On February 23th of 2020, Professor Akiko Ogawa’s Seminar from Nagoya University and another student from Nobuhiro Ihara’s Seminar held a digital storytelling workshop with children with roots in foreign countries at Iwata residence in Toyohashi City.

In 1990s, due to the revision of the Immigration Control Act, the number of Brazilian immigrants in Japan has rapidly increased. In addition, because many factories are gathered in Toyohashi City, there are many Brazilian and Filipino who live there with their families. Since Brazilians have been living in this city for a long time, some Brazilian communities are established. On the other hand, many Filipino workers and their children came to live in this city in recent years, so it is also necessary to take in consideration the Filipino community. The Filipinos, in particular, can speak different kinds of languages, so communicating with them becomes a challenge.

In order to support those children’s native language learning and Japanese language learning, from 2018 Toyohashi city’s library staff and a child app developer, Ms. Asakura, have led the way in Toyohashi city implementing “Parent-child support project”.

This time, some foreign children living in Iwata Residence at Toyohashi City made stories about their strengths and future based on digital storytelling with the picture book app “Pekay’s illustrated book”, which has been used for a long time. Participants are young and there are many language barriers, but everyone enjoyed it until the end. So far, the life experiences of these children have not been classified. Creating digital stories helps children with roots in foreign countries to clarify their merits and dreams, and in the future, to fully manage their qualities and abilities in Japanese society. I hope that they can use it to change their future.