Nepalese children born in Japan struggle to ‘become Nepalese’ · Global Voices

Image via Nepali Times. Used with permission.

This article by Pinki Sris Rana was first published on Nepali Times. An edited and shortened version is republished below as part of a content sharing agreement with Global Voices.

Ayan Dallakoti spent his childhood in Japan, speaking Japanese and for all intents and purposes considered himself Japanese. It was only as he grew up that he realized he was actually from Nepal.

Ayan was eight years old when his mother Pratibha brought him and his younger brother Avan back to Nepal. Their father Anjay, who is still in Japan, decided to send the boys home so they could “become Nepali”.

Ayan was somewhat familiar with the Nepali language and the country, but everything felt foreign in Kathmandu, including the education system. He recalls:

Things were a little easier when he had a classmate who also returned from Japan, but making Nepali friends didn’t come easily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcynbI9MGk

Japan is now a major destination for Nepalese families like the Dallacotis. Officially, there are about 180,000 Nepalese in Japan and another 35,000 have immigrated in the past year alone – a 30% increase over the previous year.

Figures from the Japanese embassy show that of those who left last year, 23,124 were on student visas, 8,566 were on work visas and 7,849 were dependents.

While most of the older generation of Nepalis in Japan are cooks who went as “skilled labor”, the new generation of migrants are mostly on student visas, working part-time. For the Japanese government, a student visa is a temporary migration system carefully calibrated to fill the country’s labor shortage in the service sector.

Unlike the Gulf, Korea, Malaysia and other countries, Nepalese can bring their families to Japan. In response to this, Nepalese schools have sprung up in major cities in Japan. These schools teach Nepali language, culture and also English. But for families working away from those cities, children have no choice but to get a Japanese education.

Anjay Dallakoti originally went to Japan as a student but extended his stay on a work visa. Pratibha joined him a few years later as an addict. Ayan was born in Japan, and six years later, Avan. After 12 years, Pratibha returns to Nepal with both boys.

In many Nepalese families in Japan, it is the children who have to adjust to being caught between two worlds. Many have to deal with the double adjustment of first arriving in Japan and then returning to school in Nepal.

Masako Tanaka, a professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University, told The Nepali Times in an email interview that nearly 20,000 Nepalis in Japan are minors. Tanaka has worked closely with Nepali migrants in Japan and says many mothers bring their children back to Nepal because of concerns that they are losing touch with their identity and culture back home.

The other reason is that children do not learn enough English and parents fear that they will lose out later in life.

“Returning to Nepal and studying in schools here helps create an environment where children either stay and work in Nepal in the future or go to a third country,” says Sapana Kharel, who also returned to Nepal with his two children.

Image via Nepali Times. Used with permission.

For Nepali families who have not been granted permanent resident status, staying in Japan and continuing their children’s education is too uncertain. They fear that this could interrupt their children’s education if they had to leave Japan midway through school.

“There is a fear that children will not have a place either in Nepali schools or there in Japan,” adds Kharel.

Others say they would have returned to Nepal for the sake of the children no matter what, even if they had obtained permanent residency in Japan. Indeed, there are Nepali mothers who are already permanent residents who have chosen to return with their children.

Ten-year-old Ahana Odari had her own struggles when she was brought to Nepal by her mother a year ago. He had to repeat the 3rd grade. “She didn’t want to speak in the first months because of the language problem,” recalls her mother, Balika Odari. “It took Ahana a whole year to adjust and adjust to Nepal and its ways. But that was necessary.”

Like many parents, Balika feels that while Japan’s education system is one of the best in the world, children there are more withdrawn and don’t socialize as much. “We were worried that our children would evolve the same way, so we decided to bring them back and introduce them to their country and culture,” she explains.

Sneha Khatri, now 14, has oscillated between Nepal and Japan over the years. She was born in Japan but was brought to Nepal when she was six years old. He studied here till 3rd grade and then went to Nepal-run Everest International School in Tokyo.

Sneha returned to Nepal a month ago to appear for her Basic Level Examination (BLE) but is worried about her results. She takes extra tutoring in math.

Image via Nepali Times. Used with permission.

Ayan is now in 7th grade and is also worried about his BLE next year. He says in Japanese-accented English, “Social studies is my first hardest subject, and Nepali is my second hardest.”

Speaking Nepali with family and friends is not difficult for returned migrant children, but Nepali as an academic subject is difficult.

Professor Tanaka says immigrant children have fallen through the cracks between Japan and Nepal. She asks rhetorically: “Who will think about the welfare of migrant children? Who is responsible for them?”

Nepalese in Nippon

Everest International School Japan (EISJ) in Tokyo follows a Nepali curriculum and also teaches students English. Originally established in 2013 by the Nepali community, this school came under the Ministry of Education of Nepal (MoE) in 2015. EISJ is the only school in Japan that is certified to take SEE from Nepal in Japan.

Other schools following the Nepali curriculum have opened over the years. But only two of them, Tokai Batika International School in Nagoya and Himalaya International Academy in Tokyo are certified to run Nepali curriculum according to Nepal’s Ministry of Education. But both offer education only below 10th grade.

Most Nepalese families and a few non-Nepalese families working in Japan decide to send their children to schools like EISJ because of the English language. But these are private international schools, unlike Japanese government schools, which are free.

And because these schools are not certified, the Japanese government offers no subsidies, no transportation discounts, among other privileges, for these schools, says Professor Masako Tanaka of Tokyo’s Sophia University.

Image via Nepali Times. Used with permission.

“Most importantly, EISJ graduates cannot obtain visa status independently even after high school graduation, while migrant students who graduate from Japanese schools are eligible,” adds Tanaka.

While schools that follow Nepali curriculum in Japan have been a relief to Nepali parents who want their children to follow Nepali curriculum education, these schools had better be certified by the Japanese government.

“We live in Niigata. It would take us six hours to travel to Everest International School in Tokyo. So, we came to Nepal to give our children an English-medium education,” says Pratibha Dallakoti, who returned from Japan with her two sons in 2020.