Ishiba eyes tighter oversight of foreign residents via new office
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday launched a new office within the Cabinet Secretariat tasked with reviewing and reworking government responses to perceived issues linked to Japan's growing foreign population.
The new office has been established at a time when the topic of foreigners in Japan has become a hot-button issue in campaigning for Sunday's House of Councillors election.
Sanseito, an ultraconservative minor party which recent polls show is gaining in popularity, has led calls for tougher regulations and a reduced intake of foreigners.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi denied that Ishiba has established the new office, staffed by around 80 officials, as an election ploy.
At a ceremony to mark the office's launch, Ishiba cited the need to address issues such as proper immigration control, unpaid social security premiums and the acquisition of land by foreigners.
However, the government faces a delicate balancing act in considering more stringent regulations while ensuring it does not open itself up to allegations of discrimination.
Ishiba said Japan sees the inflow of foreign nationals as a key driver of economic growth. But he said, "It's important for us to take stricter responses to those who do not follow our rules and rework the existing system if it does not match the reality."
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 serious 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 has campaigned on a "Japanese First" platform that calls for limiting the intake of foreign workers to Japan.
The spread of false information on social media has also emerged as a key challenge in the election campaign. Japan's health minister Takamaro Fukuoka was forced to deny claims made online that unpaid social insurance premiums by foreigners total some 400 billion yen ($2.7 billion) a year.
"It is different from our understanding," the minister said, while still committing the government to investigating the issue.
© KYODO
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