Rows of wooden mortuary tablets inscribed with names line an altar at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo ¡ª silent testimony to Vietnamese people who died after coming to Japan to work or study.

¡°Whenever I am contacted about a death, I can speak only two words: ¡®Why?¡¯ and ¡®Again?¡¯¡± said Thich Tam Tri, a Vietnamese Buddhist nun who has been counseling migrants from her home country after arriving almost two decades ago.

¡°These young people ... were living in great poverty in remote rural areas and their parents were suffering hardship,¡± she said after offering incense and prayers at the altar of Nisshinkutsu Temple in Minato Ward.