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Up until now I've been recording most of these episodes speaking into a half-empty clothes cupboard. It's sounded surprisingly good, at least to me, but from next week I will have a slightly more professional setup: a dedicated — though tiny — space, basic soundproofing on the walls, and a new mic. I hope we'll be able to hear the difference.

In migration news this week, I came across an article featuring data on students going overseas to study in the past year. I must admit that my western bias shows when I say that I didn't even imagine the country that was the #1 destination — Japan. Why Japan? Thanks to a engaging documentary by Dipesh Kharel, The Japanese Dream: Nepali students in Japan, I learned that there are many reasons. First, visa requirements are  easier for Japan than for some other countries. Once there, students can work part-time — a set number of hours a week — which is also key. 

By the way, according to the documentary, there were 45,000 Nepali students in the country in 2023. This compares to 5,000 Nepalis in total in Japan in 2005. A fun fact that I learned: there are 600 Nepali restaurants in Tokyo alone.

Dipesh follows a handful of students, from when they're studying Japanese in Nepal and planning to migrate, to their arrival in Japan and in later years, juggling responsibilities of work and family. I like that he doesn't paint a fake, rosy portrait, but shows some of their hard times also. There's a particularly poignant scene when he's interviewing the father of Rajkumar, who's now in Japan. The father tells him that the day his son learned that he got his visa he had the equivalent of $18. Six days later he had raised $15,000 so his son could migrate. "I can't pay this back," he told his son, meaning the burden was now shifted to the young man.

Resources

Nepali students' destinations

Documentary about Nepali students in Japan, by Dipesh Kharel

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Music by audionautix.com.

Thank you to Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studio.