Lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake: the expected roles of local Japanese language classes for building inclusive and multicultural communities

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25516019
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 震災問題と人文学・社会科学
• Research Institution: Kinjo Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: SATO Kumi 金城学院大学, 国際情報学部, 教授 (00645632)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 日本語教室 / 国際交流協会 / 東日本大震災 / 防災教育 / コミュニティー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We visited the international associations and Japanese language classes in the disaster areas of the Great East Japan Earthquake to research the lifestyles and situations of non-Japanese residents. We learnt in Germany that the government focuses on German-language education for immigrants to promote integration in the society.　According to the results of the questionnaires we sent to Japanese language classes throughout Japan, 90% of the classes answered that disaster prevention education for non-Japanese residents should be necessary. We confirmed the Japanese classes run by either paid or volunteer teachers are places for non-Japanese people to learn not only languages but the intercultural understandings to survive in local communities.

Free Research Field

人文地理学、多文化共生、