"Kurds Living in Japan"

2019/11/22

My encounter with the Kurds was a coincidence. About 10 years ago, during my time at the Mainichi Shimbun, I left the head office and was assigned to the Kawaguchi Bureau, one of the reporting bases in Saitama Prefecture. One day, while chatting with a staff member at the Public Relations Division of the neighboring Warabi City Hall, where I had gone to gather story ideas, the staff member suddenly began to speak: "Every year, the Kurds hold a traditional festival in the city park." It was "Newroz," the Kurdish New Year festival held around the spring equinox, which also celebrates their liberation as a people.

At that time, all I knew about the Kurdish people was the "Halabja tragedy," in which thousands were slaughtered by the Iraqi dictator Hussein. I think I had almost no knowledge of Newroz either. However, the word "Kurd" stuck in my mind in a strange way.

With the collapse of the Hussein regime in Iraq and the civil war in Syria, the Kurds came into the spotlight, and related news increased rapidly. I decided to run a series in the Saitama edition of the Mainichi Shimbun and started a project titled "Home is Far Away: Kurds in Kawaguchi." The series ran for a total of 24 installments from Part 1 to Part 6, from December 6, 2017, to August 3, 2018. This book was written almost entirely from scratch based on my reporting notes.

In Chapter 1, "Kurds Who Came to Japan," I chronicled the difficult life stories of Mamo-san, the first person I became close to; his wife Elmas-san, who was the first Kurdish woman to come to Japan; and Ali-san, the first Kurdish person living in Japan to arrive. In Chapter 2, "Detention Cornering the Kurds," I heard the voices of those who, despite coming to Japan as "refugees," were not recognized as such and were driven to despair by deportation orders and detention in immigration facilities. Chapter 3, "Enduring Hardships," depicts the struggles of a young man who set foot in Japan again after being arrested in his homeland of Turkey following deportation from Japan, and a family beset by one misfortune after another, such as the father's suicide. Finally, Chapter 4, "Kurds Rooted in the Community," introduces Kurds who are living resiliently while coexisting with local residents, such as those in Japanese language classes run by volunteers, traditional "Oya" embroidery classes, and a young man who successfully opened a kebab shop.

I wrote this book to listen to the voices of the Kurds and to make their current situation known. I hope it will help us consider the refugee issue, for which each and every one of us is being asked for an answer.

"Kurds Living in Japan"

Tetsuo Tokizawa

Bunanomori

208 pages, 1,600 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.