Behind the Facade of "No Language Problems": Realities of Foreign-Root Children from Survey Data

During a leave of absence from university, I had the opportunity to conduct a questionnaire survey with 20 youth and 20 parents of Nepali background growing up in Japan, as well as semi-structured interviews with 6 youth and 7 parent pairs.

Discussions surrounding support for children with foreign roots tend to focus centrally on "Japanese language instruction" and "academic learning support," as reflected in data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (such as the number of students requiring Japanese instruction approaching 80,000). Before starting this research, I, too, likely held the assumption that if children had no trouble with daily conversation in Japanese and seemed to fit into school life, the need for support would be relatively low.

However, as I analyzed the actual survey data and interview texts, I faced the necessity of reassessing that assumption more objectively.

Many of the children who participated in the study did not report significant difficulties with daily Japanese conversation, showing relatively high levels of adaptation to school life. Similarly, most parents perceived that their children were generally well-adjusted to Japanese schools and culture.

On the other hand, the data and interviews revealed multiple burdens that are difficult to capture through language proficiency alone. One such burden is the role of "system mediation" within the family. When parents are not fully accustomed to Japanese school systems or documentation procedures, the children themselves often have to act as intermediaries, understanding the content and explaining it to their parents. As indicated by comments such as, "Other kids just hand papers to their parents, but I had to understand and explain them," behind children who appear outwardly "adapted," there may exist invisible pressures that are frequently overlooked.

Another critical point is the perceptual gap in parent-child communication. While concrete matters like educational pathways were relatively open for discussion, detailed discomforts regarding school life or interpersonal relationships tended to be intentionally unshared, driven by reasons such as "I don't want to worry my parents" or "I don't want them to see my school life."

While parents felt reassured that their children were attending school happily, the children themselves occasionally experienced internal swaying or a sense of isolation due to the gap between family values and school culture. Such "perceptual gaps between parents and children" should perhaps be understood not merely as a lack of communication, but as a structural issue arising from differing paces of acculturation and varying positions.

What this research demonstrates is that "being able to speak Japanese" does not equate to "an absence of difficulties." When considering future support frameworks, it appears essential to incorporate multidimensional perspectives—such as the burden of system mediation, perceptual gaps between parents and children, and psychological support—alongside traditional language instruction.