China News Service, August 18th. Japan's New Overseas Chinese Newspaper published an article on the 17th entitled "Sendai helps foreigners integrate into society, Chinese people experience multicultural symbiosis". The author observes that Sendai, Japan has established a multicultural symbiosis center for foreigners living in Sendai. People provide services to help them integrate into local society. The article mentioned that local Chinese are satisfied with this service.
The article is excerpted as follows:
Speaking of Sendai, readers will not feel unfamiliar. The article "Mr. Fujino" reminds people of the city where Mr. Lu Xun studied and the lovely people living in this city.
Back in time to June 2019, the multicultural symbiosis center expanded from the consultation window of the Sendai International Center opened its doors to welcome guests. The staff of Sendai Tourism International Association is stationed in the center, and provides daily consulting services in English and Chinese, and provides consulting services in Korean, Vietnamese and Nepali once a week. In addition, with the help of third-party calls, consultations in 13 languages can be accepted.
Since the establishment of the Sendai Multicultural Symbiosis Center, a total of 2,689 consultations have been received. These consultations are mainly manifested in the life difficulties caused by cultural differences and lack of understanding of Sendai’s local rules and regulations. Most of the visitors were foreigners who settled in Sendai, but there were also cases where Japanese people came to consult, which accounted for 38% of the total. It is understood that most Japanese who come to consult
Issues related to foreign labor employed by the company or organization. For example, how to explain disaster prevention issues to foreign employees. Here, the reporter also heard heart-warming stories. Some nurseries reported that foreign children in nurseries refused to eat. The center specially sent translators to assist nurseries in thorough communication with parents, so as to resolve misunderstandings about food and culture between the two countries. Try to eliminate differences. The reporter ran into a Chinese mother living in Sendai at the Multicultural Symbiosis Center. She came to consult about vaccinations for infants and young children. She expressed her kindness and peace of mind for the Chinese service provided by the center.
As we all know, Japan is a country with strict requirements on garbage disposal. Therefore, consultation about garbage disposal accounts for 20% of the life consultation category. Questions such as how to dispose of bulky garbage, how to buy disposal coupons, and where to buy them, all make foreigners who are new to Sendai feel confused. Tetsuka Kikuchi, head of the Sendai Multicultural Symbiosis Center, said that it is very difficult for foreigners to understand the concepts of life details, culture, and systems that should exist for Japanese as air. With the Japanese government's continuous policy inclination in attracting foreign labor, more and more local residents regard foreigners who settle here as members of a large regional family. The issue of multicultural symbiosis is supposed to be the joint thinking and collaboration of Japanese and foreigners. Therefore, I hope that the Sendai Multicultural Symbiosis Center will become a stronghold to promote multicultural symbiosis.
It is understood that as of the end of April 2020, a total of 13,817 foreigners are permanently residing in Sendai. Although this figure currently accounts for only 1% of Sendai's 1.09 million population, it shows a trend of continuous growth. Therefore, local governments, social forces, and local residents must act together, starting with the details of life, and promoting the establishment of a multicultural symbiotic society has become a top priority. (Wang Yanan)