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記者の目:日本語できない外国人子弟が急増＝福井聡 毎日新聞　2012年06月27日　00時19分（最終更新　06月27日　10時54分）

◇政府は受け入れ態勢整備を 　国内最大の中華街を抱える横浜市で、中国出身の児童・生徒が急増している。日本政府が、コックなど特殊技能者の就労ビザ規制を緩和した００年ごろからだ。中華街から西に約１キロの市立富士見中学校（同市中区）は今年度、「外国籍」の生徒と、父か母のどちらかが外国人など「外国につながる」生徒の割合が計４２％に上った。日本語が話せない生徒が多いため学校側は悲鳴を上げる。子供たちは自分から望んで来日したわけではない。政府が認めて受け入れているのだから、文部科学省は彼らの来日後の日本語教育もきちんとケアすべきだ。 ◇卒業までに習得、２０人に１人程度 　教室内では中国語が飛び交い、帰宅後も両親は共働きで深夜まで留守。そんな中、アパートで一人、常時中国とつながっているインターネットに向かい続ける−−。市関係者から聞いた、来日まもない中国人中学生の典型的なイメージだ。現実には、これが２年も３年も続く。 　横浜市は市立の小中学校に「外国籍５人で１人、２０人以上で２人」の担当教師を置く「国際教室」を設け、中国語など外国語のできる教師やボランティアが個別指導で補習を行っている。しかし、日本人の中学生が渡米しても容易に英語ができるようにならないのと同じように、来日した中学生が１、２年で日本語を習得することは、とても無理だ。「２０人いて卒業までに１人が習得できるかどうか」（市関係者）という状況にある。 　横浜市は韓国やフィリピン、南米系住民も多く住む国際都市だ。中心部の中区や南区は、近くに中華街があることから大半の外国人が中国系。中国人はビザを得ると、まず夫婦で来日し、日本永住を決意したら子供を呼ぶ。職場は中華街でのコック、食器洗いや配膳、中華食材工場などが多い。富士見中は学区内に日本有数の日雇い労働者の街とされる寿町地区を抱え、かつては、その子弟が生徒の大半を占めていたが、近年は寿町全体が高齢化したため、代わって中国系の生徒が増えた。 　彼らは日本のマンガやアニメ、歌が好きで、多くが日本にとどまりたいという。しかし、日本語ができないため、「日本のことを知りたいが、勉強はあまりしたくない」という子が目立つ。横浜市国際交流協会（ＹＯＫＥ）の木村博之課長代理は「彼らが日本語を話し日本シンパとなれば、日中両国にとって大きな財産になる」と語る。 　日本政府には、経済産業省に代表される「外国人を国内労働市場に積極的に受け入れるべきだ」と、厚生労働省に代表される「国内の労働者のことを考えれば、受け入れるべきではない」という相反する二つの声がある。横浜市の中国人コックらは特殊技能労働者としてインドネシアやフィリピンからの看護師らと同様、「積極受け入れ」の声に押される形で入国している。 ◇労働力ではなく、人間として扱え 　私はかつて働き手を送り出すアフリカと旧植民地から大量の移民を受け入れてきたフランスに駐在した。アフリカには受け入れ先さえあれば、ほぼ無限ともいえる人たちが渡航を希望する現実がある。フランスはじめ欧州各国は、かつては寛容に海外の働き手を受け入れた。しかし今や特殊技能者に制限する傾向にあり、それさえも入国は難しくなってきている。「異文化融和」の理想は美しい。しかし現実に移動するのは単に「労働力」だけでなく「人とその家族ら」であり、そこに、多くの問題が発生する。 　外国人労働力の受け入れの是非を巡っては、さまざまな論点がある。容易に結論は出ない問題と分かった上で、あえて日本政府は基本方針を提示してほしいと言いたい。それがないままに国際学級の教員数や看護師試験の出題言語を一部変更したとしても、本末転倒だ。そして、受け入れを決断したなら彼らを「労働力」でなく「人間」として扱い、家族を含めた社会保障や子弟の日本語教育など、制度としてきっちりケアする態勢を整えるべきだ。 　横浜市には開港以来、外国文化を受け入れてきた伝統があり、中国語をはじめ外国語を話すボランティアが積極的に活動している。それでも入国者の多さに対応は全く追いついていない。１０代の青少年は多感で、学習だけでなく、個々の悩みへの対応も必要だ。自宅で深夜までネットに向かう生徒たちが直接中国語で相談できるよう、ネーティブの担当者がもっと必要だ。態勢ができていないのに、規制緩和で来日者数ばかり増えるのはおかしい。 　「大人の来日は自己責任だが、子供たちには絶対にサポートが必要」。そんな中国人ボランティアの言葉が、耳から離れない。

Gov't must take responsibility for Chinese workers' lives in Japan

A volunteer teaches Japanese to Chinese junior high school students after school at Naka International Lounge in Naka Ward, Yokohama. (Mainichi) 拡大写真 YOKOHAMA -- Kanagawa's capital city of Yokohama, which boasts the country's largest Chinatown, has seen a surge in the number of Chinese children and students. The trend began in around 2000, when the Japanese government relaxed its restrictions on work visas for cooks and other skilled workers. At Fujimi Junior High School, a public school about a kilometer west of Chinatown, students who are foreign nationals themselves or whose father or mother are foreign nationals now comprise 42 percent of the student population. The school is overwhelmed, unable to deal with so many students who do not speak Japanese. Since the Japanese government grants these students, who do not come to Japan of their own volition, the permission to enter and reside in this country, shouldn't the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry provide them with comprehensive Japanese language instruction after they arrive? According to one Yokohama city official, the typical recently-arrived Chinese student will spend much time in school speaking in Chinese with their compatriots. After school, they will return to an empty home and spend time on the Internet -- which offers constant connections to China -- until their parents return from work late at night. This state of affairs may last two to three years for many Chinese students in Japan. At municipal elementary and junior high schools, the Yokohama Municipal Government places specialized staff, who are generally teachers and volunteers that speak Chinese or other languages, in what are called "international classrooms." One staff is allocated if there are five foreign students, and two specialized staff when the number of foreign students reaches 20 and over. In these classes, students are given individualized remedial instruction. However, just like a Japanese junior high school student who goes to the United States will not learn to speak English right away, a Chinese student who comes to Japan will not learn to speak the Japanese language after a mere year or two. "Barely one student out of 20 will acquire the language before graduation," one city official said. Yokohama is an international city that in addition to many Chinese, hosts residents from South Korea, the Philippines, and South America. Of the foreign nationals in Naka and Minami wards, in central Yokohama, many are Chinese, because of their proximity to Chinatown. In general, the Chinese first apply for visas as married couples. After they enter the country and later make the decision to live permanently in Japan, they send for their children in China. Many of these people work as cooks, dishwashers, and waiters in Chinatown, or workers at Chinese food processing factories. The school district where Fujimi Junior High is located covers an area called Kotobukicho, which has one of the highest concentrations of day laborers in Japan. In the past, most of Fujimi Junior High's students had been the offspring of these laborers. The general aging of the local population in recent years -- and therefore the drop in the number of local students -- overlapped with the upsurge in Chinese students. Many of these Chinese students like Japanese manga, anime, and music, and many say they want to stay in Japan. However, because a large number of them do not understand Japanese, they say they don't want to study even though they want to learn more about Japan. "If these students were to learn to speak Japanese and became pro-Japanese, they would become highly prized figures in the realm of Japan-China relations," says Hiroyuki Kimura of the Yokohama Association for International Communications and Exchanges (YOKE). There are two opposing forces within the Japanese government regarding immigration. One is represented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which calls for the aggressive recruitment of foreign nationals into the Japanese job market. The other is held by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which objects to foreign recruitment to protect Japanese workers. Chinese cooks, as well as Indonesian and Filipino nurses, come to Japan backed by the former. I was once stationed as a reporter in France, where many Africans and immigrants from former colonies have been permitted to enter its borders. Even now, there are many Africans who would immigrate in a flash as long as someone was willing to take them in. But the willingness of France and many other European nations to accept workers from foreign countries is no longer what it used to be. They are restricting immigration to those with special skills, and even then, it has become increasingly difficult. The integration of different cultures is a beautiful ideal. However, "labor" is not the only thing that moves when immigration takes place. It entails the movement of people and their families. Various viewpoints exist on the pros and cons of foreign labor. Knowing full well that it is an issue with no easy answer, I urge the Japanese government to establish a basic policy. Merely setting up "international classrooms" in schools or tweaking the language used in national nursing exams for foreign nurses without instituting a basic policy is putting the cart before the horse. And if the government decides to fling open Japan's borders to foreign workers, it must treat them not as "labor," but as human beings, and provide them with a framework in which they and their families are offered social security, Japanese language instruction, and other assistance. Yokohama has been open to foreign cultures ever since its port was opened to the outside world in the mid-19th century. There are many volunteers who speak Chinese and other languages, who assist non-Japanese speakers through various activities. Such efforts, however, do not stand a chance against the rapidity with which the foreign resident population is growing. The teenage years can be vulnerable ones, making it particularly important to provide teenagers with personal assistance in their studies and other areas of their lives. There is a desperate need for native Chinese speakers that the Chinese junior high students, who spend their evenings on the Internet, can reach out to for advice. It's absurd that immigration laws were relaxed without Japan fully preparing for the influx of foreign nationals that has followed. These words, spoken by a Chinese volunteer I met, have left a lasting impression on me: "Coming to Japan is one's own responsibility among adults, but when it comes to children, they absolutely need support." ("As I see it" by Satoshi Fukui, Yokohama Bureau) July 14, 2012(Mainichi Japan)