FOCUS: Vietnamese Nun Concerned about Foreign Workers' Safety in Japan

Tokyo, April 26 (Jiji Press)--Vietnamese nun Thich Tam Tri is alarmed by a recent spate of deaths among technical interns from developing countries, including her own, who work in Japan to acquire professional skills. "All I can say every time the sad news reaches me is, 'Again? Why?'" said Tri, a 41-year-old female religious order member at Nisshinkutsu, a Buddhist temple in central Tokyo. Rows of about 60 spirit tablets stand at Nisshinkutsu for technical interns who died from disease or killed themselves. "It's clearly an extraordinary situation," Tri said. Reasons of their deaths range from demanding work and depression caused by language problems to financial difficulties and lack of knowledge about Japanese culture and climate. "They came to Japan with dreams but had to return home in urns. How deeply are their families saddened?" she said. Tri, who arrived in Japan in 2001 and studied Buddhism at Taisho University, currently serves as chair of the association of Vietnamese Buddhists in Japan. After the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, she played a key role in opening Nisshinkutsu as accommodation for affected Vietnamese people in northeastern Japan. In April, a new visa program under the revised immigration control act came into force, allowing more foreigners to join the workforce in Japan. Tri wants a crackdown on malicious brokers who demand outrageous commissions from people wishing to work in Japan. She also calls for improvements in the situation in which many foreigners undertake menial labor and physical labor, anathema to Japanese workers, and sometimes fail to receive promised wages. "Japanese people tend to have a high regard for Westerners while looking down on Asians. I wonder if this can be taken as Japan's national character," she said. "Japanese and Vietnamese are both human beings, so I want them to be treated equally." At the same time, Tri welcomes the new visa program as providing greater opportunities for foreign workers in Japan. "I feel a breath of fresh air," she said. "Vietnamese people can stay (in Japan) longer. I hope they will work hard to acquire skills during the stays and make good use of them for the sake of Vietnam," Tri said. "I hope good relations will develop between Japanese people who love Vietnam and Vietnamese people who love Japan," she added. END