Specified Nonprofit Corporation glolab ~ Career Education and Community Creation Project for Young People with Foreign Roots ~

The establishment of glolab began when Ms. Chiho Shibayama (Representative Director), and Mr. Hiroshi Kageyama (Vice Representative Director), planned a career guidance session for students who had foreign roots at a Tokyo metropolitan high school, in 2017. They mutually agreed that they wanted to create a place where the people involved could help and learn from each other. Then, they started activities to accompany the growth of young people with foreign roots. Initially, it was a voluntary organization, but, in December 2020, it was established as a non-profit organization.
"Adversity is an opportunity for growth". With these words as keywords, this is how glolab - a laboratory for globalization - was launched.

We aim to support young people, to help them make their own choices in life.

"What are my dreams for the future? What kind of work do I want to do? To what am I suited?" We are sure that every adult has experienced this kind of worry and confusion in their teens and their early twenties. Ms. Shibayama had met many children with foreign roots in her previous job, at the Multicultural Center Tokyo. Despite their academic ability in their home countries, these children were unable to keep up with their high school classes in Japan due to the Japanese language barrier. Children who entered high school with dreams and hopes, but dropped out because they could not find a place to belong.　Children who had hoped to go on to higher education, but were unable to tell anyone about their hopes, and had to find a job to earn money to live on.　"Every child has room to grow. Kageyama, our Vice president, came to Japan from China at the age of six, and has worked hard to make his own choices in life. We started glolab because we thought that people like him should come out more. It is not easy for young people with foreign roots to reach their full potential in today's Japanese society, and it depends largely on individual effort. We want to create a society where people are able to use their abilities," Ms. Shibayama says. At glolab, they are practicing to create a system to achieve that goal.

Watch the videos and learn. Participate and connect, diagnose and consult.

Unlike international students, children with roots in other countries do not come here of their own volition. There are children who do not necessarily have a positive view toward Japanese society. The glolab website has easy-to-understand videos on how to prepare for a career while they are still in high school, how to go to university and technical college, and the information they need to find a job. Multilingual career videos are a great way to get young people thinking about their future. "For children with foreign roots, there are special challenges, such as restrictions on employment and scholarships, due to their status of residence. However, it is not easy to get information about such a complicated system. Under the supervision of a lawyer, we have added a video to learn about residential status. The important thing is to find out what their issues are by themselves and to then understand them," says Ms. Shibayama. This is why glolab offers "LINE Diagnostics".　By answering 10 questions on LINE, young people will be able to see their own issues. They can also consult with glolab on LINE. glolab is also distributing a video titled, "The stories of your predecessors," in which Carlos himself talks about anecdotes from when he first came to Japan until he graduated from high school. Children will be able to relate to his story, feel energized, and have a chance to take a step forward.

The gap between parents who come to Japan to work, and children who grow up in Japan.

Mr. Carlos Uemura came to Japan from Peru 28 years ago, when he was in the second year of junior high school. "I don't think my parents thought much about my education, because they were migrant workers who planned to return to their country someday."　There is a huge gap between parents who want to work hard and save money to go back home, and their children who grow up in Japan day by day. "When we're in a comfortable local Peruvian community, it's easy to think that we can work in a factory or construction site after secondary school, because that's what the people around us are doing. And, it's an easy choice for us. Parents would not suggest any other way, either." Even if the children want to go to college or cram school, they can't tell their parents; who work late to save money. They say that the closer a family is, the more children are influenced by their parents' ideas. "Twenty-eight years have passed (since I came to Japan) and now many people from Vietnam and Nepal are coming to Japan. When I look at those people, I see that they are repeating the same experiences that I had when I first came to Japan. And, nothing has changed," Carlos says. Even though time has passed, and the nationalities of the people coming to Japan have changed, the problems faced by children in ethnic communities have not changed much.

School teachers should also be aware of the challenges faced by children with foreign roots.

The glolab's series of videos explaining career choices in multiple languages is designed to help young people get hints about "How to live their lives", "Learning about themselves", and "Thinking about what they want to work for". These videos have been well received as being very easy to understand.　Ms. Hitomi, who is also a professional in Japanese language education, produced this video. "I am involved in school education both as a supporter and as a Japanese language teacher, so I know what school teachers are struggling with. The teachers want to help the children, but they don't know how to. They don't have access to their information and they don't know the background of these children. I believe that those teachers will be able to understand the challenges of children by watching these videos with their students." In fact, they have received feedback that users have watched it with an interpreter in their school classes, and Japanese language classes. "It's an animation, so the children were concentrating on it. If we can make it more multilingual, I think parents will be able to watch it too," says Ms. Shibayama. These videos are one way for parents to get information about their children's career paths.

Foreign-rooted children can be a force in Japan.

"glolab is doing an amazing job. But, if we don't distribute our work, it won't get out.　We are still exploring, but we want to support those who need help. And, hopefully, the information we send out will reach people in need all over the country," says Ms. Shirato. She has taken on the role of PR, drawing on her former experience in the media. These days, with the Covid-19 situation, online classes have become the norm. Ms. Shibayama says, "glolab also wants to distribute content online and create an online community. And, our goal is to increase the number of people across the country that we can support using video." When they hosted an online seminar in March, nearly 50 people from all over the country attended. On the glolab website, there is a section called "glolab Magazine" where you can read "Life History" told by people who have powerfully created their own lives. Foreign-origin young people have a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and have great potential. Through the activities of glolab, we believe that young people with foreign roots will spread the idea that they are not just a category of people who tend to face challenges, but that they are people who can help Japan move forward.

*This article is based on information available at the time of the interview. For the latest information, please contact the organization directly.