26 cities and towns call on Japanese government to establish an immigration agency
Kyodo News reports that a group of representatives from 26 cities and towns with sizable foreign populations have met and voiced their desire that the national government establish an immigration agency to aid them in their efforts to provide services and support for foreign residents
“More and more foreigners are expected to come to Japan (as workers) in the years ahead and it will no longer be an issue concerning specific regions,” Yasutomo Suzuki, mayor of the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture, said at the group’s conference in Tokyo.
The gathering brought together around 470 people from the 26 municipalities in seven prefectures as well as officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry and three other related ministries.
“The number of foreign children with little understanding of Japanese is rising steeply and our municipal level efforts to tackle the issue have reached critical limits,” said Mitsuo Kawagishi, mayor of the city of Suzuka in Mie Prefecture, calling for an increase in special language instructors.
Immigration issues are currently handled by a bureau within the Ministry of Justice.
A couple other stories of interest:
- Japan’s biggest business lobby has announced that it needs immigrants to solve labor shortages.
- Spurned by the news of a former Japanese citizen winning a Nobel prize, the LDP has set up a committee to explore the possibility of allowing dual citizenship.
