Nepal Now: On the move
We're talking with the people migrating from, to, and within this Himalayan country located between China and India. You'll hear from a wide range of Nepali men and women who have chosen to leave the country for better work or education opportunities. Their stories will help you understand what drives people — in Nepal and worldwide — to mortgage their property or borrow huge sums of money to go abroad, often leaving their loved ones behind.
Despite many predictions, migration from Nepal has not slowed in recent years, except briefly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 1 million Nepalis leave every year to work at jobs outside the country. Tens of thousands go abroad to study. Far fewer return to Nepal to settle. The money ('remittances') that workers send home to their families accounts for 25% of the country's GDP, but migration impacts Nepal in many other ways. We'll be learning from migrants, experts and others about the many cultural, social, economic and political impacts of migration.
Your host is Marty Logan, a Canadian journalist who has lived in Nepal's capital Kathmandu off and on since 2005. Marty started the show in 2020 as Nepal Now.
Nepal Now: On the move
Why Japan is #1 for students; a new sound coming
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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.
Hi, everyone. This is Marty. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Nepal Now: Right Now!, where we share updates about the show and news about migration and Nepal. This is probably the last time that you're going to hear me. sound like this, I should add. I'm creating a new setup in my home office. Up until now, I've basically been recording into a half empty clothes cupboard, which, I have to admit, sounds pretty good, but is far from ideal. So now I'm creating a dedicated space. It's very small, but still, it will have some basic sound treatment on the walls, and a new microphone to better suit that space. And it will look better for those times that I record online with video. So I'm really looking forward to that and I hope you can notice the difference. In Migration News this week, one article that caught my eye was about the destinations of the students who migrated abroad from Nepal last year. The number one destination was not, as you might think, Canada or Australia or the UK or the US. It was in fact drumroll please, Japan. 34, 000 Nepali students went to Japan last year, which was about double the number of the second most popular country, Canada. I have to confess to Western bias here. I never imagined that Japan would be the number one destination. I thought it would be one of those countries from two to five, but, uh, I was wrong. So I did some quick research about Why Japan? And I found a really interesting documentary directed by Dipesh Kharal. It's called The Japanese Dream, Nepali Students in Japan. And I will paste the link to the documentary in the notes to this episode. Basically Kharal follows a handful of students from the time where they're planning to go to Japan, here in Nepal, to the time when they arrive and study, and then go on to find work. And he follows some of them for a handful of years, which is really interesting. So you get to see the evolution of their journeys. By the way, he mentions that in there were 45, 000 Nepali students in Japan. And, according to another article that I saw, in the last 15 years, no objection letters, which are necessary for students going abroad, have been issued than 650, 000 Nepali students. So that shows you the volume of migration abroad to study. And, according to Dipesh, total Nepali population in Japan went from around 5, 000 in 2005 to 150, 000 in 2023. So a huge increase there. And a fun fact: there are 600 Nepali restaurants in Tokyo alone, which really surprised me, and 3, 000 in the entire country. So, why is Japan the number one destination? Well, a main reason is that visa requirements are easier than for some other countries. And as well, students can work part time while they're studying, a set number of hours And students going to Japan often go with a plan to study, then find a job, and then apply for permanent residency. So that definitely would be one big attraction to settle more or less permanently in the country after studying. According to one of the students interviewed in the video, about 2 percent of students who finish their language studies go on to study in a Japanese university and others go to technical schools in Japan. So, among the people profiled is Lal Kumari, who's working as a tailor, making from eight to ten thousand rupees a month And she imagines when she gets to Japan, she can make about ten times more than that. So, she's counting on getting a loan that will cover her basic needs to go and set up in Japan. She'll need about$12, 000. And Lal Kumari will leave her husband and daughter behind, hoping to bring them once she gets settled. Dipesh does profile other students in the video who do just that. They start out as one or two people and then bring other members of their family afterwards. There's Raj Kumar who leaves in 2017 and he talks a lot, almost bitterly, about the fact that there are just no good opportunities in Nepal where he can see his future, which he imagines being in high tech. So he takes the risk, goes to Japan and when he gets there he starts working, like many, in a convenience store overnight. He's studying during the day. There's a very poignant scene in the film where they're interviewing Rajkumar's father in his farm, and he says that the day he found out that Rajkumar got his visa, he had the equivalent of$18 to his name. And within six days, he had borrowed$15, 000 so Rajkumar could go to Japan. And And he says, I told him that I can't pay this back. Meaning that now the burden is on Rajkumar's shoulders. And one positive thing about the documentary is it doesn't shy away from also talking about these burdens, these financial burdens, but also the social, kind of cultural burdens that people feel about being away from Nepal. So I highly recommend watching that documentary if you're interested in migrating to Japan, or just in migration in general. Coming up next week, we'll be speaking with a doctor, who seems to have all the ingredients to become a successful migrant except the desire to leave Nepal. That's all this week for Nepal Now: Right Now! Thank you for spending your time with me. I'll talk to you again next week.
