By Kentaro Sugino / Yomiuri Shimbun
A traditional shitamachi area of Tokyo associated with the popular “Tora-san” series of films has seen a recent influx of newcomers looking for a new life away from political turmoil back home.
While many Japanese are unfamiliar with life in Ethiopia, a growing community of people from the landlocked Horn of Africa nation are setting up homes in Katsushika Ward.
Tadesse Gebre, 38, and his wife live in a six-tatami-mat room on the third floor of a small, shabby building among a row of izakaya pubs near Keisei Tateishi Station.
After returning from their respective jobs one night recently, the couple settled down to eat a traditional Ethiopian dinner of doro wat, a fiery stew of chicken on the bone with tomatoes and onions cooked on a portable stove, finishing the meal by mopping up the dark red soup with slices of bread.
While the common tongue in Ethiopia is Amharic, the couple have become fluent in Japanese.
“My wife gets home from work late, so I’m usually the one who does the cooking” Gebre said.
“We have to do our best for our family back home,” his wife added.
Gebre came to Japan 16 years ago as a athlete, twice winning the Hokkaido Marathon for a corporate team. Since retiring from running, he has been driving a truck and collecting plastic bottles to make money.
His 27-year-old wife came here after the two married eight years ago. She works at a factory making bento boxed meals.
The couple pays 45,000 yen a month for the room and has to share a bath with other residents in the building. They said their dream is to save money to buy a house in the suburbs and bring over their two young sons who live with relatives in Ethiopia.
According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, 122 Ethiopians were registered as alien residents in the capital as of January–34 more than two years earlier.
The Japan Association for Refugees, a nonprofit organization that supports applications for refugee status, said a further 30 or 40 Ethiopians have contacted the association this year.
Many people were killed or escaped from Ethiopia when antigovernment protesters clashed with security forces over a delay in releasing general election results in 2005, plunging the country into chaos.
The Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo-based association believes the number of people entering Japan has increased because the United States placed stricter controls on visas following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the country.
As of the end of September, 39 Ethiopians were registered as living in Katsushika Ward–about 30 percent of all Ethiopians in the capital.
It was “tough being a man” for Tora-san, the warm-hearted protagonist in the long-running series of films synonymous with the area, but Gebre maintains that the fledgling Ethiopian community can help immigrants who make the long journey from East Africa.
“If people from the same country are close to each other, people are more comfortable about moving here,” Gebre said.
An Ethiopian man in his 30s who lives in the ward and is currently applying for refugee status remarked ruefully that in his homeland, he was a civil servant, and as such enjoyed wide respect. He spends his days looking for work at a Hello Work job center and washes dishes in a restaurant while waiting to receive permission to live here.
“I want to go back home when the political situation calms down,” he said.
The number of foreigners as a whole is growing in Tokyo. According to the metropolitan government, 405,060 registered foreigners lived in the capital as of Oct. 1–up more than 100,000 from eight years ago.
In Edogawa Ward alone, the Indian community has reached about 2,000. Only about 30 lived there around the turn of the century.
Mihoko Kashima, 30, a refugee association worker said: “We need people to act as intermediaries [with the refugees] and the area and perform tasks such as introducing people to consultation centers when problems arise.”
In September, Gebre hosted an event for Meskal, an ancient Christian holiday celebrated in Ethiopia, for the first time at a local labor welfare center. About 50 of his compatriots met up at the event, which Gebre advertised online.
While the event did not include the lighting of a bonfire or firing of guns as is the custom in Ethiopia, those attending did enjoy traditional food and music. The first election of officials for an Ethiopian association also was held at the event.
“People have to help each other while living lifestyles they’re unfamiliar with,” Gebre said.
Those of us who come into contact with people in such a situation should never forget that kindness never goes unrewarded.