Medeshi 22 Sept , 2008We are yet to meet! (Article 3 of 3) By: Yoshia MORISHITA
In my last two articles I mainly talked about my own experiences with Somali people. In this last article I will write a little bit about how the Somali region and people are generally perceived in Japan. It is probably fair to say the most of the visitors to this web site are Somali and assume that they do not have any Japanese friends or acquaintances. Likewise none of my friends and acquaintances in Japan has never even seen any Somali person. It is as if Japanese and Somali were living in different worlds in the same world.
What do Japanese people know about the Somali region? What do Japanese people think about it? What do they hear about it if they do at all? I believe a lot of people have at least heard of the word ‘Somalia’ but that is all and very few people know about the region, its location and people. In the first place the Japanese newspapers cover very few stories from there. For historic, economic, political and other reasons Japanese people pay more attention to Asian countries and the US than other regions of the world. Japan and Somalia are simply very far from each other. In fact, the vast majority of Japanese people take Africa as a whole except for Ethiopia, Kenya and a few others because they have excellent athletes (there are even students from these countries ‘studying’ at Japanese private universities on scholarship; their primary job is to run in marathons representing the universities).
Yet occasionally there is some news about the Somali region although it is mostly about violent conflicts, the threat of pirates near Somalia, and similar negative stories. Probably the last time we actually saw the towns in Somalia on TV was when the Tsunami in Indonesia also killed fishermen in Somalia (by the way ‘Tsunami’ is a Japanese word, which means huge waves at the port/shore).
Some others might have seen a film entitled Blackhawk Down and a picture of an American soldier whose dead body was pulled around by car (the Japanese Army recommend the film to its soldiers just to show how difficult it can be to fight in the actual battle field, definitely NOT for blaming the Somalis; the majority of the viewers of this film may not know the scene is in the Somali region).
Moreover, second hand car buyers from the Somali region visit Japan and sometimes ask us about Toyota Landcruiser and Nissan Hilux. One of the buyers jokingly told me that the rebels would buy these cars and cut off the roof of the car to mount machine guns!
All these put together, even to most of Japanese people who are relatively well informed, the Somali region is a place to assist with peace building, a place somewhere in Africa to keep away from because it is dangerous, or quite possibly a place they have no idea about. Consequently there is hardly anyone with whom I can enjoy talking about Somalia, which is a little sad for me to accept because I want to be more familiar with the Somali region where some of my friends originally come from.
In a nutshell, Japan may seem too far and too different from the Somali region. This is certainly true but there are good things as well. One day if Japanese and Somali meet, we can probably be good friends. Why? This is because Japan is not like typical Western countries where Somalis can get insulted because of their country of origin or religious belief (this is what I hear). Japan has very limited relations with Africa as a whole and there are few Africans in Japan and almost no immigrants. Believe it or not, Africans in general are warmly welcome here. People here will even say to you, ‘Welcome! You travelled all the way from Africa. Thank you for coming!’ This means that there will be no barrier to the initial contact.
Moreover Japan is certainly not a Muslim country but almost all Muslims who visit Japan say Japan is a more Muslim country than any other ‘officially’ Muslim country. This is because of its cleanliness and the way people behave in public places, according to Muslim visitors to Japan. Also most of Japanese people are not familiar with Islam and so do not discriminate against Muslims; they can be curious but do not offend you. Why not come to see it for yourself? I am afraid there is no khat to chew available but there are masjids and Halal food shops in the major cities of Japan, including our city!
We are very far apart but I am one of the few in Japan, thinking of Somali people all the time, hoping others will also know about Somali-related issues! We Japanese and Somalis will meet in the near future!
Thank you for reading my articles! Wishing you all good health!
END
In my last two articles I mainly talked about my own experiences with Somali people. In this last article I will write a little bit about how the Somali region and people are generally perceived in Japan. It is probably fair to say the most of the visitors to this web site are Somali and assume that they do not have any Japanese friends or acquaintances. Likewise none of my friends and acquaintances in Japan has never even seen any Somali person. It is as if Japanese and Somali were living in different worlds in the same world.
What do Japanese people know about the Somali region? What do Japanese people think about it? What do they hear about it if they do at all? I believe a lot of people have at least heard of the word ‘Somalia’ but that is all and very few people know about the region, its location and people. In the first place the Japanese newspapers cover very few stories from there. For historic, economic, political and other reasons Japanese people pay more attention to Asian countries and the US than other regions of the world. Japan and Somalia are simply very far from each other. In fact, the vast majority of Japanese people take Africa as a whole except for Ethiopia, Kenya and a few others because they have excellent athletes (there are even students from these countries ‘studying’ at Japanese private universities on scholarship; their primary job is to run in marathons representing the universities).
Yet occasionally there is some news about the Somali region although it is mostly about violent conflicts, the threat of pirates near Somalia, and similar negative stories. Probably the last time we actually saw the towns in Somalia on TV was when the Tsunami in Indonesia also killed fishermen in Somalia (by the way ‘Tsunami’ is a Japanese word, which means huge waves at the port/shore).
Some others might have seen a film entitled Blackhawk Down and a picture of an American soldier whose dead body was pulled around by car (the Japanese Army recommend the film to its soldiers just to show how difficult it can be to fight in the actual battle field, definitely NOT for blaming the Somalis; the majority of the viewers of this film may not know the scene is in the Somali region).
Moreover, second hand car buyers from the Somali region visit Japan and sometimes ask us about Toyota Landcruiser and Nissan Hilux. One of the buyers jokingly told me that the rebels would buy these cars and cut off the roof of the car to mount machine guns!
All these put together, even to most of Japanese people who are relatively well informed, the Somali region is a place to assist with peace building, a place somewhere in Africa to keep away from because it is dangerous, or quite possibly a place they have no idea about. Consequently there is hardly anyone with whom I can enjoy talking about Somalia, which is a little sad for me to accept because I want to be more familiar with the Somali region where some of my friends originally come from.
In a nutshell, Japan may seem too far and too different from the Somali region. This is certainly true but there are good things as well. One day if Japanese and Somali meet, we can probably be good friends. Why? This is because Japan is not like typical Western countries where Somalis can get insulted because of their country of origin or religious belief (this is what I hear). Japan has very limited relations with Africa as a whole and there are few Africans in Japan and almost no immigrants. Believe it or not, Africans in general are warmly welcome here. People here will even say to you, ‘Welcome! You travelled all the way from Africa. Thank you for coming!’ This means that there will be no barrier to the initial contact.
Moreover Japan is certainly not a Muslim country but almost all Muslims who visit Japan say Japan is a more Muslim country than any other ‘officially’ Muslim country. This is because of its cleanliness and the way people behave in public places, according to Muslim visitors to Japan. Also most of Japanese people are not familiar with Islam and so do not discriminate against Muslims; they can be curious but do not offend you. Why not come to see it for yourself? I am afraid there is no khat to chew available but there are masjids and Halal food shops in the major cities of Japan, including our city!
We are very far apart but I am one of the few in Japan, thinking of Somali people all the time, hoping others will also know about Somali-related issues! We Japanese and Somalis will meet in the near future!
Thank you for reading my articles! Wishing you all good health!
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.
