***There is a new tolerance towards foreigners in Japan that could point towards a more heterogeneous Japan in future. ***

IT was not mere home sickness that Filipino national Lenny Tolentino felt when she first arrived in Japan five years ago.

Indeed. In a country that credits its homogeneity for Its economic success, foreigners like Tolentino were often unwelcome.

"For almost two years. I felt an outcast." she says. "Every one around me looked and talked Japanese. As a foreigner. It was almost impossible to find a close friend."

All that seetns to be changing. Tolentino, who works for a. Catholic church organisation'that gives support illegal workers in Japan, points to a recent concert here as evidence of a subtle transformation In the Japanese attitude toward foreigners.

"The concert focused on discrimination faced by Asians in Japan." she says. "(But) we were surprised to find the packed audience consisted of more Japanese (han foreigners."

Other Asians living here tell similar stories And now some observers say many of the stiff barriers that have kept Japan closed to foreigners and alien influences may finally be showing cracks.

"While Asian residents are still a long way from being treated as equals in Japanese society, there is no denying these people have gained a certain respect, says Japanese social worker Kyngo Kobayashi.

Japan's booming economy in the late'l980s had offered lucrative jobs to thousands of illegal workers from abroad — most of them from South and South-east Asia and Latin America.

Reaching as much as 500.000 in number, these workers settled down on the outskirts of Japan's major cities, where they worked in factories, construction sites and farms.

But the new migrants soon learned they could expect no difference tn treatment from that ‘given to the country's ' Korean settlers, who had been

■ forced for generations to think and act Japanese.

Most of the newcomers' employers and neighbours spoke only Japanese, and had never communicated with other nationalities before — and could not care less about

them.

Says one Pakistani migrant here: "When it came to expecting any understanding of our cultures in Japan, we might as well have been on the moon."

But the past two years have

seen ilast changes, with volunteer groups attributing these partly to the sheer number of Asians now living in Japan, making them hard to ignore.

A walk through the nearby town of Kawasaki or the

backstreets of Shinjuku, a busy area in the heart of Tokyo, for example provides ample proof of how Aslan cultures have penetrated Japan.

A visitor is Immediately greeted by a bedlam of halal foodstores, restaurants offering various Aslan cuisines and video stores displaying Thal. Indonesian. Indian and Chinese titles.

Most municipal offices in Tokyo have also begun services In English. Chinese and Filipino, with some even offering Spanish for the growing number of Latin American migrants.

Thal national Suchinda Izumi, who conducts seminars that deal with closer integration with Asians, says more and more Japanese have beefl signing up for her Classes.

'Thal cooking lessons are extremely popular as well as language and dance." she says. "More Japanese women are taking time off to try and understand their Asian neighbours better."

The rise in mixed marriages has apparently also contributed to increased efforts among Japanese to understand other cultures.

Pakistani Alnarais Mlthanl, who is planning to build a mosque in Tokyo, says he conducts special Koran classes for Japanese wives of Muslim men. .

They are extremely keen to study more about Islam." he says adding. Our Urdu classes are being attended by even university professors ''

But Izumi warns it is too early to assume that the Japanese will be welcoming foreigners with open arms anytime soon. She notes.

Asian culture still stands out as something strange. It has not melted into Japanese society, which Is what Is Ideal."

By stepping up arrests of illegal workers this year, the government has also sent a clear message that It will not tolerate further infiltration by migrant labour.

And even the arguments of Catholic priest Jacguea Grenier, who now holds a monthly Sunday mass In Spanish to cater to the flood of Peruvians and Brazilians in his. parish, has failed to sway many Japanese from thinking their country will soOn be overrun with foreigners

The Latin Americans come here to earn more money, not to settle down," says Grenier. It is highly unlikely Tokyo is going to turn into a Manhattan."

But Mithani says many Japanese fear that If the number of foreigners In their country continues to grow, crime and unemployment will also increase.

Says Tolentino: "That is just what we are trying to fight against. We want the Japanese to understand that If they treat illegal workers fairly. Japan stands to benefit from the cultures they bring."