Medeshi 17 Sept, 2008 Somalia, the yet-to-be known part of Africa: how the region is perceived in Japan
By: Yoshia MORISHITA
Seen from Japan, it is mysterious, very far as well as very confusing, and even a little bit scary sometimes. What is mysterious, very far, confusing and scary? Don’t ask me that question! I am talking about Somalia, Somaliland, Puntland, Mogadishu, Hargeysa, people from there and all that!
Somehow, a Japanese person (me!) has come to contribute articles to this web site (medeshi)… I will write about how your region of the world is generally seen in Japan. But dear readers! I want you to know that in my articles I do not distinguish all the different parts of ‘the Somali region’; I only generally write about the Somali region and people from there (hoping that the use of ‘the Somali region’, ‘Somali people’ etc is neutral enough!). This actually reflects my limited knowledge about the region and thus highlights the raison d’etre of this informative web site at the same time, doesn’t it? In any case, however, I am sure that I am familiar with Somali-related topics more than the vast majority of ordinary Japanese people.
How I encountered people originally from ‘the Somali region’ (Article 1 of 3)
Let me start with a conditional sentence. Had I not had Somali colleagues before, I would not have had any contact with Somali people, let alone contributed to this web site. I mean I am very lucky.
I lived in London for about 4 years in total. Luckily I worked there with a couple of people from the Somali region. I felt privileged to have those colleagues, who soon became my friends and we went to the cinema, ate out, and even shared Iftar meals, whereas the vast majority of my friends and acquaintances did not seem to have such opportunities. Of course, I must have seen and spoken to Somali people before I met the colleagues. For example, I must have travelled by mini-cab or bus driven by Somali drivers, checked e-mail at Internet cafés run by Somali entrepreneurs and purchased meat from Halal meat shops owned by Somali butchers.
However, it was not until I became friends with my colleagues that I felt attached to Somali people. Living in a multicultural society like London does not guarantee non-Somalis automatically make Somali friends. That is, you need to open your eyes to discover the lives lived by ‘others’; otherwise birds of a feather flock together and you often find yourself spending most of your time with similar and familiar faces, cultures, languages and skin colours, feeling a little too lazy to break away from these essentially psychological barriers! This is something that we all know as our own experiences, isn’t it? Now I am back in Japan and here again have got to know a few Somali residents in our neighbourhood (FYI: I live in a city called Sapporo in northern Japan, by the way). One of these Somali guys here speaks excellent Japanese and in fact is due to be issued with a Japanese passport soon.
I have been very fortunate to have stayed on good terms with all my Somali friends. In my next article, I will write about some of the experiences I have had with my Somali friends.
END
About the writer:
(Mr) Yoshia MORISHITA is a Japanese national who studied and worked in the UK, as well as Turkey and Eritrea. He has visited around 25 countries of the world and developed his international perspectives. He has a Master’s degree in International Development from UCL, University of London and worked as a research associate at a British NGO. Currently he is living in Japan running a small business in the area of various international programmes and businesses facilitation and co-ordination, while reading sociology at Hokkaido University.
By: Yoshia MORISHITA
Seen from Japan, it is mysterious, very far as well as very confusing, and even a little bit scary sometimes. What is mysterious, very far, confusing and scary? Don’t ask me that question! I am talking about Somalia, Somaliland, Puntland, Mogadishu, Hargeysa, people from there and all that!
Somehow, a Japanese person (me!) has come to contribute articles to this web site (medeshi)… I will write about how your region of the world is generally seen in Japan. But dear readers! I want you to know that in my articles I do not distinguish all the different parts of ‘the Somali region’; I only generally write about the Somali region and people from there (hoping that the use of ‘the Somali region’, ‘Somali people’ etc is neutral enough!). This actually reflects my limited knowledge about the region and thus highlights the raison d’etre of this informative web site at the same time, doesn’t it? In any case, however, I am sure that I am familiar with Somali-related topics more than the vast majority of ordinary Japanese people.
How I encountered people originally from ‘the Somali region’ (Article 1 of 3)
Let me start with a conditional sentence. Had I not had Somali colleagues before, I would not have had any contact with Somali people, let alone contributed to this web site. I mean I am very lucky.
I lived in London for about 4 years in total. Luckily I worked there with a couple of people from the Somali region. I felt privileged to have those colleagues, who soon became my friends and we went to the cinema, ate out, and even shared Iftar meals, whereas the vast majority of my friends and acquaintances did not seem to have such opportunities. Of course, I must have seen and spoken to Somali people before I met the colleagues. For example, I must have travelled by mini-cab or bus driven by Somali drivers, checked e-mail at Internet cafés run by Somali entrepreneurs and purchased meat from Halal meat shops owned by Somali butchers.
However, it was not until I became friends with my colleagues that I felt attached to Somali people. Living in a multicultural society like London does not guarantee non-Somalis automatically make Somali friends. That is, you need to open your eyes to discover the lives lived by ‘others’; otherwise birds of a feather flock together and you often find yourself spending most of your time with similar and familiar faces, cultures, languages and skin colours, feeling a little too lazy to break away from these essentially psychological barriers! This is something that we all know as our own experiences, isn’t it? Now I am back in Japan and here again have got to know a few Somali residents in our neighbourhood (FYI: I live in a city called Sapporo in northern Japan, by the way). One of these Somali guys here speaks excellent Japanese and in fact is due to be issued with a Japanese passport soon.
I have been very fortunate to have stayed on good terms with all my Somali friends. In my next article, I will write about some of the experiences I have had with my Somali friends.
END
About the writer:
(Mr) Yoshia MORISHITA is a Japanese national who studied and worked in the UK, as well as Turkey and Eritrea. He has visited around 25 countries of the world and developed his international perspectives. He has a Master’s degree in International Development from UCL, University of London and worked as a research associate at a British NGO. Currently he is living in Japan running a small business in the area of various international programmes and businesses facilitation and co-ordination, while reading sociology at Hokkaido University.
