Government opens office to address Japan's foreign resident issues

The Mainichi

12 hours ago

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government on Tuesday launched a new office within the Cabinet Secretariat tasked with addressing concerns about the impact of foreigners on Japan, with the topic becoming a hot-button issue for fringe parties during campaigning for this weekend's upper house election.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says the office will ensure that people's concerns about foreign residents are heard, including claims of disproportionately high crime rates and alleged abuse of the social security system.
It comes in the middle of campaigning for Sunday's House of Councillors election, in which some minor conservative parties are calling for tighter controls, particularly on foreign residents of Japan.
The government faces a delicate balancing act in pushing for stricter rules and regulations while ensuring it does not open itself up to allegations of discrimination.
The new office will share information on issues related to foreign residents in Japan and coordinate responses among relevant offices such as the Immigration Services Agency, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Having long had a strict immigration policy, Japan has been gradually opening its doors to foreign workers to address labor shortages, which are expected to worsen in the coming years due to the rapid aging of the population.
In recent weeks, Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party has said Japan needs to tighten rules on foreign driver's license conversions after recent accidents involving foreign nationals, and on the negative impacts on the property market caused by foreign buying.
The major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan has said a new law is needed to ensure Japanese and their foreign neighbors can live in harmony while having their rights respected.
Sanseito, an emerging ultraconservative party that media polls have shown is gaining popularity, has campaigned on a "Japanese First" platform that calls for limiting the intake of foreign workers to Japan.