19-07-2025
Understanding neighbors a key to coexistence with foreigners, says Kobe NPO chair
KOBE -- "I believe we need to understand our neighbors who live in the same society as us," said Kim Songil, chairperson of the nonprofit Kobe Foreigners Friendship Center (KFC), with conviction.
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)
