How Two Vietnamese Sisters Built a Life and Restaurant in Japan

Vietnamese sisters Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ni and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nhan came to Japan eight years ago. They studied for two years in the night classes at Yao Junior High School in Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, and later graduated in spring 2024 from the part-time program at Fuse High School, also in Osaka Prefecture.

Life After Graduation

Currently, the older sister runs a Vietnamese restaurant in Yao City, while the younger sister works at a manufacturing company and helps out at the restaurant after work. They say that what they learned in night school and high school has been a strong foundation for their life in Japan.

The Vietnamese restaurant SON is just over a five-minute walk from Kawachi-Yamamoto Station. The sisters opened it last winter, using the savings they had built up while working in caregiving and other jobs during their school years.

"I enjoyed caregiving work too, but I wanted to challenge myself in a new environment and share Vietnamese culture through our cuisine," said Ni.

The menu features casual Vietnamese dishes, including the popular bánh mì sandwich, and also offers takeout. The sisters' attention to detail is evident throughout the stylish, predominantly white interior, creating a welcoming and comfortable space for customers.

*Ni (right) and Nhan say they want people to learn about Vietnam through food.*

Community and Friendships

"Friends from night school, both Vietnamese and Nepali, often visit our restaurant, as do our teachers," they said. "Our Japanese friends from high school also come, which makes us really happy."

The sisters' fluent Japanese is remarkable. The Sankei Shimbun first interviewed them in spring 2020, when they were graduating from night school, and their Japanese has improved even more since then. They can now express themselves clearly and confidently. "We studied a lot," they said, smiling cheerfully.

Early Struggles in Japan

Reflecting on their situation five and a half years ago, they said, "We were in a very difficult situation back then." After being called to Japan by their parents, who were already working here, they often felt completely lost. They didn't understand Japanese at all, couldn't read labels while shopping, frequently bought the wrong items, and had to hire interpreters at hospitals because they couldn't explain their symptoms.

When they turned to the city hall for help, they were introduced to night school and enrolled in April 2018. They began by learning hiragana and katakana and steadily worked on mastering kanji.

As their Japanese improved, they started to imagine what their future life in Japan could look like. Every morning before school, they took extra lessons to prepare for high school entrance exams. By spring 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting, both were accepted into the high schools they had hoped to attend.

Challenges of High School Life

High school life, which began after the temporary closures, brought many new challenges. They faced tests for the first time, and the number of subjects increased significantly, including classical Japanese and Chinese classics.

"Normal Japanese is already difficult," Nhan said with a wry smile, "but we worked really hard to graduate." Most of all, they had to focus intensely just to understand the Japanese that their teachers spoke in class.

Yao City is home to one of Japan's largest Vietnamese communities, established by Vietnamese boat people more than 40 years ago. Many Vietnamese students attend the local night school, where teachers speak Japanese slowly. Some classes even provide interpreters, allowing students to express their thoughts in Vietnamese.

High schools, however, have far fewer foreign students, and the sisters were the only ones in their class. "Teachers speak normal Japanese in class, but it's too fast for us and hard to understand. If we don't speak Japanese ourselves, we can't convey what we're thinking," they said.

*Nhan preparing her Special Bánh Mì. | Ni serving a customer.*

Dedication and Hard Work

The sisters studied early in the morning before work and during breaks at their jobs. They arrived at school before classes to practice Japanese and stayed after school, sometimes past 9 PM, to review. Teachers patiently guided them, and their Japanese friends at school were always kind and encouraging.

"In the first year, classes were really difficult, but from the second year, we could generally understand the teachers' explanations," the sisters said with bright smiles.

They built a strong foundation in Japanese at night school and further refined their language skills in high school. They are especially grateful to night school, which helped ease much of their anxiety about living in Japan. "It's been over five years since graduation, but we are always grateful," they said in unison.

Giving Back to the Community

Unlike eight years ago, there are now few situations in daily life where they struggle with Japanese. Instead, they often find themselves helping Vietnamese friends and relatives who don't speak the language, such as accompanying them to hospital visits.

Ni sometimes sits next to Vietnamese students at her alma mater to relay the teacher's instructions, while Nhan occasionally interprets for technical intern trainees at her company.

"We've reached a level where we can do simple interpretation. We were helped by many people, so we want to help others too," they said. The sisters credit this mindset to their learning experiences at night school and high school.

"If it weren't for school, we wouldn't be able to run our restaurant now. The school, which taught us so much, is as important to us as family," they added.

(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: The Sankei Shimbun