The “Useful Map for Foreign Residents” (https://map.japan-workers.com/), operated by Nishiyama Chizai Co., Ltd., provides information on foreign residents by local government (prefecture, city, ward, town, village) nationwide. Displays the number of foreigners (by country and status of residence) and local support organizations for foreigners (medical institutions, administrative scriveners providing residence support, specified skill registration support organizations, etc.).
Among these, information for foreigners disseminated by public institutions is listed as “useful information”, but the degree of completeness varies greatly depending on the local government.
What information should local governments send to foreign residents?
We confirmed the official homepages of a total of 1,960 local governments (total number of prefectures, cities, wards, towns and villages; cities and wards are counted separately (for example, Tokyo is counted as 1 for all of Tokyo and 23 for special wards, for a total of 24)). As a result, the information and policies that local governments disseminate to foreign residents can be summarized into the following items:
- For foreigners
- Regarding moving in/out procedures and residence cards
- Foreign language support for homepage
- Establishment and guidance of consultation counter for foreigners
- Installation and guidance of Japanese language classes (free of charge)
- Information on life rules such as how to take out trash
- Dissemination of information for disaster prevention, such as disaster prevention maps and hazard maps
- For employers
- Precautions when hiring foreigners, etc.
- Request for lump-sum collection of unpaid taxes and designation of tax administrator upon retirement
1-1.About moving in, moving out, and residence cards
This is notify that the alien registration system was abolished in 2012, and foreign residents (mid- to long-term residents) were now subject to the basic resident register and resident records became to be issued in the same way as Japanese people. It also provides information regarding transfer-in/transfer procedures and the handling of residence cards as related matters.
Example from Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture: While many page titles displayed on Google search simply say things like “For foreigners,” the page title reads “About notifications and procedures for foreigners,” which is relatively easy to understand.
1-2. Foreign language support for homepage
Most of them use the Google Translate feature to translate their homepages into multiple languages. Some local governments take into consideration the population by nationality of the local government regarding the languages they can support.
Example of Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture: Supports English, Russian, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Thai, and Korean.
1-3. Establishment and guidance of consultation counter for foreigners
Many local governments provide information on where foreigners can consult in case of trouble. There are various installation formats, such as channels (telephone, email, face-to-face), opened by the local government itself or navigated to the counter of a parent government (for example, a prefecture in the case of a city), and opening hours.
Example of Tagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture: “Easy Japanese” guides you to the Fukuoka Prefecture Foreign Resident Consultation Center, which is operated by Fukuoka Prefecture.
1-4. Installation and guidance of Japanese language classes (free of charge)
This is a measure that local governments should set up on their own. For example, it is possible for towns and villages to delegate this work to the prefecture, but having local instructors and students (foreigners and their families) gather in the same classroom to learn Japanese will greatly contribute to revitalizing the community.
Example in Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture: Japanese language classes for foreigners (guidance in English and “Easy Japanese”)
1-5. Information on life rules such as how to take out trash
Awareness of manners in daily life, such as how to dispose of garbage, differs from country to country. There have been reports of cases where people who do not know the rules and leave garbage in the neighborhood based on their own country’s senses cause problems in the community. (Kurdish issue in Kawaguchi City, etc.)
Example of Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture: Information on all aspects, not just how to dispose of garbage, is summarized on one page and in “Easy Japanese”, so it can be said to be a model case.
1-6. Dissemination of information for disaster prevention such as disaster prevention maps and hazard maps
Not only the recent heavy rain damage in the Noto Peninsula and the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January of this year, it is common knowledge for foreigners that Japan is a disaster-prone country, and preparing for disasters is important no matter where you live in Japan. . In particular, it is extremely important to disseminate disaster prevention information during normal times so that language barriers do not become fatal.
Example of Nakai Town, Kanagawa Prefecture: Regional hazard maps are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.
2-1. Precautions when hiring foreigners, etc.
It is common for companies to have a page to alert them to the various notification obligations that occur when leaving a job or being hired.
Case of Fukagawa City, Hokkaido: Links to leaflets from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Immigration Services Agency are posted.
2-2. Request for lump-sum collection of unpaid taxes and designation of tax administrator upon retirement
If a foreigner leaves the country and is unable to pay resident tax, it is necessary to appoint a tax administrator who will receive tax notices and pay municipal tax and prefectural tax on behalf of the taxpayer. This is what local governments ask employers to do.
Example of Sakaiminato City, Tottori Prefecture: Regarding the tax administrator for foreigners leaving the country
Summary
For foreigners working and living in Japan, local government support is even more important than for us Japanese people. Before visiting a local government office, you can get an idea of whether a local government is accommodating to foreigners by simply looking at information posted on the internet.
Efforts to encourage young people to migrate are important measures for any local government, with the aim of restoring the vitality of the city and increasing tax revenue. However, considering the recent rapid increase in the number of foreign residents, I think it is important to first improve the dissemination of information for foreigners.
In particular, I would like to see prompt improvements in local governments that have a low level of information dissemination despite having a large number of foreign residents compared to the total number of residents.