Section 2 Supporting Japanese Nationals Overseas

Overview

(Risks and Safety of Japanese Nationals abroad)

In July 2016, the terrorist attack in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, occurred, claiming seven Japanese lives. The risk of such terrorism is now spreading from the Middle East and Africa to Europe, the U.S. and Asia, where there are many Japanese nationals and Japanese companies. Besides terrorist attacks, the risk of ordinary crimes and infectious diseases that are unfamiliar in Japan exists worldwide. A total of 17.89 million¹ Japanese nationals traveled abroad in 2017 and approximately 1.34 million Japanese nationals live abroad as of October 2016. Securing the safety of Japanese nationals overseas and promoting their interests is one of the most important missions of MOFA.

In August 2016, in light of the terrorist attack in Dhaka, MOFA reviewed the recommendations from the “Task Force on Bolstering Safety Measures for Japanese Nationals Overseas,” issued in 2015, and published a report indicating measures that should be further strengthened. The report pointed out that the public and private sectors need to work mainly in the important areas of (1) enhancing the awareness of safety measures and response capabilities of every single person; (2) delivering timely, appropriate and effective information on safety to the people; and (3) establishing a system to steadily implement these actions, in order to prevent Japanese nationals from being harmed by terrorism. Based on it, MOFA is working to further strengthen security measures through the distribution of “Golgo 13's Security Guidelines for Japanese SMEs abroad” and other means. In addition, ever since the establishment of “International Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Collection Unit” in December 2015, many efforts have been made to gather and concentrate information, including strengthening relationships with security and intelligence agencies of various foreign countries, while reinforcing the unit's structure. The Unit collects information about international terrorism that meets the interests of the Prime Minister's Office. The collected information, including terrorism threats, is promptly reported to the Prime Minister's Office and policy making departments and utilized for disseminating warnings, assessing the security situation and making policy decisions for the safety of Japanese nationals overseas.

In addition to terrorism, there are risks of being involved in robbery and other crimes and troubles, political disturbance, natural disasters and infectious diseases such as the Zika virus disease, which has been spreading across Latin America, a part of the U.S., and Southeast Asia. When traveling or staying overseas, it is very important for every individual to have high awareness of safety and health, collect information and take the necessary safety measures. MOFA issues safety information through its Overseas Travel Registration (“Tabi-Regi”) and the Overseas Safety Website, calling on people to utilize them.

MOFA also endeavors to protect the safety of Japanese nationals overseas and promote their interests. Efforts to this end include issuing passports and various types of certificates, accepting notifications concerning family register, and nationality, and handling overseas voting.

MOFA, as the “Central Authority” for the implementation of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Convention), provides assistance to realize the prompt return of children who have been wrongfully removed across borders, and/or to realize visitation or contact with children across borders.

• 1 Source: Ministry of Justice "Statistics on Legal Migrants”