-
·
Nagoya to withdraw from Juki Net
Nagoya plans to withdraw from the nationwide online residency registry network known as Juki Net [aka the Basic Resident Registers Network], Mayor Takashi Kawamura said Tuesday. Kawamura told internal affairs minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi he will reach his decision after he discusses the issue with city residents. He also told Haraguchi the system should be abolished.…
-
·
Born in Japan, but ordered out
Fida Khan, a gangly 14-year-old, told the court that immigration authorities should not deport him and his family merely because his foreign-born parents lacked proper visas when they came to Japan more than 20 years ago. During the past two decades, his Pakistani father and Filipino mother have held steady jobs, raised children, paid taxes…
-
·
Tokyo snubs call to keep shelter, services for homeless
An antipoverty citizens’ group is asking the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to continue providing shelter and life-counseling services to hundreds of jobless and homeless people staying at a temporary shelter due to be shut down Monday. The group, called one-stop no kai, is made up of activists who set up a tent village in Tokyo’s Hibiya…
-
·
Tokyo library reaching out to foreign community
Whether to read a Pulitzer Prize-winning author in English, flick through global editions of Vogue magazine or delve into foreign encyclopedias, the Tokyo Metropolitan Library wants more foreigners to visit and take advantage of its free multilingual resources. The library, whose central branch is in Minato Ward, is running a campaign to make non-Japanese residents…
-
·
Foreign suffrage bill bound for Diet
The Hatoyama government on Monday decided to submit to the ordinary Diet session that opens Jan. 18 a bill that would allow permanent foreign residents to vote in local elections. If the divisive bill is submitted, New Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party, two opposition parties that have called for such voting rights, are expected…
-
·
Assemblies say ‘no’ to foreign suffrage
Fourteen prefectural assemblies have adopted statements opposing legislation that would give permanent foreign residents in Japan the right to vote in local elections, The Asahi Shimbun has learned. The statements were adopted from October to December after the Democratic Party of Japan, which favors foreign suffrage, took power from the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. Of…
-
·
New real estate guarantor service set up for foreign residents
A Tokyo non-profit organization has set up a new real estate guarantor service for foreign residents negotiating Japan’s notoriously discriminative housing system. The service, the first of its kind, is set up by the Information Center for Foreigners in Japan and will start offering guarantor services in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures in South Korean and…
-
·
Social security policy should leave no one behind
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led administration has called for a “shift from concrete to people” — spending taxpayers’ money on people’s livelihoods, rather than public works projects. This is reflected in the fiscal 2010 budget draft, but it suggests that the government desperately secured financial resources to carry out its election campaign pledges, rather…
-
·
New pension body opens for business
Japan Pension Service, an organization set up to succeed the scandal-plagued Social Insurance Agency, started full operations Monday with a pledge to restore public trust in the public pension system. The names of 312 social insurance offices nationwide have been changed to pension service offices. The entity has drawn up 10 pledges to improve customer…
-
·
Human rights in Japan: a top 10 for ’09
They say that human rights advances come in threes: two steps forward and one back. 2009, however, had good news and bad on balance. For me, the top 10 human rights events of the year that affected non-Japanese (NJ) were, in ascending order: 7) ‘Itchy and Scratchy’ (tied) Accused murderer Tatsuya Ichihashi and convicted embezzler…