Recent years have seen an ongoing increase in the number of foreign residents in Japan (currently approximately 2 million people), with foreign nationals currently comprising more than 1.5% of the total population. Moreover, the number of foreign residents is expected to continue to increase. Within this trend, since the amendment of the Immigration Act (the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act) in 1990, there has been a pronounced increase in the number of Brazilian and Peruvian nationals of Japanese descent residing in Japan. Differences of culture, traditions, and language have led to friction with local communities and other issues manifesting themselves, and comprehensive measures for accepting foreigners as an integral part of Japanese society have become an urgent issue. With other major countries also searching for new means for immigrants to become accepted as members of society, the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg in July established a shared recognition of the importance of enhancing language competencies and exchanging the knowledge gained in each country in the area of social integration.

   In response to heightening social concern over these issues, the government is currently conducting intragovernmental reviews that examine the state of acceptance of foreign residents in society and the state of administrative services towards foreign residents (“Working Team on the Oversight of Resident Foreigners” and “Meetings of Ministries and Agencies Engaged in Foreign Laborer Issues”). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is actively involved in these discussions, for example by introducing the experiences of other countries with regard to immigration issues.

   The Ministry has also been convening an international symposium every year since 2005 for the purpose of promoting discussion among the Japanese people regarding issues related to foreigners. In the 2006 symposium the experience and knowledge that Germany gained through its national integration policies was introduced, and active debate and discussions took place regarding various issues related to resident foreign nationals. In the future as well, the Ministry will deal actively with this issue and further develop its relationship with the cities and local areas having large numbers of foreign residents, such as by providing information about efforts being undertaken in other countries.