Young language carer hopes to support others facing hardships in Japan

Aziz Ahmed is hoping to support children who interpret for family members who cannot speak Japanese through a nonprofit organization that he set up in August last year.

The 25-year-old Pakistani established the NPO in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture to raise awareness of young language carers who must often translate documents and write on behalf of parents and other family members originally from abroad. As a young language carer himself, Ahmed is calling on them to ask people for help if they need it.

Ahmed came to Japan with family members including his mother in August 2008 at the age of 9 to live with his father, who was working at a factory in Gunma at the time. He did not understand Japanese at first, but gradually learned to speak the language a year and a half after he started to go to school in Japan.