Abstract
Since Japan ratified the Convention on the Status of Refugees in the 1980s and 1990s, the number of refugees from Indo-China has increased rapidly. Furthermore, as the Immigration Control Law was reformed and the qualifications for status of residence for Japanese descendants were changed, the number of remaining Japanese descendants in China who repatriated to Japan also increased. In addition, the number of mixed marriages between Japanese and foreigners increased rapidly. Under these circumstances, there has also been a rapid increase in the children in Japan who have foreign roots. An economically advanced society such as Japan ought to be aware of the importance of foreign children’s education; however, an accurate understanding of the ratio of those who go on to higher education has not yet been sufficiently achieved. The rate of children with foreign roots who go on to higher education is conjectured to be about 50% to 70% of that of Japanese children. This is due to domestic economic conditions, learning environments, and educational problems that affect migrant families. First, in order to properly consider educational support for the children with foreign roots, it is essential to grasp what kinds of difficulties are hindering their progress. In this article, we consider the learning support practice of an NPO in Nagata-ward, Kobe-city. This area was chosen for the investigation as it has had a high population of foreign migrants for many years. Regarding learning support, it is also necessary to consider how the mother-culture is passed down to the children in foreign migrant families, and the selection of ethnic names. In addition, we need to consider Japan as the host society where these children grow up, and in particular what changes it needs to achieve regarding how it accepts and deals with them.
