流浪日本 庫爾德人破滅的居留夢
KAWAGUCHI, Japan — Mahircan Yucel moved to Japan a dozen years ago as a teenager fleeing sectarian violence in Turkey. He learned Japanese, got married, had two children and grew to love his adopted homeland. But Japan has refused to accept him and could force him to leave.
日本川口——十幾年前，少年時期的馬赫坎•于傑爾(Mahircan Yucel)爲了逃離土耳其的宗派暴力衝突搬到了日本。他學習日語，結了婚，有了兩個孩子，慢慢愛上了他的第二故鄉。但是，日本拒絕接納他，而且可能會迫使他離開。
“The truth is I have lived in Japan for such a long time,” he said on a recent evening in a small living room that doubles as his infant son’s bedroom. “All I want to do is work and carry out a decent life.”
“實際上我在日本已經生活了這麼長時間，”前不久的一個晚上，他在兼做兒子嬰兒房的小客廳裏說，“我想要的就是工作，過上體面的生活。”
Yucel, 27, is one of about 1,300 ethnic Kurds who have settled in Kawaguchi, an industrial city north of Tokyo, and in the neighboring city of Warabi. They live in a perpetual limbo, seeking protection as refugees in a country that is among the most reluctant in the world to give it.
在東京以北的工業城市川口及附近的蕨市，大約有1300名庫爾德人定居，27歲的于傑爾是其中之一。他們始終過着不安定的生活，期望獲得難民庇護，而日本是世界上最不願意提供這種庇護的國家之一。
Though the government has issued temporary permits allowing many to stay for years, no Turkish Kurd has ever been granted refugee status in Japan, which would allow them to settle here permanently. Their plight offers a stark illustration of this insular nation’s approach to refugees as it comes under pressure to admit more amid the world’s worst migration crisis since World War II.
雖然政府發放了臨時許可證，允許很多人在這裏居留多年，但還沒有一名土耳其庫爾德人在日本獲得難民身份，這種身份將允許他們在這裏永久居住。他們的困境鮮明地展現出這個海島國家對待難民的方式，雖然此刻正值“二戰”以來世界上最嚴重的移民危機之際，該國迫於壓力，承諾接納更多難民。
Japan values ethnic homogeneity and has long guarded fiercely against outsiders. According to a United Nations report, migrants represent less than 2 percent of the total population, compared with 14 percent in the United States. Because of Japan’s shrinking, aging population, many have proposed allowing more immigration to jump-start its stagnant economy. But the government and the public have resisted.
日本強調民族同質性，長期以來強烈抵制外來者。據聯合國的一份報告，移民在日本總人口中所佔的比例不到2%，而美國的這個比例是14%。由於日本的人口縮減和老齡化，很多人提議接納更多移民，以提振停滯的經濟。不過，政府和民衆都表示反對。
At the same time, growing numbers have sought asylum in Japan, and almost all of them have been rejected or told to wait. More than 7,500 people applied for refugee status in 2015, up 52 percent from a year earlier. The government granted asylum to just 27 of them.
與此同時，越來越多的人來日本尋求庇護，但是幾乎所有人都遭到拒絕或被告知等待。2015年，7500多人申請難民身份，比前一年增長了52%。政府僅向其中27人提供庇護。
Oxfam, the human rights group, recently cited Japan in a report criticizing the world’s wealthiest countries for accepting so few refugees for resettlement, particularly those from Syria. According to the group’s analysis of each country’s relative wealth, Japan’s “fair share” would be close to 48,000 refugees.
前不久，人權組織樂施會(Oxfam)在一份批評世界上最富有的國家僅接收少量難民（尤其是敘利亞難民）定居的報告中提到了日本。據該組織對每個國家相對財富的分析，日本應該接收的難民的“合理份額”接近4.8萬。
In 2010, Japan began to accept refugees who had fled Myanmar to camps in Thailand. But it has taken in only 24 families since then, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This summer, the government also agreed to host up to 150 Syrian refugees as foreign exchange students.
2010年，日本開始接收從緬甸逃到泰國難民營的難民。不過，據日本外務省稱，從那時起，該國僅接收了24個家庭。今年夏天，日本政府還同意接收150名敘利亞難民做外國交流生。
In an appearance at the UN General Assembly last September, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country needed to focus on its economy before considering whether to accept more refugees or immigrants.
去年9月，日本首相安倍晉三在聯合國大會上表示，該國在考慮是否接收更多難民或移民前，需要專注於經濟發展。
Nearly 14,000 people in Japan are in some stage of an asylum process that usually lasts more than three years and that some critics say is designed to deter new migrants from applying. Asylum seekers may work while they wait for an answer, but those denied refugee status can be given temporary permits that prohibit them from working while giving them no living stipends.
日本有近1.4萬人處於庇護程序的某個階段，這一程序通常會超過三年。有些批評者稱，這是故意遏制新的移民申請。尋求庇護者在等待結果期間可以工作，不過那些被拒絕給予難民身份的人只能獲得臨時許可證，不能工作，也沒有生活津貼。
Yasuhiro Hishida, assistant to the director of Japan’s Refugee Status Recognition Office, said officials suspect widespread abuse of the refugee process. Most applicants come from countries that are not currently considered conflict zones, including Nepal, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, he said, suggesting they are economic migrants rather than refugees fleeing persecution.
日本難民身份認可辦公室(Refugee Status Recognition Office)的主管助理菱田康弘（Yasuhiro Hishida，音）說，官員們懷疑難民程序遭到普遍濫用。他說，大部分申請者來自目前不被認爲是衝突地區的國家，包括尼泊爾、越南和斯里蘭卡，這表明他們是經濟移民，而非逃離迫害的難民。
Immigrant advocates say the government exaggerates the number of unfounded refugee claims. “In reality, there are so many people who are waiting and are facing a life of danger,” said Shiho Tanaka, spokeswoman for the Japanese Association for Refugees.
移民支持者稱，政府誇大了無事實根據的難民申請的數量。“實際上，很多人在等待，面臨生命危險，”日本難民支援協會(Japanese Association for Refugees)的發言人田中志穗（Shiho Tanaka）說。
Yucel said he and his family fled Turkey because they were afraid the government would brand them as terrorists and imprison them. Now, watching events in Turkey from afar, including a war between the government and Kurdish militants in the southeast and the recent failed military coup, Yucel says he could never go back.
于傑爾說，他和家人逃離土耳其，是因爲擔心政府把他們定爲恐怖分子並關進監獄。現在，于傑爾從遠方關注土耳其發生的事件，包括政府和庫爾德武裝分子在東南部進行的戰爭以及前不久的未遂軍事政變。他說他永遠也不敢回去。
“If you see my country, there is a lot of bullying and people being killed,” he said, growing visibly agitated. “I can’t even speak anymore.”
“如果你去我的祖國，你會看到很多欺壓，很多人被殺害，”他越講情緒越激動。“我都不敢說了。”
Yucel married a Japanese-Brazilian woman with permanent residency, but that does not allow him to work in Japan legally. The authorities detained one of his elder brothers this spring after he overstayed a temporary permit, and Yucel fears he could be next.
于傑爾娶了一名擁有永久居住權的日裔巴西女子，但他還是不能在日本合法工作。今年春天，當局因臨時許可證過期拘留了他的一個哥哥，于傑爾擔心自己會是下一個。
Kurds first began arriving from Turkey and seeking asylum in Japan in the early 1990s, as the Turkish government battled an insurgency by Kurdish militants. Japan was an easy destination as Turkish citizens do not need visas to travel here. As family and friends followed, they settled around Kawaguchi and Warabi. Local residents named the community “Warabistan.”
從20世紀90年代初，庫爾德人開始自土耳其來日本尋求庇護，當時土耳其政府正在鎮壓庫爾德武裝分子的叛亂。由於土耳其公民不需要簽證就能來日本旅行，所以它很自然地成爲目的地。家人和朋友追隨而來，他們在川口和蕨市附近定居下來。當地人稱這個羣體爲“蕨斯坦”(Warabistan)。
Over time, some married Japanese citizens, which conferred long-term visa rights, and some opened their own businesses. There are a few Kurdish-owned restaurants in Kawaguchi, and many of the immigrants work at Kurdish-owned demolition and construction firms.
隨着時間推移，一些人和日本公民結婚，因此獲得長期簽證權，有些人開設了自己的公司。川口有幾家庫爾德人開的餐館，很多移民在庫爾德人的拆建公司工作。
But most Kurds here, like Yucel, are stuck on temporary permits that need to be renewed every six months. Those without permission to work cobble together off-the-books jobs, which puts them at risk of being detained for months or deported.
但是這裏的大部分庫爾德人和于傑爾一樣，受困於每六個月必須續簽的臨時許可證。那些沒有獲得工作許可的人非法打工，若是抓到有可能遭到數月拘留或驅逐。
“I want the Japanese government to understand that real refugees are in trouble,” said Eyyup Kurt, 29, a Kurdish journalist who applied for asylum 18 months ago. He said he had been arrested five times in Turkey and had been shot at by a member of the Islamic State while investigating a training site.
“我想讓日本政府明白，真正的難民處於困境之中，”29歲的庫爾德記者伊阿普•庫爾特(Eyyup Kurt)說。他18個月前申請了庇護。他說，他在土耳其5次遭到逮捕，在調查一個訓練基地時遭到伊斯蘭國(Islamic State)一名成員的槍擊。
Some Japanese remain wary. City officials in Kawaguchi say they receive complaints about late-night gatherings and garbage in Kurdish neighborhoods. Young Kurdish men tend to congregate outside a convenience store near the train station in Warabi, and merchants say they frighten some customers.
有些日本人依然有些擔心。川口市的市政官員們說，他們收到過一些投訴，稱庫爾德社區深夜有聚會，有很多垃圾。年輕的庫爾德男人喜歡在蕨市火車站附近的一個便利店外聚集，店主們說，他們令一些顧客害怕。
“Sometimes I see that they get into fights, and the police have to come,” said Hiroe Hokiyama, 21, a college junior. “It is a little bit scary.”
“有時我看到他們打架，警察都來了，”21歲的大三學生甫喜山廣江（Hiroe Hokiyama，音）說，“有點嚇人。”
Others are more welcoming. Shori Nishizawa, 57, the owner of an appliance store a few blocks from Happy Kebab, a Kurdish-owned restaurant here, said he often watched young Kurdish mothers walking with their children on the street in front of his store.
也有些人更歡迎他們。57歲的西澤勝利（Shori Nishizawa，音）是一家電器行的老闆。在他店鋪的幾個街區外，有一家庫爾德人開的快樂烤串店(Happy Kebab)。他說，他經常看見年輕的庫爾德母親帶着孩子從他店鋪前的街上走過。
“Japan is such a peaceful country,” Nishizawa said. “We should not think about countries, but about the world. We are all citizens of the world, right?”
“日本是一個愛好和平的國家，”西澤勝利說。“我們不應該想着國家，而應該想着世界。我們都是世界公民，對吧？”
