Ms. Motoko Yamagishi has been working with the Japan Network Against Trafficking in Persons (JNATIP), of which NFSJ is a member, for the last seven years. As the executive director of SMJ and member of J-CaRM, she has been extremely active supporting foreigners living in Japan, in relation to labor exploitation and sexual exploitation. I have always wanted to know the driving force that motivates her, so I took this opportunity to talk to her at length.
NGO Career started while in the university
Ms. Yamagishi became interested in issues of global poverty and inequality when she was in high school, and went on to study economics at Sophia University to learn about development economics. However, the economics approach didn’t feel right to her, and she developed a desire to use grassroots NGO methods to solve problems, so in her first year she set up the Third World Shop, which deals with fair trade, together with her classmates. She also traveled around Southeast Asia and was involved in various activities. After graduation, she went to work for PARC (Pacific Asia Resource Center). She is an activist at heart, having started her career in the NGO world from her youth.
She then worked as deputy secretary-general from 1997, when SMJ was founded, and also worked for a Catholic Church organization. Although she temporarily stepped away from the frontline to raise her children, she became co-chair of SMJ in her 40s, before becoming executive director on the occasion when SMJ became a Specified Nonprofit Corporation. She plays an important role in both SMJ and the Catholic Church by providing direct support to migrant women and foreign workers who are facing difficulties, including in relation to human trafficking, advocacy to the government and Diet members, and coordinating with related organizations within the network.
The driving force behind her work: the involvement with migrant women’s communities
When asked about the driving force behind her work, one of her answers was her experience of traveling around Asia and meeting foreign workers in Japan since her student days, where she met people from very different cultures and backgrounds, which enriched and transformed her.
Another experience she mentioned was that she was saved by the women of Kalakasan, a support center for migrant women affected by domestic violence, which she set up as one of the founding members. When Ms Yamagishi, who was solo-parenting at the time, took her sons to Kalakasan, the migrant women (single mothers who must have been in even more difficult situations) kindly helped her. The realization that she was saved by a community with different values from Japan empowered her. So she wants to take care of these communities. As someone who has benefited as a Japanese, she wants to help them in any way she can.
Thoughts on the issue of human traffickingWhen asked what she thinks about the issue of human trafficking, Ms. Yamagishi replied that it is “a denial of human dignity”. And in a society where human dignity is denied, all people have the potential to be exploited. That’s why we all have to change it.
What Ms. Yamagishi wants to convey most to the general public is that we can create a better society ourselves. Each and every one of us has the power to change it. She said she wants to convey this especially to young people. Busy as she is, she also teaches at several universities, and when she sees that today’s students are losing their financial stability, she feels that society and politics must do something about it.
I nodded my head in agreement with Ms. Yamagishi’s words, as I too have been thinking about the need to create a society that empowers young people and children, rather than taking away their power. I am very happy to be working with Ms. Yamagishi at JNATIP. （Mariko Yamaoka）
Reference:
Solidarity Network with Migrants Japan (SMJ) https://migrants.jp/index.html
Catholic Commission of Japan for Migrants, Refugees and People on the Move (J-CaRM) https://www.jcarm.com/
Talitha Kum Japan (J-CaRM’s subdivision on human trafficking issues) https://www.jcarm.com/activity/thalitakum/