As a rightward shift spreads in Japan, a local government said it will consider restricting the hiring of foreigners.
According to Asahi Shimbun and other local media on the 26th, Ichimi Katsuyuki, governor of Mie Prefecture, said at a news conference the previous day that he would consider changing policy to strictly enforce nationality requirements for staff hiring and halt the hiring of foreigners.
Governor Ichimi said, "Discrimination is not permitted and we will not adopt xenophobia," but added, "We need to think carefully about hiring local public servants who handle confidential information." Mie Prefecture currently has no nationality requirement in 44 of 49 job categories.
Mie Prefecture plans to make a final review on whether to halt the hiring of foreigners based on the results of a resident survey to be conducted for a month from Jan. 26 to Feb. 16 next year.
The Japanese government once held the position that hiring foreign nationals as central and local public servants was inappropriate, but starting in the 1970s, regions with large foreign resident populations began abolishing nationality requirements for general clerical positions.
There is also criticism of Mie Prefecture's move. In Inashi (city) in Mie Prefecture, where the proportion of foreign residents is high, Mayor Inamori Toshinao said, "It overturns the steps taken over many years by the community to build a multicultural society."