Troubled foreign youth get leg up to rejoin Japanese society english.kyodonews.net

In a country where language and cultural barriers can often be at the root of such childhood delinquency, the Kurihama Juvenile Training School plays a big role in helping young people to rejoin and become active members of Japanese society.
It is the biggest program of its kind at Japan's training schools for juvenile offenders and even receives inmates from outside the region.
In all, several hundred youngsters of foreign descent have gone through the program since it was launched in 1993.
"Many juveniles usually engage in physical labor, such as factory jobs and working at construction sites, after they are released from our juvenile training school," said one official.
But xenophobia, or seeing foreign residents or immigrants as being a source of crime or undermining society, can be especially pronounced in a relatively homogeneous society like Japan, Moriyama warned.