Foreigner Coexistence Lecture "Get to know Myanmar!" December 14th Event Report

This year, as part of our project to contribute to the creation of a comfortable workplace for Specified Skilled Worker, such as support for facilitating communication in the field and in daily life, we are holding the "Symbiosis Course for Foreigners for Japan" free of charge six times a year.

The 4th "Get to Know Myanmar!" was held online on Thursday, December 14th. For this seminar, we invited Mr. Naoki Nonoyama (POH Managing Director Co., Ltd.), who has sent many human resources from Myanmar to Japan, and talked about a wide range of topics, from the basics of Myanmar such as Myanmar's religion, history, food culture, and events, to the characteristics of Myanmar communication and the useful Burmese language to know. In particular, I was able to hear a lot of good information to know when working together, such as the personality of accepting a meal without being able to say "no" and the reaction when you treat a meal.

Main Q&A

• Q. Besides Japan, what other countries do people from Myanmar go to for work?
• The most popular destinations for migrant workers are Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, as there is no need to learn the language compared to Japan. However, there are also areas where they can earn much more in Japan, and there is a boom in Japanese language education there.
• Q. What kind of ideas do young people who come to Japan for training have? I am worried that if multiple people are employed, there will be problems due to differences in ideas.
• My thoughts on Buddhism have not changed. I tend to be lonely, and I think that there would be more harmony if there were more people.
• Q. What kind of troubles are specific to Myanmar people?
• They are a little timid and proud, and there are cases where they become depressed when they are scolded in public. Also, home appliances were not widespread at the time, and they did not know how to use microwaves and ended up heating up stainless steel products. Education on home appliances is necessary.
• Q.Aside from work, are there many people who would like to actively participate in company events?
• Many of the students are eager to participate. Since Japan is a country with not much entertainment, I think they will be happy to participate in company events and other new experiences.

And more.

Participant feedback (from the survey)

• It was interesting to learn more about a country that is usually not well-known.
• It was very helpful because I will be Technical Intern Training from Myanmar next year.
• I was able to get raw information that I would not have been able to find by searching the internet.
• I wanted to hear specific examples of Myanmar acceptance of Specified Skilled Worker.
• I was concerned about comparisons with other countries and issues regarding acceptance.
• Please tell me about the mental follow-up of Technical Intern Training, not just Myanmar people.

And so on.

If you weren't able to attend, be sure to check out the following:

Click here to watch what you missed

https://youtu.be/nwzaGeZaFF0?si=QDZXA93S_u17zLJ3

(Please note that due to privacy concerns, the Q&A Corner has been excluded.)

★Click here for the slides used

https://jac-skill.or.jp/news/files/report_20231130.pdf

Next time, we will talk about Nepal. We hope that a wide range of people will participate, including companies that employ or are considering employing Nepalese people, and people who work with Nepalese people in the field, and that this will provide some hints for working with foreigners.
* skills evaluation exam in Nepal is scheduled for February 2024.

★For more information on the lectures on coexistence with foreigners, click here

https://jac-skill.or.jp/news/event/20230620.php

★Click here to apply for the Nepal Coexistence Course

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/093242e9-0b4c-4049-8955-427381966040@1afda869-1f95-44ee-9a1d-688120f4fc18

*Multicultural coexistence means "people of different nationalities, ethnicities, etc. living together while recognizing each other's cultural differences and striving to build equal relationships."