Half of local governments have a favorable opinion of the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, which will take effect in April in a bid to accept more foreign workers in Japan, according to a recent nationwide questionnaire conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
The questionnaire, however, also found that about 70 percent of local governments were concerned over the need to establish basic infrastructure for foreign residents, indicating their worries to welcome them into their communities.
The survey was conducted in January by sending questions to the governors of Tokyo and the 46 prefectures as well as mayors of 1,741 municipalities. Of them, 1,532 local governments, or 85.7 percent, answered via internet.
Regarding the revised law, 48 percent of the respondents either said they "highly approve of it"or "approve of it to some extent," followed by 42 percent answering "neither." Respondents saying they "do not approve of it much" and "do not approve of it at all" account for less than 10 percent.
The results highlight a severe labor shortage faced by many local governments. Asked for reasons why they approve of the law, with multiple answers allowed, 79 percent of them said they believe it will resolve a labor shortage in local industries.
The revised law creates a Category 1 certificate for foreign nationals with specific skills, and the government will likely accept a maximum of about 345,150 foreigners with such skills over a five-year period.
The Ninohe city government in Iwate Prefecture said in the questionnaire, "Some locally-based companies expect that the revised law will contribute to resolving the manpower shortage," but it also pointed out an issue to be addressed in the future, saying, "There should be some measures to prevent foreign laborers from being concentrated in urban areas."
Asked for reasons why they do not approve of the law, with multiple answers allowed, 72 percent of the respondents said "living arrangements and other systems to support foreigners are not ready," followed by 33 percent saying they are "concerned that it may cause conflict and result in the deterioration of public safety," while 32 percent of the respondents said the revised law "lacks perspective to coexist with foreigners."
The Kumamoto prefectural government sought support from the central government because it is "concerned that each municipality is left to deal with measures to accept and coexist with foreign residents."
Foreign nationals with the new Category 1 residence status will start working in 14 industries in April.
Asked in which industry they more strongly hope to have them, with multiple answers allowed, 858 governments, the largest group, picked the nursing-care industry, followed by the agricultural field at 761, the construction business at 618 and the industrial machinery manufacturing industry at 262.
Fifty percent of the local governments nationwide picked the farming industry, but more than 60 percent of the local governments did so in Hokkaido and the Tohoku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions, highlighting the high expectations those regions have for the positive effects of the revised law.
Asked for requests to the central government, with multiple answers allowed, 69 percent of the respondents picked "securing financial resources to work on measures to accept foreign residents," followed by 60 percent saying "supporting the work to set up consultation services for foreign nationals" and 53 percent saying "providing multilingual information about the social security system."
Many local governments where foreign residents account for 2 percent or more of the entire population tended to have such requests, according to the questionnaire's results.
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