ベトナム寺院「大恩寺」の１年 The haven at the Daionji Vietnamese Buddhist temple
This is my translation of a story that originally appeared in The Big Issue Japan Issue 416.
I translated it as a volunteer so that it could be published in other International Network of Street Papers publications.
The original Japanese is on the left, and my translation is on the right.
| ベトナム寺院「大恩寺」の１年半 | The haven at the Daionji Vietnamese Buddhist temple |
| 埼玉県の山里にある、ベトナムの人々の駆け込み寺「大恩寺」。コロナ禍で行き場を失った技能実習生や留学生を支援してきた住職のティック・タム・チーさんを訪ね、コロナ禍の1年半と、現状とこれからの展望を聞いた。 | In a mountain village in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, you’ll find Daionji – a temple that has become a refuge for Vietnamese people. Thich Tam Tri, the chief priest, has dedicated herself to supporting Vietnamese technical trainees living in Japan and exchange students displaced during the coronavirus crisis. The Daionji community is thriving, and Tri is looking forward to an even brighter future. |
| 取材の日、大恩寺には約15人のベトナムの人々が寝泊まりしていたが、去年の最も多い時期には80人を保護していたと、住職のティック・タム・チーさんは振り返る。「お寺の部屋や本堂では足りず、ゲルやテントでも寝てもらいました」 | On the day of our interview, there were around 15 Vietnamese staying at Daionji. But the chief priest Thich Tam Tri recalls a time last year when they were taking care of up to 80 people. “The temple rooms and main hall weren’t enough, so they slept in yurts and tents,” she remembers. |
| チーさんは２０００年に留学生として来日。「博士課程の途中に、２０１１年の東日本大震災が起きて、東北でパニック状態になったベトナム人技能実習生や留学生の支援を始めました」 | Tri came to Japan in 2000 as an exchange student. “In the middle of my doctoral course, the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake happened,” she tells me. “I started supporting panicked Vietnamese technical trainees and exchange students in Tohoku.” |
| その後、東京の港区にある寺院で尼僧として仏事や支援活動をしながら、14年に在日ベトナム仏教信者会を設立。18年に別の宗教法人から施設を譲り受け、大恩寺を開いた２年後に、新型コロナウイルスの感染が拡大した。 | After that, as a nun at a temple in Minato Ward, Tokyo, she conducted Buddhist memorial services and took part in aid work. In 2014, Tri founded the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in Japan. In 2018, she received a facility from another religious institution, and two years after opening Daionji, the coronavirus started spreading rapidly. |
| 「コロナ禍の本格的な支援を始めたのは昨年４月からです。大使館によると３月25日時点で、契約を終えた技能実習生１万人と留学生８千人がベトナムに帰国できなくなっていました」 | “I started my coronavirus crisis support in earnest last April,” she tells me. “The embassy said that as of March 25th, 10,000 technical trainees whose contracts were up and 8,000 exchange students wouldn’t be able to return to Vietnam.” |
| 実習生の多くは、日本の監理団体と契約を結んだ現地の送出機関に払う高い手数料を借金したり、家族に仕送りしたりしている。企業は監理団体を通して求人を出し、監理団体と契約を結んだ海外の送出機関が募集した候補者を面接して採用する。彼らの手元に現金がないことをわかっていたチーさんは、４月になってただちにフェイスブックで食料支援の希望者を募った。その結果、「１週間に３千人もの登録がありました。一人ひとりに米５㎏、インスタントラーメン10袋、食用油１本、砂糖５００ｇを宅配便で送ったんです」。 | Most of the technical trainees were part of the Technical Intern Training Program, in which Japanese companies offer jobs through supervising organizations in Japan. The program interviews and accepts applicants recruited through foreign brokers who enter into a contract with the supervising organizations. The technical trainees living in Japan take out loans to cover the high fees they pay to these local brokers, and they also send money back to their families. Tri, who was already aware of the financial hardship they faced, solicited applicants for food aid through Facebook right at the beginning of April 2020. “3,000 people applied in a week,” she remembers. “We sent each person five kilos of rice, 10 instant ramen packets, a bottle of cooking oil, and 500 grams of sugar by parcel delivery.” |
| そんな活動を続けてきたが、第５波により緊急事態宣言が出された今年８月頃からは、バイトが減っても授業料などの支払いに追われる留学生からのＳОＳが増え、都内の日本語学校や専門学校40ヵ所で食料を配布している。 | Tri has continued in these efforts to support those in need; however, since around August this year, when a state of emergency was declared in response to the fifth wave of coronavirus in July, SOSes increased from exchange students who were being pressured to pay their course fees even though their part-time hours had been cut. Tri now sends food to around 40 Japanese language schools and technical schools in the Tokyo area. |
| この１年半で、のべ５万５千人に食料支援を行ったという。 | She says she has given food aid to a total of 55,000 people in the past year and a half. |
| 低賃金や職場での暴力・暴言・いじめなどに耐えきれず、フェイスブックで大恩寺の存在を知って、夜中の２時、３時でも助けを求めて訪ねてくる実習生もいる。チーさんは日本語学校の寮や信者の所有するアパートなども借りて、シェルターとして活用しながら、２千人以上に一時滞在場所を提供。入国制限をしているベトナムへは大使館や民間のチャーター便で帰る必要があるため、出入国在留管理局と連携して１２００人以上の帰国も支援してきた。 | Some technical trainees who can’t endure low wages, workplace violence, verbal abuse, and bullying find out about Daionji on Facebook; some come asking for help at two or three in the morning. Tri also borrowed a Japanese school’s dormitory and some apartments owned by her followers. Using them as shelters, she has offered more than 2,000 people a temporary place to stay. Vietnam is restricting entry to the country due to the pandemic, and citizens must return on a flight chartered by the embassy or a private entity. Tri has helped over 1,200 people return home in cooperation with the Immigration Services Agency. |
| 技能実習の過酷な体験を癒やし | Offering healing and a fresh start |
| この日、大恩寺に身を寄せ、一時滞在している３人の男性に話を聞いた。 | We listened to the stories of three men who found shelter at Daionji and were staying there temporarily. |
| ２ヵ月前に来たマイ・バン・ディンさん（23歳）は、「技能実習の契約書には“とび”と書かれていたのに、危険な解体の仕事をさせられ、耐えられなくなって１年で辞めました。別の仕事でお金を貯めたら、ベトナムに帰りたい」と話す。 | Mai Van Dinh (23), who came here two months ago, talked about unsafe working conditions. “The technical trainee contract said ‘construction’, but they made me do dangerous demolition work,” he said. “I couldn’t take it and quit after a year. After I save up some money at another job, I want to go back to Vietnam.” |
| ズオン・バン・トゥンさん（35歳）は18年に実習生として来日。「足場の現場仕事や屋根をつくる仕事をしてきましたが、コロナ禍で仕事がなくなって家賃が払えなくなり、１ヵ月前にお寺に来ました。家族から送金してもらって帰国するつもりです」 | Duyen Van Tung (35) came to Japan in 2018 as a technical trainee. “I worked on job sites on scaffolding or building roofs, but I lost my job because of the coronavirus. I couldn’t pay my rent, so I came to the temple a month ago. I plan to have my family send money and I’ll go back.” |
| 元留学生のズオンさん（33歳）は５年ほど前に日本へ。「日本語学校で勉強した後、事務と通訳の仕事をしていましたが、仕事が厳しくて時間内に終われず、辞めました」。今年３月から大恩寺で寝泊まりし、仕事を探している。 | Duyen (33), a former exchange student, came to Japan around five years ago. “After I studied at a Japanese language school, I did office work and interpreting, but my job was incredibly demanding and I couldn’t finish my work in time, so I quit.” He has been staying at Daionji since this March and is looking for a job. |
| ほかにも、「三重県の職場でいじめられて逃げ出し、公園で１週間野宿をしていた」という技能実習生や、「お腹に３ヵ所の自殺未遂の傷をもつ男性」「通訳の仕事が大変でついていけず、心を病んでしまった女性」などを保護してきたというチーさん。 | Tri tells me that she has also protected a technical trainee who “was bullied at his workplace in Mie Prefecture, ran away, and slept in a park for a week", “a man with three cuts in his stomach from an attempted suicide”, and “a woman who couldn’t keep up with her difficult interpreting job and suffered mentally.” |
| 「ここでは、保護されたみなさん自身がボランティアスタッフとして、調理や掃除、支援物資の仕分けなどをします。一つのビッグファミリーのような共同生活を通して、エネルギーを充電することで、傷ついた心が徐々に回復していく。ここで出会って結婚したカップルも２組いて、私が結婚式を挙げました」 | “Here, all of the people we’re protecting are volunteer staff – cooking, cleaning, and dividing out aid,” she continues. “Through a big family-style communal life, they can recharge their energy and recover their broken spirits little by little. There are two couples who met here and married, and I performed the marriage ceremonies.” |
| ニュース報道などで彼らのことを知った企業から問い合わせが来て、大恩寺で面接を行い、これまでに58人が農業や食品加工、工場、建設などの仕事につながったそうだ。 | Daionji receives enquiries from companies who hear about the temple’s work on the news and who wish to support those living there with job offers. They conduct the job interviews at Daionji, and 58 people now have jobs in agriculture, food processing, factory work, and construction. |
| 今年４月から農園で野菜栽培も
各地に孤立を防ぐ集会所あれば | Providing support both in life and in death |
| しかし中には、ここへたどり着く途中に交通事故で亡くなった実習生の女性もいた。「通帳には千円しかなく、残されたノートには、ベトナム語のお経と家族に向けた祈りの言葉が書かれていました」 | Among those Tri has helped, there was a female technical trainee who died in a traffic accident while trying to get to Daionji. “She had only 1,000 yen in her bankbook, and in the notebook she left behind, she had written a sutra in Vietnamese and messages of prayer for her family.” |
| 大恩寺では、日本で突然死や病気、事故、自殺、喧嘩などの事件で亡くなった人たちの葬式を執り行い、大恩寺からベトナムへ帰国する人に遺骨を託して、遺族に届けてもらう活動もしている。 | At Daionji, they hold funerals for people who die suddenly – of sickness, accidents, suicide, in fights, or in other ways. Daionji entrusts people returning to Vietnam with the ashes, and they deliver them to the surviving family. |
| 先ほどの女性の遺骨を受け取った中学生の娘さんは電話でお礼を言いながらも、「日本に行く時は人間の姿だったのに、帰ってきたのは骨壺なんて嫌だ」と泣きじゃくっていたという。 | The junior high school-aged daughter of the woman in the traffic accident received her mother’s ashes. During a phone call, she expressed her gratitude for this, but sobbed while saying, “I hate that she went to Japan as a human but came back in an urn.” |
| 「私の宝物はみなさんの命。お葬式が続くのは本当につらい。連日、ベトナム人技能実習生の悪いニュースばかり報道されていますが、彼らにとって、どんな会社で働かされるかは運に任せるしかない状況です。少子高齢化で若い外国人労働者に頼るしかないなら、その人材をもっと大事にしてほしい」とチーさんは訴える。 | “My treasure is everyone’s lives,” Tri says. “It really breaks my heart that we keep having funerals. Day after day, there is only bad news about Vietnamese technical trainees. But they are in a situation where the sort of company they are put to work in is all up to fate. With the declining birthrate and aging population, if Japan has to rely on young foreign workers, I want that workforce to be taken care of better.” |
| その一方で、多くの支援も寄せられている。「初めはベトナムの中央仏教会から届いた食料やマスクを配っていましたが、活動が報道されるにつれ、日本全国から支援金が届くようになりました。ベトナムの人たちには日本を嫌いになってほしくないので、その温かい気持ちごと伝えるようにしています」 | At the same time, Daionji has received a lot of donations. “At the beginning, we distributed food and masks from the Central Buddhist Association in Vietnam, but as our efforts started to be covered in the news, financial support started coming in from all over Japan,” Tri continues. “I don’t want Vietnamese people to hate Japan, so I tell them about every one of those warm gestures.” |
| 地域の農家からも収穫したキャベツや白菜、トウモロコシなどの野菜が届くようになった。「今年の４月からは自分たちも自給自足できればと、農家の方にすぐ近くの遊休農地を借りて、アドバイスを受けながら野菜を育てています」 | Local farmers even started donating their cabbage, Chinese cabbage, corn, and other vegetables. “Starting this April, I thought we should try to be more self-sufficient,” Tri says, “so we borrowed an unused field from a farmer next door. We’re getting advice and growing vegetables.” |
| 「大恩寺 浄農園」と名づけられた畑ではトマトやカボチャ、ナス、ゴーヤなどが豊かに実り、寺に滞在する人たちが和気あいあいと世話をしていた。 | In the field named Daionji Jo-noen Farm, tomatoes, pumpkins, eggplants, bitter melons, and other vegetables grow in plentiful supply, while the people staying at the temple happily take care of them. |
| 大恩寺では新型コロナの感染対策には細心の注意を払ってきたが、今年１月には、仏事で外部との行き来があったチーさん自身が感染。「３ヵ月せきが止まらず、甲状腺などに腫瘍も見つかって、ベトナムに一時帰国し、検査を受けました。幸い良性でしたが、私にも資金にも限界があります。全国に小さくてもいいから、ベトナム人が集まって情報を共有できる大恩寺の支所のような集会所ができれば、孤独に陥らずに済むのですが」 | At Daionji, they have taken great care to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but this January, Tri had to go out to attend a funeral, and she caught the virus. “For three months, I couldn’t stop coughing,” she tells me. “They found a tumor in my thyroid gland, so I went back to Vietnam for a little while and had it examined. Thankfully it was benign, but I have limitations – and limited funds as well. All over the country, even if they’re small, I want to create meeting places that are somewhat like branches of Daionji. Places where Vietnamese people can gather and share information. That way they can feel at ease and not fall into isolation.” |
| その手始めとして、より交通の便がいい東京都足立区に大恩寺の駆け込み寺「東京大恩寺」をつくる計画が現在進んでいて、チーさんらは協力を呼びかけている。 | As a starting point for this idea, Tri has a plan to create a “Tokyo Daionji” in Adachi-ku, Tokyo. This will be more convenient for people to access, and work is underway. Tri is asking for cooperation and support from others in order to turn this hope into a reality. |
| （プロフィール）
ティック・タム・チー | PROFILE
Thich Tam Tri |
| 1978年、ベトナム生まれ。7歳で得度。大正大学人間学部仏教学科卒業後、同大学大学院梵文学修士課程修了。国際仏教大学院大学仏教学研究科博士課程満期退学。東日本大震災時、100人近いベトナム人避難者を保護。14年に「一般社団法人在日ベトナム仏教信者会」を設立。18年、ベトナム寺院「大恩寺」の住職となり、在日ベトナム人の支援を続ける。 | Born 1978 in Vietnam. Became a nun at seven years old. After graduating from Taisho University’s Human Studies Department Buddhist Studies School, she completed a MA in Sanskrit at the graduate school. She dropped out after completing her courses for a Doctorate in Buddhist Studies at the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies. When the Great East Japan earthquake happened, she protected around 100 Vietnamese evacuees. In 2014, she established the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in Japan. In 2018, she became the chief priest of the Vietnamese Buddhist temple Daionji, and has continued supporting Vietnamese people in Japan. |