みんなで多文化交流in大島のはじまり / The Beginning of Multicultural Exchange with Everyone in Ojima

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2020年10月27日、大島六丁目団地自治会副会長の高橋久美子さんからの紹介で当時、大島地区町会 連合会長であった私が早稲田大学大学院生（創造理工学研究科建築学専攻有賀研究室）7名と懇談しました。

外国人住民の多い大島六丁目団地での防災訓練等に関する話し合いがこの会の始まりです。

大島六丁目団地に限らず、地域の高齢化が年々進む中で、外国人住民といかに安全に、楽しく住める地域を作っていくかが課題となっていました。大島にはインディアインターナショナルスクール（幼～高900数十人在籍）がありますが、ここの生徒の家族に限らず、中国、フィリピン、ネパール、ベトナム等、多くの外国人家族が居住しています。

早稲田の大学院生との懇談をきっかけに、ゴミ出しやポイ捨て、歩道の並列通行等の地域の課題を、解決につなげる取り組みができないか、中島政幸大島地区自治会連合会長と話し合い、各自治会、町会長、地域有志が集まり、協議を開始しました。

外国人住民と日本人住民が楽しく日本語を使って活動し、お互いの文化や習慣を伝え合い、双方の思いやり、助け合いが生まれる、そのような地域づくりを進めようと決まりました。

その話し合いから1年後の、2021年11月14日、任意団体として「みんなで多文化交流in大島」が立ち上がり、活動することになりました。

※　2023年6月に、会の名称を「みんなで多文化交流in江東」にあらためました。

On October 27, 2020, when I was the then president of the Ojima Area Town Council, I had a meeting with a group of seven Waseda University graduate students (Aruga Laboratory, Department of Architecture, Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering), who were introduced to me by Kumiko Takahashi, the vice president of the Ojima 6-chome Danchi Neighborhood Association.

With a discussion on disaster drills in the Ojima 6-chome Danchi, that has a large number of foreign residents we started the meeting, which was the beginning of this group. With the increase in aging population, not only in Ojima 6 -chome Danchi but also in our whole community, the issue of how to create a safe and enjoyable community to live in with foreign residents became our priority and goal. There is an Indian International school located in Ojima having more than 900 students from kindergarten to high school. Ojima is a home to not only the families of students at this school but also people from different foreign countries like China, Philippines, Nepal, and Vietnam live here in Ojima.

The meeting with Waseda University graduate students was an opportunity to discuss local issues such as garbage disposal, littering, walking parallelly on sidewalks, etc. and also, we discussed these issues with Mr. Masayuki Nakajima, the Chairperson of the Ojima Area Federation of Neighborhood Associations, to see if we could make efforts to solve these problems. In no time Chairpersons of neighborhood associations and Presidents of town councils, and local volunteers gathered to start discussions on these matters.

It was decided to create a community where foreign residents and Japanese residents could enjoy activities in Japanese, share their cultures and customs, and help each other with mutual understanding and consideration. One year after that meeting, on November 14, 2021, "Multicultural Exchange with Everyone in Ojima” was established as a voluntary organization and started its activities.

＊ In June 2023, the name of the group was changed to "Multicultural Exchange with Everyone in Koto."