Kalabaw-no-kai 　　　　　Ｇｕｉｄｅ　Ｍａｐ

 

Kalabaw-no-kai  (The Association in Kotobuki for Solidarity with Foreign Migrant Workers) is a

citizen's group aiming at protecting the human rights of migrant workers and foreign residents in Japan.

We are trying to recognize one another as members of Japanese society regardless of differences of

culture or religion.  Our hope is to create a better society so that anyone can live free from

oppression or violation of human rights. 

 

 

          What does “Kalabaw” mean?

 

“Kalabaw” is a Tagalog (Philipino) word meaning “water-buffalo,” a beast of burden

frequently seen working in the fields and villages of south east Asia.  People from

these countries leave home to find work to support their families, so the word ‘kalabaw’

was borrowed and used as the organization’s name to express its connection with

such people. 

 

 

          Aims

 

Since 1980s there has been a noticeable increase in the number of people coming

to Japan in search of work.  People of different skin color and facial features working

in the entertainment industry and on construction sites and small factories are no longer

unusual in this country.

      

We, who have befriended these men and women, have learned much from them. 

They are working in the “entertainment” industries, and doing the “difficult, dirty and

dangerous” jobs that Japanese dislike.  They have to do that work to support their

families and relatives at home.  Mainly they come from the developing countries that are

overflowing with people who want to work but cannot get any.  And one of the causes

of their poverty is the economic advancement of capitalist countries and exploitation by

multi-national corporations.  These countries are, one could say, what lies behind the

wealth of Japan.

    

At present these migrant workers find themselves in very difficult circumstances here in

Japan.  The Japanese government does not recognize the economic contribution they

are making to this country, and anti-foreign sentiments are on the increase.  They have

been tagged “illegal workers” and are sometimes looked upon as criminals.  Because

of this they have to live and work with the threat of deportation hanging over them.

     

We want to change these injustices in Japan.  Co-operating with other groups and

organizations we help migrant workers in trouble, protest when their human rights are

infringed, and try to ensure that they are always treated fairly in this country.

 

 

          History

 

<The Beginning>

"Kotobuki-cho" in Yokohama is one of the areas called a "Yoseba", which is a

day-laborers' town, and the place they gather every morning to get work.  Daily

laborers and homeless people have great difficulty in surviving especially before and after

the New Year, when most of the working places are closed for around 10 to 14 days. 

Those who cannot afford to pay room fees have to sleep outside, and are in danger of being

frozen to death.  So several activities - meal services, providing temporary accommodation,

visiting homeless people, medical services, etc.- are operated by labor unions and citizen's

groups, with the support of the local government, to help them survive that period.

 

When these activities were being carried on in the beginning of 1987, one Philipino worker

came to an activities tent asking for help.  This was the first encounter with a foreigner

for the members of Daily Laborer Union, who had noticed an increase in the number of

foreign workers in the Kotobuki area, but did not have a chance of communicating with

them because of the language barrier.  This contact led many Philipino workers to come

to the union with labor problems.  The members of the union who helped them realized

that these workers had been exploited more severely than Japanese, so they appealed

to the public about the necessity to organize a group to protect their rights.  Confronted

with this reality, various people who were interested in this matter got together and

organized Kalabaw-no-kai in May 1987.

 

<Tackling labor problems>

Since then Kalabaw-no-kai has grappled with many labor problems such as unpaid-wages,

unfair dismissals and labor accidents, and solved many of them.  At the same time we

appealed to the government to legalize the status of undocumented migrant workers, to

improve their overall situation.  We believed the flow of migrant workers was inevitable

as long as the economic gap between the developing countries and the developed

countries existed.

 

<Problems diversified>

In 1990s the problems brought to Kalabaw-no-kai varied from labor or medical issues

to marriage and the education of children as the stay of these men and women in Japan

became prolonged.  We cooperated and exchanged information with other NGOs to solve

these problems.  Furthermore, some of our members were engaged in activities to

disclose hidden human-rights violations of foreigners, for example the unfair treatment of

foreigners in Immigration Bureau detention centers. 

 

<Our goal>

These days more foreigners -documented and undocumented- want to settle down in Japan,

and it has become important to pave the way for accepting them as members of Japanese

society.  Kalabaw-no-kai, besides handling consultations on labor or other problems, have

supported activities organized by migrants themselves, as well as providing Japanese

language classes or cultural exchange programs.  We aim at creating a society where

people with different cultural backgrounds can live together with better understanding of

one another.