Efforts are underway in both the public and private sectors to provide multilingual support for victims of domestic violence. At the Asian Women’s Center, a Fukuoka-based civic organization, phone calls pour in from foreign women whose Japanese husbands tell them to leave their children in Japan and “go home”. The Center offers support in seven languages. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the number of calls received by 238 domestic violence hotlines throughout Japan from foreigners who do not speak “sufficient Japanese” reached 2,115 in fiscal 2013. Half of those calls were in either Tagalog or Thai. Recognizing the need to provide support in foreign languages, Kumamoto Prefecture created a manual for non-Japanese victims of domestic violence in nine languages and placed them at consultation counters in all of its municipalities. Meanwhile in Kurume City, a private organization dispatches interpreters to interpret consultations and assist with court filings. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 5/13
