Discussion Meeting with Refugees in Japan
The Discussion Forum for Refugees in Japan has been run since 2020 as part of the ‘Tsudoi’ Festival for Refugees in Japan, co-hosted by the Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People (FWEAP) and Shinjuku Ward. This forum, attended by representatives from different refugee communities, local governments, and private-sector refugee support organizations, is held to provide the opportunity for refugee communities to learn about the current conditions and initiatives of other communities in relation to problems and issues facing them, propose ideas for future activities, and help host societies to understand their issues. The aims is promoting efforts to further integrate those from refugee backgrounds and other people of foreign origin into Japanese society.
Every time this meeting takes place, many settled refugees
and other participants share their frank and positive views. In particular, all refugee communities
facing challenges such as education for children, nursing care for elderly people, securing burial
plots for deceased family members, and passing of traditions to the next generation in the same way.
Besides offering financial assistance for the activities of refugee communities aimed at solving
these problems, the FWEAP is also endeavoring to help create local communities in which people from
different cultural backgrounds can understand each other and live together in harmony.
More
information about this discussion forum can be found in the FWEAP’s public relations
magazine “Ai” and on its YouTube channel.
