Our Second Event of Our Series: The Institute of Global Concern Book Fair 2023 “Foreign Residents in Japan and Immigration Issues” Film “WATASHITACHIWA NINGENDA! [We are human!]” Screening & Talk

Our Second Event of Our Series: The Institute of Global Concern Book Fair 2023 “Foreign Residents in Japan and Immigration Issues” Film “WATASHITACHIWA NINGENDA! [We are human!]” Screening & Talk

The film explores the essence of discrimination against foreigners, including state-originated hate against foreign schools, and the realities of technical intern trainees, refugees, and immigration authorities.

[Guest] Ko Chanyu / Natsuki Yasuda

Discrimination against foreigners by Japan’s immigration system has continued repeatedly since the end of WWII. The death of Ms. Wishma at the Nagoya Immigration Bureau (March 2021) shocked Japanese society as it symbolically and clearly demonstrated the problem of immigration detention in Japan. However, such problems are not new and have their roots in the Japan’s history of colonial aggression, in which it dominated, discriminated against, and oppressed the people of Asia. This film depicts the holistic picture of discrimination against foreigners from diverse backgrounds, including Korean residents in Japan, technical interns, refugees, and immigration detainees, as a continuum with the postwar immigration system. The film reflects the reality of Japanese society today. What is required of us to change this reality? How should we perceive this reality? After the screening, we will explore with the guests how we can make this our own issue and to explore what we can do.

17:00 Doors open
17:20 Explanation of purpose
17:25 Film screening (114 min.) [English subtitles]
19:20 Intermission
19:30 Talk with Guests [simultaneous interpretation available]
20:10 Closing remarks

Ko Chanyu
Graduated from the Korea University in Tokyo, Japan. Ko has written poems and novels, and scripted and directed numerous plays. After working as the editor-in-chief of Mire (Future), a monthly magazine on the DPRK, he became a nonfiction writer. In 2015, Ko established Life Eizo Work and serves as president. He is a member of the board of directors of the Free Journalists Club. In 2019, he directed the documentary film "Ai's School" and was selected as Kinema Junpo Best Ten Cultural Films and received the Japan Film Revival Encouragement Award.

Natsuki Yasuda
Photojournalist for Dialogue for People (D4P), a certified non-profit organization. She is the vice president of D4P and has been covering issues on refugees, poverty, and disasters in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, she has been documenting the disaster areas, focusing on Rikuzentakata City. A graduate of Sophia University, she currently appears as a commentator on TBS TV's “Sunday Morning.”

[Date] Feb 1st, 2024(Thu) 5:20pm-8:15pm
[Venue] Room 101, Bldg 6, Yotsuya Campus, Sophia University
[Subjects] Open to everyone
[Entry fee] Free
[Sponsor] Institute of Global Concern, Sophia University
[Co-Sponsor] Institute for the Institute of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Studies
[Application] https://forms.gle/Gm6QueXiAvXEoUno6
[Contact] i-glocon@sophia.ac.jp

43th International Symposium
International Symposium “Language Education for Transnational Migrant Children: Roles of the Country of Origin and Host Country”

Language: Japanese and English simultaneous interpretation
Registration:
For face-to-face venue participation    https://forms.gle/e99qssEej2fr1H4x7
For webinar registration  https://onl.bz/JKEBiwH

Program
Part 1 (9:30-11:30) Current Situation of Mother Tongue and Heritance Language Education for Migrant Children
Keynote Speech  Unleashing Community Languages through ‘Translingualism’
Dr. Emi Otsuji, Associate Professor, University of Technology, Sydney         
Discussant  Dr. Allen Kim, Senior Associate Professor, Division of Arts and Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, ICU-SSRI member
Dr. Mitsuyo Sakamoto, Professor, Department of English Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University                       

Part 2 (12:30-14:30) Mother Tongue Education by Various Actors
Case Report  The Vietnamese Government Initiative on Mother Tongue Education for Children Overseas
Dr. Dao Muc Dich, Lecturer, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City
      
Case Report  Nepali Language Instruction Outside Nepal: Opportunities and Constraints
Dr. Mark Turin, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology / Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies, The University of British Columbia
Commentator Dr. Yukari Enoi, Specially Appointed Professor, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Center for Collaborative Future Creation, Osaka University

Part 3 (14:45-17:00) Panel Discussion "Practices and Issues on Mother Tongue and Heritage Language Education in Japan”
Ms. Juri Afuso, Youth Worker, NPO ABC Japan
Mr. Kyaw Kyaw Soe, Shwegangaw Association / NPO Association of Myanmar Japan Bridge for Education
Ms. Pritam Lama Golay, Foreign Student Education Promotion Committee Member, Hyogo Prefectural Ashiya International Secondary School, President of Sewa International School
Ms. Rimi Nakano Director, International Education Division, Education Policy Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Moderator   Dr. Masako Tanaka, Institute of Global Concern, Sophia University


Contact: Institute of Global Concern, Sophia University
Email: i-glocon@sophia.ac.jp
Tel: 03-3238-3023

[Date] Sat 16 December 9:30 - 17:00
[Venue] International Conference Hall, Sophia University Building No. 2, 17th floor (face-to-face and webinar streaming)
[Subjects]  Sophia University students, faculty and staff, and the general public
[Entry fee] Free
[Sponsor] Institute of Global Concern, Sophia University
[Co-Sponsor] Social Science Research Institute, International Christian University (ICU-SSRI)
[Cooperation] The Toyota Foundation 2022 International Grant Program, "Mother tongue and national language education for transnational migrant children: Roles of the host country for Non-Formal Education Classes run by migrant communities in Japan" (Migrant Children's Language Education (MICLE) project)
[Application] For face-to-face venue participation https://forms.gle/e99qssEej2fr1H4x7 For webinar registration https://onl.bz/JKEBiwH
[Contact] i-glocon@sophia.ac.jp

Cross-border Reporting on Sanitation Work in Asia

*Please bring your digital devices and headsets for interpretation services.
*LANGUAGE: English and Japanese with simultaneous translation
*Check more details and sign up here by 10pm, Sept 30
https://aajaasiawithunfiltered.peatix.com/

CONTENTS:
2 pm-3:30pm JST: Session (1) How to build a successful cross-border collaboration
Three award-winning freelance journalists will discuss how they conducted a cross-border collaboration, including the tools, methods, and strategies used. They’ll then share how they brought everything together to produce one global feature and four regional articles, published in Japanese, Indonesian, English and Thai.

3:45 pm-5 pm JST: Session (2) Workers, Waste to Energy, and Environmental Challenges
Workers and experts in the sanitation and waste-to-energy industry will present the latest status of technological development and the complex political, social, and economic impacts around the spread of waste to energy across Asia.

PANELISTS:

For session (1)

Yosepha Pusparisa, Indonesia-based freelance journalist
Nithin Coca, Japan-based freelance journalist
Nicha Wachpanich, Thailand-based freelance journalist
For session (2)
Kabir Arora, International Alliance of Waste Pickers (India)
A K M Maksud, Executive Director at Grambangla Unnayan Committee (Bangladesh)
Jorge Emmanuel, adjunct professor of environmental science and of engineering at Silliman University
Shuichiro Tada and Yoshikatsu Nishimura, Tokyo Sanitation Workers Union (Japan)

[Date] Oct 1st, Sun 2pm-5pm(JST) 1pm-4pm(HKT/SGT)
[Venue] Hybrid (Sophia University Library L-821 and Zoom)
[Subjects] Anyone
[Entry fee] Free
[Co-Sponsor] Asian American Journalists Association, Unfiltered, Institute of Global Concern Sophia University
[Application] https://aajaasiawithunfiltered.peatix.com/
[Contact] i-glocon@sophia.ac.jp

What’s your verdict on one of the most contentious debates in Japan today?
Miki Dezaki's “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue

This film screening event explores the fraught discourse and contemporary representations of the “comfort women,” a euphemism for the sex slaves of the Japanese empire. The event will begin with a screening of “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue” (2018), a documentary by Miki Dezaki and conclude with a Q&A with the filmmaker.

Miki Dezaki, filmmaker, Youtuber, and Sophia University alumni, tackles one of the most contentious debates in Japan today with his debut feature length documentary on the comfort women issue. A must-see film that helps answer questions such as: Were the comfort women “sexual slaves” or prostitutes? Were they coercively recruited? Were there really 200,000 comfort women? And, does Japan have a legal responsibility to apologize?

Speaker: Miki Dezaki

[Date] July 6th, 2023,17:20-20:30
[Venue] Room 101, Building 6, Sophia University
[Subjects] Open to everyone
[Entry fee] Free
[Sponsor] Institute of Global Concern/Institute of Asian, African, and the Middle Eastern Studies Sophia University
[Application] https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=p-YOaaVN3E-jFrtZnYKl0le6q3oW_ylEjJKenW74aWpUNFNCUUFNQVFBVkE0S1ZLR0dHSEpXWTQ4Uy4u
[Contact] i-glocon@sophia.ac.jp