About SRSG
Bringing hope to refugees and asylum seekers in Japan
Sophia Refugee Support Group (SRSG) is a student-led volunteer group founded in 2017. It was originally created based on a research project at Sophia University called Refugee Voices Japan, led and advised by Professor David Slater.
Sophia Refugee Support Group (SRSG) aims to provide direct support to refugees in Japan, in response to the increasing number of asylum seekers in the country and the recognition of the limited refugee support systems in Japan. The latest data on refugee status recognition in Japan shows that the country accepted a mere 1.2% of its refugee status applicants in 2020. While Japan is already a challenging place to live for foreigners, that challenge is exponentially multiplied when one is without legal status, unable to work, acquire housing, have free mobility, and subscribe to health insurance. Without legal status, asylum seekers in Japan are left without safety nets in the country they are ironically in to seek safety. Recognizing the gaps in Japanese society from hearing the first-hand stories of asylum seekers in Japan through class interviews, students from Professor David Slater’s Digital Oral Narratives course decided to establish a refugee support circle and made it their objective to do what they can in their capacity as students to support refugees. Established in 2017, we want to bridge refugees and Japanese citizens and contribute to the creation of a Japan that is more open, multicultural, and welcoming to all regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. It is with this recognition that the Sophia Refugee Support Group or SRSG was established and we are grateful to have the support of Sophia University in our activities as a recipient of the 2021 Extracurricular Activities Support Fund by the Sophia School Corporation.
Members of SRSG are global-minded students with varying backgrounds, united by the same passion for the refugee cause. The group, comprised of over 60 members and advised by Faculty of Liberal Arts Professor, Professor David Slater, works towards changing the commonly held perception of refugees as “difficult people” by combining research and action: to further understand the actual needs of the refugees and coupling it with action-based efforts to make a difference in their lives.
Refugee Support During COVID-19
The outbreak of COVID-19 has drastically changed the lives of everyone in the world and even more for those who already do not have proper protection within society. This article shows how the pandemic has gravely impacted the lives of refugees in Japan, making their already unstable life even more challenging. We had to postpone many of our support activities that were initially done face-to-face, including our events where we meet the refugees and talk to them in person and our fundraising activities. It is a challenging time that encourages us as a group to improve our communication skills with each other and with the refugees to ensure that we can still support them despite physical limitations.
Main Activities
As of Fall 2021, SRSG has 11 main activities:
1. Food delivery
In partnership with the food bank Second Harvest Japan, we have been sending monthly food packages to about 40+ refugees per month since May 2020. We cater the packages according to the refugees’ diet and try to send them halal or vegetarian food, as they request.
SRSG members packing our food deliveries
2. Hygiene items delivery
Basic hygiene needs such as shampoo, toilet paper, and sanitary pads can be very expensive, especially when your income is unstable. We try to alleviate a part of the cost of these items to about 40+ of our refugee friends with our hygiene item packages sent to their houses every other month. We have sent over 150+ packages in total.
3. Detention Center Visit
We visit the asylum seekers wrongfully detained in the Shinagawa Detention Center at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau about 2-3 times a week to talk to them and give them moral and material support in the form of telephone cards, clothes, and books.
Shinagawa Detention Center
4. Refugee Cafe
Following COVID-19 safety protocols, our refugee friends come to the Sophia campus to talk, play games, and have fun with us. While monitoring the COVID situation, we organize events for students to interact with the refugees, forming genuine friendships and camaraderie.
Our refugee friends and SRSG members having fun at our 2021 Christmas Party. *faces blurred for privacy
5. Online Japanese Language Class
With our multilingual members, we are able to conduct weekly Japanese classes with 5 refugees through Zoom. Their classes are tailored to their level of Japanese fluency and what they want to focus on learning (speaking, hiragana, kanji etc.).
6. Online School Presentation
We also conduct presentations in high schools all over Japan to spread more awareness on the refugee issue. In the past, we have done presentations––both in person and/or online––in high schools located all around the country including Okinawa Shogaku High School, American School in Japan, Urawa Ichijo High School, Tamagawa Gakuen, Keimei Gakuen, and Christian Academy in Japan.
Tamagawa Gakuen students listening to our online presentation
7. Webinar
We have also organized webinars in partnership with UNHCR, companies, and the Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture (ICC). Our most recent webinar was last December, where we invited Burmese students to speak about their experiences being here in Japan following the coup in Myanmar.
Poster of our previous webinar co-hosted with the ICC
8. Document Translation and Research
The documents necessary for asylum applications in Japan are required to be in Japanese, which means the detailed and extensive documents provided by the refugees are often not enough for the application process. Thanks to our multilingual group of students, we are able to ease some of the burdens of our refugee friends by translating some of the supporting documents. We also support them by conducting desk research in media outlets to help strengthen their case.
Documents for one refugee recognition application (JAR)
9. Accompanying to the Immigration or Hospital Checkup
When left with no safety net, even the most seemingly mundane tasks are difficult to do. Our refugee friends sometimes contact us asking us to accompany them to their visa renewal appointments or to their hospital checkups when they are feeling ill and we come with them to support them both in communicating with the Japanese officials and doctors so they are reminded that they are not going through tough times alone.
10. Photoshoots for CV and Family Picture
Some of our refugee friends were greatly affected by the job layoffs brought about by COVID-19 and to respond to this, we initiated a project to take their CV pictures for them for free. Some did not necessarily want CV pictures, but rather just wanted photos to remember the moments they were spending with their family here in Japan. We had some of our members passionate about photography take photos of our refugee friends to both support them in their job-hunting process but also to store memories in photographs.
11. Clothing Drive
We also routinely collect pre-loved clothes to share them with our refugee friends at our cafes. We assess the quality of each item donated and categorize them depending on the season.
Awards and Grants
SRSG is grateful for the continuous support of the university in our mission to support refugees in Japan. Since our establishment in 2017 and official recognition as a circle at Sophia University, we have been awarded the Extracurricular Activity Group Grant by the Sophia University Benefactors’ Association in 2019 where we received 100,000 JPY, the 2020 Pope Francis Visit Commemorative Award by the Sophia School Corporation Catholic Jesuit Center in 2021 where we were given a 200,000 JPY grant, and recently, 150,000JPY from the Sophia Alumni Association as a 2021 Extracurricular Activity Support Grant Awardee for our “outstanding activities as a Sophia-based organization”.
Certificate and at the awarding ceremony
As a student volunteer group that generates income mainly through membership fees and fundraising events, Sophia’s financial support for our activities is greatly appreciated as it enables us to continue to uphold the Sophian values that make us individuals “For Others, With Others”.
Future Activities
SRSG is continuously finding ways to better support our refugee friends. As we move forward to inevitably living in a world with a pandemic, we want to use the limited face-to-face opportunities that we have with our refugee friends as a means to know and discover what else we can provide for them. As mentioned above, SRSG is also grateful to have been recently awarded the 2021 Extracurricular Activities Support Fund by the Sophia School Corporation. As a student-volunteer group, the restrictions posed by COVID-19 have made it difficult for us to raise funds to continue our activities. This grant money is a great help that will allow us to not only continue but also intensify our current activities and devise new ways to support our refugee friends and advocate for their rights in Japan. This fund will also help us encourage more Sophia students to stand with refugees, in the spirit of friendship, in the pursuit of justice, and in the showcase of humanity, to fully embody Sophia’s ideals of fostering students to become “For Others, With Others.”
Refugee Voices Japan 