with foreign roots did not choose to live in Japan themselves. Kim, however, believes that their fresh perspectives might bring innovation to Japanese society. His wish is to give them hope for the future.
To make that possible, he says it is essential that policies involving foreigners are based on evidence. "There's no proof that an increase in foreigners leads to more crime," he emphasized.
Criminal offenses by foreigners drop below 40% of peak
According to the Ministry of Justice's 2024 White Paper on Crime, the number of criminal offenses committed by foreigners peaked in 2005 at 43,622 cases. That figure has been trending downward, and stood at 15,541 in 2023, which is an increase from 2022 but also fewer than 40% of the peak figure.
Meanwhile, the number of newly arriving foreign visitors grew from 6.12 million people in 2005 to 23.75 million in 2023. The number of foreign residents also rose from 2.03 million people in 2012, when records began to be taken, to 3.41 million in 2023.
As a way to start thinking about how to coexist with people who have foreign roots, Kim shared a story he heard from a Vietnamese woman. She had apparently been living in a housing complex in Kanagawa Prefecture. At that apartment, signs on trash disposal rules and restrictions on parking and noise were translated into multiple languages. But signs for local festivals were only in Japanese, leaving the woman feeling left out.
Kim emphasized, "Children see this kind of thing constantly as they grow up. But is there any real evidence that foreigners don't follow the rules? Empathy for others is needed regarding policies."
(Japanese original by Yuna Maeda, Kobe Bureau)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
8 hours ago
- Japan Today
80 years on, Korean survivors of WWII atomic bombs still suffer
Bae Kyung-mi was five years old when the Americans dropped "Little Boy", the atomic bomb that flattened Hiroshima in 1945 By KANG Jin-kyu with Harumi OZAWA in Hiroshima Bae Kyung-mi was five years old when the Americans dropped "Little Boy", the atomic bomb that flattened Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Like thousands of other ethnic Koreans working in the city at the time, her family kept the horror a secret. Many feared the stigma from doing menial work for colonial ruler Japan, and false rumours that radiation sickness was contagious. Bae recalls hearing planes overhead while she was playing at her home in Hiroshima on that day. Within minutes, she was buried in rubble. "I told my mom in Japanese, 'Mom! There are airplanes!'" Bae, now 85, told AFP. She passed out shortly after. Her home collapsed on top of her, but the debris shielded her from the burns that killed tens of thousands of people -- including her aunt and uncle. After the family moved back to Korea, they did not speak of their experience. "I never told my husband that I was in Hiroshima and a victim of the bombing," Bae said. "Back then, people often said you had married the wrong person if he or she was an atomic bombing survivor." Her two sons only learned she had been in Hiroshima when she registered at a special center set up in 1996 in Hapcheon in South Korea for victims of the bombings, she said. Bae said she feared her children would suffer from radiation-related illnesses that afflicted her, forcing her to have her ovaries and a breast removed because of the high cancer risk. A burning city She knew why she was getting sick, but did not tell her own family. "We all hushed it up," she said. Some 740,000 people were killed or injured in the twin bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than 10 percent of the victims were Korean, data suggests, the result of huge flows of people to Japan while it colonised the Korean peninsula. Survivors who stayed in Japan found they had to endure discrimination both as hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, and as Koreans. Many Koreans also had to choose between pro-Pyongyang and pro-Seoul groups in Japan, after the peninsula was left divided by the 1950-53 Korean War. Kwon Joon-oh's mother and father both survived the attack on Hiroshima. The 76-year-old's parents, like others of their generation, could only work by taking on "filthy and dangerous jobs" that the Japanese considered beneath them, he said. Korean victims were also denied an official memorial for decades, with a cenotaph for them put up in the Hiroshima Peace Park only in the late 1990s. Kim Hwa-ja was four on August 6, 1945 and remembers being put on a makeshift horse-drawn trap as her family fled tried to flee Hiroshima after the bomb. Smoke filled the air and the city was burning, she said, recalling how she peeped out from under a blanket covering her, and her mother screaming at her not to look. Korean groups estimate that up to 50,000 Koreans may have been in the city that day, including tens of thousands working as forced laborers at military sites. But records are sketchy. "The city office was devastated so completely that it wasn't possible to track down clear records," a Hiroshima official told AFP. Japan's colonial policy banned the use of Korean names, further complicating record-keeping. After the attacks, tens of thousands of Korean survivors moved back to their newly-independent country. But many have struggled with health issues and stigma ever since. "In those days, there were unfounded rumors that radiation exposure could be contagious," said Jeong Soo-won, director of the country's Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Victim Center. Nationwide, there are believed to be some 1,600 South Korean survivors still alive, Jeong said -- with 82 of them in residence at the center. Seoul enacted a special law in 2016 to help the survivors -- including a monthly stipend of around $72 -- but it provides no assistance to their offspring or extended families. "There are many second- and third-generation descendants affected by the bombings and suffering from congenital illnesses," said Jeong. A provision to support them "must be included" in future, he said. A Japanese hibakusha group won the Nobel Peace Prize last year in recognition of their efforts to show the world the horrors of nuclear war. But 80 years after the attacks, many survivors in both Japan and Korea say the world has not learned. U.S. President Donald Trump recently compared his strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Would he understand the tragedy of what the Hiroshima bombing has caused? Would he understand that of Nagasaki?" survivor Kim Gin-ho said. In Korea, the Hapcheon center will hold a commemoration on August 6 -- with survivors hoping that this year the event will attract more attention. From politicians, "there has been only talk... but no interest", she said. © 2025 AFP
The Mainichi
17 hours ago
- The Mainichi
US restoring Pacific island wartime airfield for deterrence
TINIAN (Kyodo) -- The United States is restoring a World War II-era airfield on Tinian, a tiny, strategically important Pacific island in its territory in the Northern Mariana Islands used as a launching point for U.S. nuclear strikes on Japan 80 years ago, as it ramps up deterrence against China. Once completed, North Field airfield will give the U.S. military's expeditionary forces more flexibility to maneuver across the Pacific amid concerns over growing Chinese influence in the region, according to a ranking U.S. Navy official. "We can move forces there, train there, practice and work with allies," U.S. Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman, then Commander of the Joint Task Force -- Micronesia, said of the project's impact in a Kyodo News interview in April. "That builds up that readiness, that operational efficiency, and increases the lethality," he said. "All of that adds to a deterrent effect by demonstrating that we have the forces ready to counter any kind of activity that or nefarious," he added. Located south of the Northern Marianas' most populated island of Saipan, Tinian is around 101 square kilometers in size and lies approximately 2,400 kilometers south of Japan. The U.S. military is currently leasing two-thirds of the island. The island was occupied by Japan before WWII but was won by the United States in a fierce battle in 1944, becoming an important Allied base during the latter stages of the war. In 1945, U.S. B-29 aircraft took off from North Field's runways to conduct an air raid on Tokyo. The atomic bombers that attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, were also launched from North Field. Following the bombings of the two cities, Japan surrendered to Allied forces on Aug. 15, marking the end of the war. Officials said the approximately $500 million North Field rehabilitation project commenced in 2024, with two of the four runways targeted for completion by 2027. U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Corey Bower, whose unit is involved in the reconstruction project, told Kyodo News that clearing the runways of overgrown vegetation and unexploded ordnance is "progressing very well", and surface construction could start before the end of the year. Huffman said North Field will not become a permanent U.S. base but could be used for training with allies such as Japan. For U.S. Pacific Air Forces, it could be an "alternate location" to the airbase on Guam in the event of a conflict. Aside from North Field, the U.S. military is close to completing an almost $300 million airfield, named Divert, on the north side of Tinian's airport, with a runway to be shared by commercial aircraft. It also rebuilt a Japanese wartime runway on Palau's Peleliu island. The U.S. military said refurbishing airfields rather than building new facilities is more cost effective and reduces disruption to local communities. Arnold Palacios, the late governor of the Northern Marianas, expressed mixed feelings toward the U.S. military build-up when he spoke to Kyodo News in April before his sudden death on July 23. He said that while nobody wants war, there is a need to be prepared given the tensions between the United States and China. He also said he could see a scenario in which the United States flies bombers carrying nuclear weapons from these airfields. Local residents understand the risks associated with their island hosting military facilities. Tinian is so small that there is no way for locals to escape in an attack as part of a wider U.S.-China armed conflict, said a resident who requested anonymity. "We hope they don't use (restored airfields) to drop bombs, to hurt and to kill people. That, we don't want to be a part of," said Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan, even as he acknowledged the security and economic windfall the U.S. presence gives the island of 2,000 people. (By Maricar Cinco)
The Mainichi
21 hours ago
- The Mainichi
213 deaths in Tokyo linked to improper A/C use: Our 5 most-read stories from last week
We've listed our five most read stories on The Mainichi news site, from top to bottom, that were published between July 26 and August 3. The first story was viewed by 27.5% of our regular readers. (The Mainichi) Study finds 213 deaths in Tokyo apparently caused by improper A/C use TOKYO -- There were 213 cases of deaths in the Japanese capital's 23 wards that were believed to have been caused by the improper use of air conditioners, according to joint research by the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine and the Tokyo Metropolitan Medical Examiner's Office. Full story. 25-yr-old singles need approx. $2K per month to live 'normally' in Tokyo's Setagaya: study TOKYO -- A single 25-year-old needs a minimum of just under 300,000 yen (about $2,030) to live a modest but ordinary life in the capital's Setagaya Ward, according to a new study by the Tokyo Regional Council of Trade Unions (Tokyo Chihyo) -- a sharp increase from the 2019 survey and well above the 2025 minimum wage for Tokyo. Full story. More Japanese consumers in Gunma Pref. turning to foreigner-owned shops for rice An increasing number of Japanese consumers in Gunma Prefecture, which has one of the highest ratios of foreign residents per unit of population in the country, were seen turning to foreign-owned stores to buy imported rice amid high prices and shortages of the grain in early June. Full story. Brown bear attacks Yezo deer on road in Hokkaido's Shiretoko Peninsula NEMURO, Hokkaido -- A brown bear was filmed attacking a male Yezo deer with impressive antlers on a national road in Hokkaido's Shiretoko Peninsula on July 27. The bear was later killed by municipal officials who rushed to the scene, and the deer was also recovered. Full story. Japan education ministry OKs plan to exclude foreign PhD students from living expenses aid TOKYO -- The Japanese education ministry's human resources committee on July 30 broadly approved a plan to limit the recipients of living expenses aid for doctoral candidates to Japanese students only, to be implemented as early as the 2027 academic year. Full story.
