Latest news with #Murai
Asahi Shimbun
24-04-2025
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
INTERVIEW: Miyagi governor: 'Multicultural inclusiveness a key to survival for local municipalities'
Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai, who also serves as chairman of the National Governors' Association, responds to a question during an interview with The Asahi Shimbun conducted in Sendai's Aoba Ward on Jan. 10. (Yosuke Fukudome) Faced with a rapidly falling birthrate and aging population, local governments are opening up to foreign workers to fill labor shortages. In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai said municipalities will have to compete to retain foreign workers who are drawn to larger cities that offer higher pay. The key to survival for rural areas is to realize a multicultural inclusive society, said Murai, who also serves as chairman of the National Governors' Association. Excerpts of the interview follow: * * * Question: According to an Asahi Shimbun survey conducted in October 2024 covering 47 prefectural governments and government-designated cities, about 40 percent have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the acceptance of overseas workers with foreign municipalities, universities and other organizations. Murai: It is so good because it is a manifestation of their willingness to work with many countries and move forward with accepting (foreign workers). Some foreign organizations that recruit and send workers to Japan collect huge fees from workers. But dispatching organizations can also feel at ease if there is a framework under which Japanese municipalities, foreign municipalities and government-approved organizations work together. The MoU has been very effective. The Miyagi prefectural government hosted a job fair event in Indonesia, with which we have signed an MoU, in September last year. It was attended by 1,200 young people, and at least one Japanese company has already decided to hire five workers. RAPIDLY DECLINING POPULATION Q: The number of MoUs signed by local governments, particularly those outside metropolitan areas, has sharply risen after the COVID-19 pandemic. A: That is because populations are rapidly declining in local regions. There were 19,689 junior high school students who graduated in the 2023 academic year in Miyagi Prefecture, but the figure is expected to be 12,830 in the 2038 academic year. It's a decline of about 35 percent. With most of them moving on to senior high school and the college enrollment rate remaining the same, high school graduates entering the workforce will disappear very quickly. We have no choice but to depend on foreign manpower. Q: Many municipalities have hammered out a range of support measures to attract foreign workers. A: When the technical trainee program is replaced by the new training and employment system (to accept non-skilled workers from overseas) by June 2027, it will be easier for foreign workers to change workplaces. When you fall behind in providing an environment where foreigners want to work and put down roots, they will move to other municipalities, particularly large cities where they can earn higher wages. I'm sure there will be competitions among municipalities. There is a growing number of foreign residents in all municipalities, and they won't survive unless they build an inclusive society. I think that building a multicultural inclusive society that is active, not passive, is important. Q: There is also an idea to give cash directly to foreign workers on the condition that they live in a certain municipality for a certain period of time. A: I don't deny it as a measure. But if it is only worth one or two months' salaries, I think it won't be easy to keep them after the time period is over. If we use money to compete, it comes down to who has more financial resources, and there is no way we can compete with municipalities in urban areas. We need to listen to foreigners to understand what kind of difficulties they are having in their daily lives and establish a comprehensive service. Q: There are voices calling on the central government to provide more financial support and establish a basic law on policies for foreign residents. A: I think we should accept more foreign laborers. It is often said that we must rack our brains to keep human resources from moving out, but we can't force foreigners to stay when young Japanese people are flowing into metropolitan areas in droves. Large cities also take in (foreign workers) because they are also short-handed, and I think we can't resolve the issue of the outflow that troubles local municipalities unless the overall number of foreigners accepted to work in Japan increases. Of course, that doesn't mean we must accept anyone. For example, I want the central government to consider ways to make foreigners who learn welding, landscaping or other skills at vocational training schools across Japan eligible for employment after graduation. HELPING PUT DOWN ROOTS Q: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's administration has pledged to promote regional revitalization. A: I attended a meeting of the Forum for Consultations between the National and Local Governments held at the prime minister's office in December last year. I asked the prime minister to proceed with measures to help not only women and young people but also foreign human resources to put down roots in local regions. The number of children is rapidly decreasing. Meanwhile, we are also competing against South Korea and Taiwan to secure Asian workers. Local governments are in need of foreigners to live together in their areas. If we are to push forward with 'regional revitalization' only with Japanese people, we will end up battling for limited resources.
South China Morning Post
28-01-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Japan's growing Muslim population still needs burial plots
As the number of Muslims living in Japan continues to increase, so does the demand for burial grounds in a nation where more than 99 per cent of citizens cremate. Muslim migrants and converts face opposition from the local community, especially in constructing cemeteries where they can conduct an Islamic burial. While some local governments are considering establishing new burial cemeteries to accommodate foreign workers, the idea has not gone over well with some Japanese community leaders who have raised objections over what they say are sanitary concerns. Muslims who are considering staying indefinitely in the country say the limited number of burial plots makes them anxious about their future. Greek protesters, in the country and abroad, demand justice for 2023 rail crash victims In December, Miyagi governor Yoshihiro Murai said he was considering building a new cemetery in the prefecture after a plea from a Muslim resident who told him that living in Japan 'is very difficult' for his family because of the lack of graves. The prefecture in the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan exchanged memorandums (written messages) with the Indonesian government in 2023 regarding securing workers to support local industries. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. The Quran, the holy book of Islam, says that Muslims must be buried. Cremation is strictly forbidden. 'I feel that the government should be more concerned about the lack of attention to multiculturalism, even though it claims to be a multicultural society,' said Murai, pointing out that there are no burial cemeteries in the Tohoku region. 'Even if I am criticised, we have to do something about this,' he added. At 99.97 per cent, Japan has one of the highest cremation rates in the world. Photo: Shutterstock Elsewhere, a construction project for a large burial cemetery promoted by the Beppu Muslim Association, a religious corporation in Hiji, Oita Prefecture, in southwestern Japan, has been put off indefinitely due to opposition from the town's mayor. The plan initially seemed to be going well. In 2023, local residents approved the plan to sell land owned by the municipal government on condition it complied with ordinances for burial sites. The town did not object. The apparent smooth progress of the plan was in contrast with the opposition aroused in 2018 by a plan to buy a different plot. That had triggered rumours about alleged harm, including the impact on groundwater quality. For the current plan, the conditions included an agreement with the residents association where the planned site is located, promising no additional burials for 20 years in plots where burials have taken place and that the groundwater would be tested once a year. However, the situation took a bleak turn when Tetsuya Abe, who opposed the plan over concerns about public health, won his inaugural mayoral election bid in August 2024. The association's representative, Tahir Khan, was informed that Abe had no intention of selling the plot to be used as a cemetery after residents expressed concerns about the possible contamination of drinking water. United States and Colombia clash over deported migrant flights, imposed tariffs According to an estimate by Hirofumi Tanada – professor emeritus at Waseda University, an expert on Muslim affairs in Japan – the country's Muslim population was around 350,000 as of the beginning of 2024 – over three times the 110,000 Muslims in 2010. Fifty-four thousand of those are Japanese converts to the religion. In 1980, Japan had a total of four mosques in the entire country. The number is about 150 as of June 2024. Still, there are only about 10 major locations with burial sites in Japan with religious affiliations, including Christian sites. The law regarding burial sites does not prohibit ground interment (putting a dead body in its final resting place); local governments can establish them if they set requirements. But according to a national survey conducted in 2023, more than 99.9 per cent of cemeteries still only perform cremations. Muslims stand under the dome of Tokyo Mosque, an elegant, marble mosque built in an Ottoman style. Photo: Reuters Amid the domestic labour shortage, the government touts its efforts to accept more migrant workers and move toward the reality of an inclusive society. Abe, the Hiji mayor, says the issue of providing burial plots should not be left to municipalities, suggesting that the central government step in and establish guidelines. In 2021, the Beppu Muslim Association petitioned the central government to establish a public cemetery where people can choose their burial method according to their faith, but 'there has been no change,' according to the association. Khan, a university professor in Oita who came to Japan in 2001 and became a Japanese citizen, has a child born in Japan. 'We cannot give up on graves for the next generation's sake,' he said.
