Interview of Local Foreign Residents Vol.10【Mr. Balua Parash 】

Asta Co. Ltd.
Mr. Balua Parash

I thought that Japanese people were serious but,they helped achieve my dreams to create high quality goods.

In this article, we chat with Mr. Balua Parash, a native to Chittagong, Bangladesh. After graduating vocational college, Parash returned to his hometown to work in a restaurant. After a year, he joined the Bangladesh branch of Japan-based Asta Co. Ltd. at his uncle’s referral. In his work, he focused on bringing Japanese products to those living in Bangladesh and after two years he moved to the Hamamatsu headquarters to continue his work. At the beginning, he couldn’t speak a word of Japanese, but with the help and support of his coworkers it has now been 7 years since Parash came to Japan. We’ll chat to him about his thoughts on Japanese production and life in Japan.

Balua, can you tell us more about your hometown of Chittagong in Bangladesh?

Chittagong is actually a port town, but the town where I was born and raised is way up in the mountains. So it’s safe to say I grew up surrounded by mountains and nature. My father was a farmer, growing rice and vegetables. It was a wonderfully relaxed place to grow up, but whenever it rained a lot the rivers often overflowed and there were times we couldn’t leave our homes due to the flooding. We often couldn’t go to school when it rained heavily like that, so from the age of 6 until when I graduated vocational university at age 18, I lived apart from my family in a temple in the capital, Dhaka.

You moved away at just age 6?

Well if I wanted to continue going to school, I had no other choice. I know it’s quite shocking for Japanese people, but it’s quite normal in Bangladesh. There were times when I felt lonely, but I was able to return home once or twice a year. Also, the length of schooling in Bangladesh is different to Japan. In Bangladesh we graduate high-school at 16, and finish vocational college at 18. Our system allows us to finish schooling 2 years before you would in Japan.

What did you study in vocational college?

Ever since I was a child I have known that I wanted to work in the trading sector. So I majored in Business Management to learn the fundamentals of business. I wanted to be able to sell things one day, so I learned the necessities to do that.

Before coming to Japan, you worked in a Japanese company, right? What impression did you have of Japanese people?

In Bangladesh, it’s normal to chat with strangers, to joke around and treat anyone as a friend. At the time, my image of Japanese people was that they were a “serious bunch of workaholics”. When we contacted the Japanese office for work, I noticed that the Japanese employees often pointed out minute details, and made precise schedules down to the minute. I was shocked, because that’s very rare for a company in Bangladesh. All the products which came from Japan were perfect, down to a single millimeter. I was interested in how products were made in Japan after seeing the neat things in our factory.

Parash moved to Japan in 2016 without a word of Japanese, 2 years after joining his company. He achieved conversational level Japanese with the help of his coworkers, while attending Japanese classes in Hamamatsu. Next, we hear about his life in Japan and cultural differences he experienced.

My new life has started since creating family in Japan
I want to continue working using my knowledge of both cultures

What surprised you the most when you moved to Japan?

Eating raw fish was a real shock for me as we don’t eat raw fish at all in Bangladesh! Of course, I had heard of “sushi” and “sashimi” before, but actually eating them was a different story. I couldn’t eat them at first, but now can eat raw fish with no problem at all! But there is one food I can’t stomach – natto! It’s just too sticky; I can’t get over the texture!

Other than food, did anything else shock you about Japan?

Yeah! The prices were very high; I think about 10 times more expensive than Bangladesh. In Japan, a big watermelon could sell for about 3,000 yen, whereas back home in Bangladesh it would sell for 100 yen!

Also, in supermarkets, vegetables are sold one by one. In Bangladesh, we sell vegetables by the kilo!

Finally, religion is a very big part of life in Bangladesh. There are a few Buddhists, but we are an overwhelmingly Muslim country. I personally follow the same religion as my parents, so converting my religion is out of the question, but in Japan there seems to be quite a lot of people who aren’t religions but still celebrate festivals like Christmas and Hallowe’en as well as going to temples and shrines, regardless of their faiths. It was quite a surprise to me really! I think those are the things I felt were culturally different.

There’s a lot of cultural differences around food! Have you been able to master Japanese in daily life?

When I first came to Japan, I couldn’t speak a word of Japanese. But thankfully everyone in my company was very kind and they taught me Japanese. They also helped me with simple things, like how to use public transportation and even how to go shopping. They helped me a lot so I didn’t struggle at all in my everyday life, and they even introduced me to Japanese classes so after about a year I was able to get to conversational level Japanese after about a year.

It’s been seven years since you first came to Japan. What were your impressions of Hamamatsu?

I used to live in Aoi-Nishi in Chuo-ku, but now I live in Hosoe-cho. There are mountains and rivers, so I can really feel nature and I think it’s a good atmosphere for raising children, so I bought a house there 5 months ago. The air is so pure and you can see the stars so clearly at nighttime. It somehow feels a bit like my hometown, Chittagong, so I really like it. Hamamatsu is a very easy city to live in and it’s very safe as well. Due to the pandemic and other things, I haven’t been able to see my parents in about 6 years, but one day I’d like to introduce them to all the nice places in Hamamatsu.

What are your plans for the future?

I would like to try and get into the field I was interested in as a child, trading! I also think it would be nice to get into a job where I share the good parts of Bangladesh and Japan. I’ll work hard to become a bridge in between the two countries someday.

Looking forward to your continued success! Thank you for chatting with us today!