Ever since 16-year-old Rabina Dangol moved from Nepal to Japan in 2014 to live with her parents, a nonprofit organization in Fussa, western Tokyo, has been a boon in helping her learn enough Japanese to survive the school system.
"I didn't understand a word of Japanese back then. I could not speak at all. But after studying Japanese here, I can now read school textbooks," said Dangol, who goes to the Youth Support Center's YSC Global School to receive language and academic support.
Without this resource, she could not have attended the public junior high school in adjacent Akishima because it does not have any trained staff for teaching Japanese as a second language. After the city's board of education asked her to acquire basic Japanese skills, Dangol studied at YSC for a few months before enrolling.