Fujisawa’s Road Map for
Multicultural Community Development.

Fujisawa lives with residents from all over the world.
Promoting community development for all residents to live in harmony and sharevariety of cultures.

Content
1. The purpose of this road map ………………………………P1
2. The position of this road map
3. The aim of this road map……………………………P1…………………………………P1

4. The basic policy and promotion of this road map ………P1
5. The concrete content of the policy ………………………P3
6. The framework of this road map ……………………………P2
7. Promoting enforcement policy ………………………………P2
The concrete content of the policy ……………………………P3-6
February 2007

1 The purpose of this road map
Appreciation of yen due to Plaza Accord signed in 1985 and revision of Immigration Control Law in 1990 triggered sudden
increase of foreign national residents*1, especially those who were from Latin American countries, in Fujisawa.
Since then the number of foreign national residents increased and decreased in repetitive manner. In 1981, there had
been 1,086 of them and in 2006 it turned 6,010, which is 4,924 more residents and approximately six times more, due to somereasons such as extended duration of stay was permitted in the Law revision of 2000.
Roughly 20 years has passed since the period of rapid increase of foreign national residents, and recently permanent
resident*2 from Latin American countries are also increasing.
While rising the number of foreign national residents, issues including language, job, education, medical care, daily life
and others started to occur, because there are more chances of interaction with people who have different nationalities,
ethnicities and cultures in the community.
In order to deal with the issues, around 1985, the city of Fujisawa has started to have a project that provides life andadministrative counseling, multilingual information provision and other services subject to foreign residents*3 such as
Japanese-Brazilians who come to the city to work.
From 2002, foreign residents and Japanese residents have started to discuss about difficulties, solutions and othermatters that foreign residents face in their daily lives and share opinions from both sides. For instance, once there was an
opinion in the group suggesting that information which was really necessary for residents could not properly reach to foreign
residents, because language and living habit became obstacles, so for the solution, since then specific consideration andpractice have been given to such situations.
Moreover, not only to support daily lives of foreign residents, it is demanded to develop a community that allows peoples
to live together while recognizing cultures of one another over their nationalities and ethnicities. In order to solve above
mentioned issues, the city of Fujisawa draws up Fujisawa’s Road Map for Multicultural Community Development, as anindividual guideline that is along with Fujisawa Comprehensive Plan 2020, makes coproduction in improving public welfare
for foreign residents and promotes developing multicultural community.
*1 Foreign national resident……A resident who has a nationality other than Japanese and registered as a foreigner
under the Alien Registration Law.
*2 Permanent resident………….A foreign national resident whom the Minister of Justice allowed to reside in Japan
permanently.
*3 Foreign Resident…………..…A resident whose cultural and ethnical background is other than that of Japanese.
Not only a foreign national resident, but also including one who has Japanesenationality with a foreign cultural/ethnical background, for example, they are areturnee or born to an international couple.
For drawing up this road map, we have considered the situation and circumstance in Fujisawa and also consulted a
guideline called “Promotion plan for Multicultural Community Development in the Region”, which assists efforts tofoster provision for foreign residents by local public agencies, issued by the Japanese government in March 2006.

2 The position of this road map
This road map is an individual collection of policies, which is a guideline along with Fujisawa Comprehensive Plan 2020,to promote multicultural community development.

3 The aim of this road map (to develop a multicultural community with every residents living in harmony)
Along with livelihood support, as residents living next door, we recognize differences of nationalities, ethnicities and living
habits and respect human rights of foreign residents, deepen our exchange, and move forward to develop a multiculturalcommunity that allows every resident “living in harmony”.

4 The basic policy and promotion of this road map(1) Communication Assistancea. Language assistanceb. Information provision/Information exchangec. Consultation service(2) Disaster Prevention/Crisis Management/Crime Prevention(3) Medical Care/Health/Welfare(4) Livelihood Support
a. Residenceb. Involvement in local governmental activity
d. Human rights and mutual understanding
e. Workg. Exchange supportc. Independence and participation in local community
f. School education and continued learning

(5) International Exchangea. Sister cities and Friendship cities
b. Residents exchangec. International tourism(6) General Improvement for Multicultural Community Promotion
a. Cooperation system of residents and local administrationb. Local administrative framework for multicultural community promotionc. Cooperation with national and prefectural governments and other official organizations
d. Incorporating with multicultural community activities by residents and companies(7) IT Application

5 The concrete content of the policy (Page 3-6)
6 The framework of this road map(1) Residents
a. Fujisawa City Friendship Committee
b. Fujisawa Foreign Resident Support Workshop/
Exchange and Discussion Group(Liaison Division takes charge)(Liaison Division takes charge)(2) Local Administration
a. Policy development conferenceb. City executive officer conferencec. Administrative project(3) Division in charge
Liaison Division, Policy Planning Department

Policy development conference(Local Administration)

Relevant
Divisions

City executive officer conference

Administrative
Project

Division in charge(Liaison Division)(Residents)

City Friendship Committee
Foreign Resident Support
Workshop/Exchange andDiscussion Group

7 Promoting enforcement policy(1) Promotion system
a. Residents and the city work together to promote measures based on the guideline, and following structures
monitor the enforcement status.
Local Administration: Administrative project, “Multicultural Community Development Promotion Conference”
Residents:
City Friendship Committee, Foreign Resident Support Workshop/Exchange and discussion group
Government and Residents hold a meeting at regular intervals.
b. We will revise the guideline content depend on the necessity.

The concrete content of the policy
1 Communication Assistance(1) Language assistance“Language” is the most important issue for foreign residents. Japanese language becomes a big communication barrier
for children in school life and with friends and for adults at works and among neighbors.
Meanwhile, a child might have some difficulty in making conversation with parents, since they do not speak their mothertongue*1, and/or their life in home country would turn to be not easy when they are returned, so that acquisition of theirmother tongue became a subject of discussion. Therefore, support for foreign residents to acquire both Japanese and theirmother tongues is demanded, so resident volunteers and foreign residents including the city need to work together to solve theissue.
Japanese language classes are held at public halls, Cultural Learning center, Youth Association Center and other public
facilities. Organizers of the classes and the local administration will cooperate to solve Japanese acquisition problem.
Since the nature of issue, the city needs to depend on each family and community of respective countries about mothertongue acquisition; however, residents and the local administration will cooperate to find necessary assistance measures andsolve the language issue.
*1 Mother tongue…………Naturally acquired language by an infant through their mother. The first language.
(2) Information provision/Information exchange
For foreign residents who have communication difficulty in Japanese, it is important to obtain necessary information for
their daily lives when needed.
The city of Fujisawa provides information to general public by public relations magazines, relevant documents, Cable TV
program, FM radio program and Internet; however, it plans to improve information provision for foreign residents in various
languages with the help of its residents in the future.
The city will encourage companies employing many foreign residents reside in Fujisawa, Hello Work (job-placement
office) and others to provide necessary information.
The city also actively encourage train stations, public transportation systems, hospitals and other highly public facilities
to provide information display system that shows information in various languages one after the other.
In the second place, although information exchange is usually available through conversation with neighbors, otherforeign residents and familiar volunteers some foreign residents are having trouble in communication*1 due to differences inlanguage, custom, culture and other factors.
In order to solve above situation, the city will provide an open space for foreign residents to casually obtain informationand consult their situation.
This open space may help foreign residents to make friends and solve their worries.
*1 Communication………Transmission of human’s perception, feeling and thought. Language, literature and someothers, which affect one’s perception and auditory sense that become media of it.
(3) Consultation service
The city of Fujisawa offers a consultation service for its foreign residents about public welfare, tax payment procedure,
daily life concern and others. The city plans to improve it and make the service better. Furthermore, the city will assist to
solve worries of foreign residents with the help of its residents.

2 Disaster Prevention/Crisis Management/Crime Prevention
For foreign residents, based on Fujisawa’s Disaster Rescue and Relief Plan in Regional Disaster Prevention Plan, the city
posts large evacuation map at its major train stations and give out the map for those who need it to accomplish smoothevacuation without panic at a major earthquake.
The city, residents and business institutions will work together to distribute the information to more foreign residents.
The city will distribute multilingual brochures such as “Earthquake Emergency Procedures”, which is coproduced with
Kanagawa prefecture, and plan to have further countermeasures.
Residents, police and relevant organizations work together to promote general improvement that makes local
communities not to allow any crime to occur. The city is working on anticrime measures for making a community whose
residents can live with safety and security, in particular, borrowing a crime prevention buzzer, organizing anticrime patrols at
all the areas in the city, distributing security information through anticrime measures system that uses mobile network andso on. The city will continue to cooperate with its residents for attaining better anticrime measures.

3 Medical care/Health/Welfare(1) Medical care
Volunteer interpreter program is available for foreign residents at municipal hospital, so they can receive medical
treatment without any anxiety.
We will widely inform foreign residents about medical services such as “dispatch service of a medical interpreter”, which isprovided as a cooperation project of Kanagawa Prefecture and NGO (Nongovernmental Organization), and improveinformation provision of medical institutions.
In response to an emergency medical situation, a paramedic team uses a medical emergency questionnaire sheet printed
in five different languages. The city of Fujisawa keeps fostering first-aid action is given to whom in need in a quick andefficient manner.
*1 Five languages……………English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Portuguese.
(2) Health
The city will actively inform the foreign residents about health service and support them to live in health.
Presently, although the city provides information about services of health checkups, maternal and child health and so on
in various languages, we will improve the information to be more useful one.
(3) Welfare
The city will introduce welfare systems for elderly people, disabled people and children in various languages.
We will improve environment such as municipal employee training so that they should be capable to consider cultural
background of a user, and they can response appropriately when they provide welfare service.
In order for foreign residents to use the services easily, we will ask national government to put more effort to announce
and improve services through prefectural government.
In order to encourage foreign residents to enroll in national social insurance system, we will ask the national government
to promote and inform about the system toward companies through the prefectural government.

4 Livelihood Support
There is transition of “permanent residency status registrant” within foreign national residents who hold staying status in
Fujisawa, and ratio of registrant has increased to 43.4% in 2006, while it had been 19.3% in 1996.
It is very significant if we recognize them as neighbors with different cultural backgrounds and conduct an orientation forthem to explain general information on lifestyle in the community when they are registering themselves for foreign resident
registration to become fellow residents.
We will make a request to Japanese government through prefectural government to provide a foreign resident a common
national orientation session at the time the Japanese government gives a permission of permanent residence to them.
(1) Residence
The same requirement is applied for both foreign and Japanese residents if they are applying to rent a municipal housing.
Local administration and NPO (Non-profit organization) cooperate to help foreign residents to find housing and solve
discrimination against them when they are becoming tenants by providing information about rental housing brokers andcommon practices and manners that relate with housing in Japan.
(2) Involvement in local government activity
An organization, “Foreign Resident Support Workshop/Exchange and Discussion Group”, whose members are consistedwith foreign and Japanese residents, makes a proposal and a recommendation to local administration about support for andexchange with foreign residents and operates a cooperating project with the administration.
We will make the group better and strive to make an opinion of a foreign resident reflected in measures and policies.
Moreover, we will cooperate with international cooperation organizations, colleges and universities and companies in thecity to examine a structure that reflects opinions of foreign residents in the local administration.
We will make foreign residents to be surveyed at the resident opinion poll which is conducted by the city of Fujisawa andstrive their opinion be reflected in the local administration.
We will recommend the administration to let foreign residents participate in a municipal advisory body and other bodies.
We will encourage national government for foreign residents to attain local election voting rights while cooperating withother municipalities.
(3) Independence and participation in local community
In order for foreign residents to act proactively, we support a person who takes pivotal role in a foreigner’s community intheir local area, a network of foreign residents and a self-help organization of foreign residents.
We encourage foreign residents to participate associations in local society (such as resident’s association, merchants’
association, PTA (Parent-Teacher Association)).
Mutually understanding with Japanese residents and living as good neighbors is most important for foreign residents tolead “secured and safe civil life”. To spend such life, it is the simple and good way is to join a block association and/or acommunity association, and deepen their exchange with others. By doing so, they will gradually participate in local
community.
With the help of volunteer interpreters, we will actively work for and recommend foreign residents to participate a blockassociation and/or a community association, by using association joining information that is translated in various languages.
(4) Human rights and mutual understandinga. Human rights
We will promote human rights measures and policies to prevent discrimination and human-rights abuse against foreign
residents under “Promotion guideline of human rights measures and policies of Fujisawa”, “International Covenant on
Human Rights” and “International Convention on All Form of Racial Discrimination”.
b. Mutual understanding
Japanese residents and foreign residents work together to continually hold and improve International Festival in whichpeople exhibit their cultures and interact to each other.
We continually offer learning opportunity project such as Japanese culture introduction course, globalization workshop,
Japanese conversation seminar at public hall, Youth Association Center and other public facilities.
We provide information and hold events for residents to expand wave of exchange at Youth Association Center.
(5) Work
According to the research result of “Community of foreign workers of Japanese descent and labor market” described in thereport “Research on the Current State of and Future Measures for the Issue of foreign workers” that an independentadministrative institution “The Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training” issued, working arrangements applied toJapanese descent showed tendency of more indirect employments via unit contracts or personnel-service businesses that are
the vast majority of the arrangement than direct employment between companies and them.
Overwhelming majority of these people work in manufacturing industry and receive low wages.
The research result infers the same kind of situation exists in Fujisawa. The city provides “Free employment counselingservice” to foster hiring for them.
Also at Hello Work Fujisawa (job-placement office), a consultation service is available for those who are looking for a job
and have an inquiry about employment insurance in Spanish and Portuguese by providing interpreters.
However, we will need to have close coordination among departments, since several departments must deal with someissues together, such as Labor Standards Supervision Office takes care of cases such as unfair dismissals, Social Insurance
Agency resolves troubles of social insurance and so on.
(6) School education and continued learninga. School education
There are 294 students (215 in elementary school/79 in middle school) who are with foreign nationalities including 181
students from Latin American countries (65 Brazilians/69 Peruvians/47 Argentines) that are the massive majority in this city
as of May 1, 2006.
The city of Fujisawa promotes international education with the help of foreign assistant English teachers in middle
schools and global understanding education with the help of global education teachers.
We also assist students with foreign nationalities by providing Japanese language classes, international classrooms andJapanese language instructors.
We will continue to provide these kinds of projects and promote international education opportunities.
Although it is not compulsory education for children of foreign nationalities we send schooling information, which are
written in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, to parents who have a pre-elementary or pre-middle school child. For
those who are moving in the city, we will accept school entrance application form at the time of foreigner registration process.
In order for children to spend hopeful school life, provision is necessary such as to cooperate with day-care centers or
nurseries for providing detailed information about Japanese education system to parents who have a preschool child. Sometimes, after entering school, there is an issue that a child stop going to school due to various reasons. One of the reasons is
language problem that causes the child not to go to school; we prepare help for them to solve such problem by providing
Japanese language classes and instructors.
There are number of students with foreign nationalities use School Expense Subsidies System, and we provide leaflet forthe system in Spanish, Portuguese and Vietnamese, yet we will make further announcement about it through schools.
b. Continued learning
We will issue multilingual user guides of Central City Library, public halls, sport facilities and other public service
facilities and prepare easy access environment for foreign residents.
At public halls, we provide cultural exchange programs which fit to characteristics and demands of each area.
We will offer more places and opportunities for both foreign and Japanese residents, who reside in the same area, tointeract each other.
We will improve international exchange meeting and Japanese language classes for foreign residents in the youth
programs that are aiming cross-cultural understanding and exchange at Youth Association Center for deeper mutual
understanding.

(7) Exchange support
Members of Foreign Resident Support Workshop/Exchange and Discussion Group, which was organized in November
2005, will become core members to establish an open space for foreign residents to share information and have a talk. We
hope this open space helps a foreign resident, who feels isolation or loneliness in the society, to live comfortable life by receiving
useful information and talking about their problem.

5 International Exchange(1) Sister cities and Friendship cities
Residents and the local administration cooperate to promote exchanges with four overseas cities, which are sister andfriendship cities, and other municipalities. An official delegation is sent to sister and friendship cities as an event tocommemorate anniversary of affiliation.
We will cooperate with residents’ friendship associations and groups that exchange with sister and friendship cities topromote mutual understanding and friendship through interactions in the broad areas, like industry, culture, sports, academy
and others with residents from such cities and other municipalities for making a contribution to world peace.
(2) Residents exchange
The city asks families to register themselves for Fujisawa Home-stay Home-visit Program throughout the city, andactively accept visitors mainly from sister and friendship cities.
For the registered families, aiming a fruitful cross-cultural exchange, the city offers effective lectures.
For cultural and sports exchanges between residents from Fujisawa and sister and friendship or other cities, the city
provides offerings, such as information, for the favorable environment to implement the exchange activities.
(3) International tourism
The city promotes to attract tourists from overseas including its sister cities and friendship cities.
We focus on environmental improvement like producing guide signs, tourist maps, booklets and such kinds in various
languages that are easy to understand for foreign tourists and develop attractive tourist attractions and spots.
We also organize variety of events to boost many tourists to participate.

6 General Improvements for Multicultural Community Promotion(1) Cooperation system of residents and the local administration“City Friendship Committee”, whose members are elected from associations and organizations in the city, and the city
work together to promote exchanges between cities and their residents, and multicultural community development project.
We will receive proposals and recommendations to projects for foreign residents from “Foreign Resident Support
Workshop/Exchange and Discussion Group”, whose members consist of foreign residents and Japanese residents, and work
together to promote multicultural community development project with residents.
(2) Administrative framework for multicultural community promotion
We will set up a “Multicultural Community Promotion Committee” in the city office, in order to comprehend the status ofprojects which are carried out by each section in charge for foreign residents, and make readjustment of them if it is necessary.
We will promote the idea of multicultural community through staff trainings and to develop the local society in which
foreign residents live among Japanese residents.
We will have exchange of city employees with sister and friendship cities and learn their administration system, culture,
history and so on, then make good use of the knowledge we acquired for multicultural community development.
(3) Cooperation with national and prefectural government and other official organizations
We will be in close touch with International Division of Kanagawa Prefectural Government and Kanagawa International
Foundation to collect information about situation in each municipality in the prefecture and activities nationwide, andimprove multicultural community policy making.
(4) Incorporating with multicultural community activities by residents and companies
We will support multicultural community activities in companies that have foreign workers and accept foreign trainees,
language schools, owners of companies that have overseas factories, and registered volunteer groups whose main missions areglobal cooperation and exchanges with Fujisawa Volunteer Support Center, and cooperate with them to promote multiculturalcommunity development.

7 IT Application
Currently, the city posts “Living Guide” in six different languages and contact list of “Medical Care for Emergency Case on
Holidays” in five different languages on its official homepage.
The city will provide more useful information for foreign residents on its homepage by posting more links to homepages ofresident’s groups and other methods for better information provision.
The city will use the homepage effectively to provide information about sister and friendship cities, homestay program (aguest stays with a local family) and so on.