How Is Bappa Doing Now?

  I was shocked to hear the news of shooting at a mosque in New Zealand. I visited NZ some years ago and felt the diversity there; I heard people are proud of the blood of the native New Zealander, All the children were learning the language of Maori. Of course NZ might not be responsible as the criminal is from Australia. I’m scared of the racism, such a hatred, which is increasing also in Japan.

   Some twenty years ago there were many foreign people who were working in this small town. One of them was a young man from Bangladesh nicknamed Bappa. He was learning Japanese at one of our friends, and so we became friends with this smart and friendly young man. He was intelligent and read an English newspaper .He was the first Muslim I saw and I didn’t know anything about his religion. One day we invited him to the BQ at our place, but there was nothing for him to eat or drink; he didn’t eat pork, didn’t drink alcohol (Pork is cheaper in Japan!)    He said he prayed five times a day, even at work, but he was breaking the rule little by little after he had come to Japan.  I felt sorry not knowing of the people from other culture.

His dream was starting a factory to make shoes from the money he was earning in Japan. Why shoes factory?.  In his country there were many people who walked barefoot and suffered tetanus. Cheap shoes could save their lives, The shoes factory could hire many people and they could support their families and send their children to school. “When more children are educated, they can make their country a better place” he said. I was moved to hear this. How many Japanese children think of their future like that? I invited him to my class and asked him to talk to the students. He was so glad to have a chance to talk at school.

 But one day he was disappeared with other foreign workers, maybe it was because of the fear there might be an investigation of the immigration office. How and where is he now? Does he have a shoes factory?

Japan is ungenerous to the immigrants and refugees but try only to exploit them. But we can learn a lot from the diversity, don’t you think?