Monday, July 18, 2011

Japans Nigerians pay price for prosperity

Japan's Nigerians pay price for prosperity
Facing apathy within and racism without, a disunited community struggles to thrive on society's periphery

By DREUX RICHARD
Special to The Japan Times

The Nigerian Union in Japan is the central civic organization for immigrants from Africa's most populous nation. It has foundered twice in 21 years and its current incarnation is less than a year old. Its mixed history is a reflection of the social and economic turmoil Japan's Nigerian community has endured over the past two decades.


Members have been factory laborers, globe-trotting entrepreneurs and nightlife industry pioneers. They've also been blamed for some of Tokyo's most publicized crime problems, notably a series of drink-spiking and bill-padding incidents that led the U.S. Embassy to issue a warning in 2009 against visiting Roppongi. With the exception of those incidents, their history has hardly been written about. Read More

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