ID :
24832
Thu, 10/16/2008 - 11:19
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/24832
The shortlink copeid
Communities with large numbers of foreigners call for immigration agency
TOKYO, Oct. 15 Kyodo -
A group of 26 cities and towns hosting large numbers of foreign residents adopted a declaration Wednesday calling on the central government to form a new agency to comprehensively deal with immigration policies and to beef up support for their efforts to strengthen Japanese language education.
''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.
Hajime Mikami, mayor of the city of Kosai in Shizuoka Prefecture, told the
meeting that some foreign residents in the city are unable to call an ambulance
due to their lack of Japanese language skills, while Soichi Motai, mayor of
Ueda City in Nagano Prefecture, suggested that municipalities should join hands
with local companies to create funds to boost opportunities for foreign
residents to learn Japanese.
A survey by the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau showed that the number of
registered foreign residents stood at 2.15 million as of the end of 2007, about
1.5 times the level a decade ago.
A separate education ministry survey found that the number of foreign students
at public elementary and junior high schools who the authorities determined
were in need of special Japanese language education totaled 24,000 in 2007.
Following an amendment to the immigration control law in 1990 allowing people
of Japanese ancestry to enter Japan on residence visas, descendents mainly from
Brazil and Peru have increasingly moved to Japan.
Shizuoka, Aichi and other prefectures in central Japan host particularly large
numbers of such Japanese descendents as a number of major manufacturers of
automobiles and other goods are concentrated in the area and have provided
factory jobs to such foreign residents.
==Kyodo
A group of 26 cities and towns hosting large numbers of foreign residents adopted a declaration Wednesday calling on the central government to form a new agency to comprehensively deal with immigration policies and to beef up support for their efforts to strengthen Japanese language education.
''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.
Hajime Mikami, mayor of the city of Kosai in Shizuoka Prefecture, told the
meeting that some foreign residents in the city are unable to call an ambulance
due to their lack of Japanese language skills, while Soichi Motai, mayor of
Ueda City in Nagano Prefecture, suggested that municipalities should join hands
with local companies to create funds to boost opportunities for foreign
residents to learn Japanese.
A survey by the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau showed that the number of
registered foreign residents stood at 2.15 million as of the end of 2007, about
1.5 times the level a decade ago.
A separate education ministry survey found that the number of foreign students
at public elementary and junior high schools who the authorities determined
were in need of special Japanese language education totaled 24,000 in 2007.
Following an amendment to the immigration control law in 1990 allowing people
of Japanese ancestry to enter Japan on residence visas, descendents mainly from
Brazil and Peru have increasingly moved to Japan.
Shizuoka, Aichi and other prefectures in central Japan host particularly large
numbers of such Japanese descendents as a number of major manufacturers of
automobiles and other goods are concentrated in the area and have provided
factory jobs to such foreign residents.
==Kyodo
