March 2016 Meeting Recap: The Refugee Crisis and Japan

By Marie Mortreux, Public Relations and Communications Intern

FEW’s March 2016 meeting addressed one issue that is of much debate: The refugee crisis in Syria. Two impressive guests were invited to share their experiences in dealing with refugees and providing solutions for improving the condition of these individuals: Professor Akiko Yamanaka, Special Ambassador for Peacebuilding and former Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and Keiko Tamura, activist and creator of the blog From Syrian Kitchens, who decided to leave her career in international development to devote her time to change the public opinion in Japan about Syrian refugees and displaced peoples. The discussion was moderated by Sabine Becker-Thierry who has expertise in international development and evaluation, as well as being the Program Coordinator at FEW. 

The Syrian refugee crisis has become a global issue, especially in Europe with its close proximity to Syria. However, questions of security and responsibility make the topic of refugees one of great debate. The situation remains critical, with the United Nations identifying 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, a number that doesn’t include “invisible” individuals who have not registered as refugees.

Professor Yamanaka and Tamura tried to address the role Japan can play in relation to the crisis despite its geographical distance.

Ambassador Yamanaka emphasized the importance of getting younger generations involved in the process of solving humanitarian crisis. She also stressed the power we, as women, have to help in conflict resolution and providing solutions for the future. Ambassador Yamanaka recently visited the Za’atari Camp in Jordan where 80,000 refugees live. To the question of whether Japan should be more involved in helping with the Syrian crisis despite the big challenges faced since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (200,000 internally displaced persons), Ambassador Yamanaka answered positively — she didn’t promise Japan would accept more refugees than it did back in 2014 (11) but stressed the importance of working towards increasing this number. She said this process can only start by taking a closer look and trying to learn about these individuals and also more importantly learn not to discriminate refugees on ground of nationality, language, religion, or skin color.

Ambassador Yamanaka, originally from Hokkaido, stressed that although Japan is a unique culture, has a unique language and does not have a high number of immigrants which can be seen as barriers to welcoming refugees, it is a heterogeneous society. She also mentioned Japan has a history of coping with natural disasters and can be a leader in terms of preventive diplomacy. She agreed social media can be a good weapon if you know how to use it, however its weakness comes from a lack of linkage to physical movement. There is a need for people to get together physically to lead to concrete action.

Keiko Tamura has visited various countries around Syria such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and worked for Child Protection to help children trapped inside Syria for the past five years. She said she saw no difference between the refugees and internally displaced people of Japan, Sudan, Ethiopia and countries in the Middle East when it comes to the pain and suffering they experience. They’ve all had to abandon their homes, pull their children out of school and see their villages destroyed. She emphasized the condition of women and children refugees as worse because they are often victims of abuse. Their level of participation in the decision-making process is often minimized in refugee camps and girls are kept out of school because of danger or given away in early marriage.

Tamura’s work is aimed at changing people’s mindset on refugees but also helping communities improve preparedness to face disasters by taking lessons from the Tohoku and Syrian crises. She believes Japan can play a role at the political level by increasing political pressure and negotiating in order to end the crises. At the grassroots level, Tamura deplored the media in Japan for not clearly differentiating between Islam and extremism. She also stressed one way to help Syrian refugees can be through better use of technology. Similarly, she mentioned the lack of innovative thinking of the private sector. Many Syrian refugees in Europe are qualified and good English speakers, therefore they could be given employment by Japanese companies through the use of IT systems.

Furthermore, Tamura recently created a blog called From Syrian Kitchens. The aim of this blog is to get people to understand refugees as individuals and stop the stigma which comes with seeing Syrian people as whole. “No one wants to be a refugee,” Tamura said. The blog is also about connecting people through food, which is universal. She told the group of an experience she had while interviewing a man in Tohoku who was craving tonkatsu during his day at the shelter — he said he could relate to the experience of Syrian children missing familiar and comforting foods. By taking this active step, Tamura’s goal is to fight against the global tendency of ignorance and intolerance which exist in relation to the Syrian crisis. 

Both of these women highlighted the important role we can play in creating a better dialogue for dealing with the refugee crisis and putting these plans into action. They’re both excellent role models for women of all ages, making them the perfect choice to speak in March, when we celebrate International Women’s Day.

Check back soon for more #IWD2016 activities and share your suggestions with us for how to help displaced peoples in Japan and around the world.