日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff info@myeyestokyo.com   Yoshihiro Paul Kitagawa Former Refugee and Company Owner My Eyes Tokyo has interviewed many people who have come to Japan from various countries. Some of them are refugees, and others are supporters of refugees. We would like to introduce to you Yoshihiro Kitagawa, who arrived in Japan as a refugee, and later became the president of a company. Aw Wanping, an entrepreneur from Singapore, whom we interviewed in the spring of this year (2023), was who told us about Kitagawa. She said, “I have a business partner who

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff info@myeyestokyo.com   Arutan Kobayashi (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China) Restaurant manager One day we were browsing through our Facebook feed when we came across a captivating post. It was from a participant of an event we once organized, who visited a “Silk Road Cuisine” restaurant in Yokohama. A quick Google search revealed that the restaurant serves cuisine from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Hearing that the restaurant offers Xinjiang food culture, which is considerably rare in Japan, we decided to visit the restaurant on the day of our upcoming meeting

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff info@myeyestokyo.com   Dewi Miyashita & Riri Watanabe Best friends The months of intense heat are finally coming to an end as we enter late autumn. However, we would like to introduce two women originally from Indonesia. Dewi Miyashita, a dancer, and Riri Watanabe, who supports her activities, became very close to each other in Japan—and make us feel like mid-summer is still with us. We first met them around June of last year (2022). These two bright and cheerful women were helping out with the “Multicultural One Family Festival,” an

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi info@myeyestokyo.com   Kelly Sun (Canada) Educator This summer, My Eyes Tokyo team is going to Canada, a country known for its multicultural communities. To commemorate this trip, we would like to introduce a Canadian woman who has been a friend of ours for many years. Kelly Sun, an educator and a school owner from Vancouver. She used to help us with some interviews. You can see her in the following articles: –I want to make Japan a better place with my idol group. –What does “MARU” mean? – Tell me, Japanese people! Vol.16 We had not

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi info@myeyestokyo.com   Aw Wanping (Singapore) Entrepreneur/Researcher One day we received a message on LinkedIn that said, “I came across one of your interviews and wonder if it would be possible to be interviewed.” This message was sent to us by an entrepreneur from Singapore. However, looking at her background, most of her experience was as a researcher in the medical field. The website of her company, TokudAw, introduced not only her but also her co-owners, but we were still very curious about how she started her own business in the travel field with almost no experience

日本語 Interviewed by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff info@myeyestokyo.com   Samuel Aning (a.k.a NANA YAW POP) Actor/Businessperson One day in April this year (2023), we were invited to an offline gathering organized by a newly established English school in Yokohama. The main purpose of the event was for English conversation learners to enjoy communicating in English while enjoying delicious dishes. There were several foreign nationals and one of them was Samuel Aning from Ghana, known as “POP,” who has been active in the Japanese entertainment industry for many years. Our seats happened to be next to POP’s and

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff info@myeyestokyo.com   Florsan Bolando Kondo (Philippines) Moringa Cultivator and Enthusiast Photo provided by Florsan Bolando Kondo The “Multicultural One Family Festival” was held in Tokyo on November 23 last year (2022). At the festival, where people of various backgrounds living in Japan gather to share their culture and traditions through shows and stalls, we met an interesting group of people. A group called “ATE Moringa” grows the “Moringa” plants in Yokoshiba-Hikari, Chiba Prefecture, about 70 kilometers from central Tokyo. It is a highly nutritious plant with origins in Northern India which

日本語 Interviewed by Isao Tokuhashi Translated by Heartship Myanmar Japan *Click here to read the original article info@myeyestokyo.com   Sawmi (Lal Sawm Lian) NPO Founder and Leader As we enter the year 2023, the world is still far from peace. The relationship between Russia and Ukraine shows no signs of improvement even though it has been almost a year since the war started. While many media outlets follow the current state and course of this war, there are clashes occuring in other parts of the world as well. One such place is Myanmar. Since the Myanmar military seized power through

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Daniel Penso info@myeyestokyo.com   Matrëshka Russian restaurant When interviewing people from various countries, we have tried to avoid (1) biasing the country or region of origin of interviewees, (2) avoid asking them about religion, politics, or other personal matters, and (3) listen to the voices of people from both countries or regions that are said to be hostile to each other. The experience of (3) in particular was inspired by a TV documentary that My Eyes Tokyo editor-in-chief Tokuhashi once saw, in which young people from allegedly hostile countries were interacting with each