Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
## 1 Study on the Register System for Foreign Nationals

The municipalities treat foreign nationals who have been registered on the alien registration card as their residents and use alien registration information as a basis for providing various administrative services. However, the Alien Registration System and Basic Residents' Register System have different purposes, which hinder the provision of administrative services. The municipalities therefore need to develop a register system for foreign residents who legally stay in Japan to keep their correct records, by referring to the Basic Residents' Register System.

The Three-Year Plan for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, which was decided by the Cabinet on June 22, 2007, also states, "The current alien registration system will be reorganized into a register system for foreign residents who legally reside in Japan, by referring to the Basic Residents' Register System. This reorganization of the system is intended to prepare the legal ground for municipalities to hold accurate information on foreign nationals as their residents and to ascertain their residential status while alleviating the financial burden on the State and local public bodies." Furthermore, the "Three-Year Plan for Promotion of Regulatory Reform (Revised)", which was decided by the Cabinet on March 25, 2008, states that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Justice should prepare and make public the basic scheme for such register system in coordination with the Cabinet Secretariat (measures for 2007) and that both Ministries should introduce such a register system properly and steadily, giving full consideration to the opinions of local public bodies (the related bill will be submitted in the Ordinary Session of the Diet in 2009 at the latest).

Under such circumstances, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Ministry of Justice jointly formulated “The Basic Scheme of the Register System for Foreign Residents Who Legally Reside in Japan” in March 2008 (http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan71.pdf). Both ministers have also served as the joint secretariat of the “Discussion Meeting on the Register System for Foreign Nationals” since April, and have held meetings to discuss the relevant registration system. The results of discussions in those meetings were summarized in a report (http://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_news/s-news/2008/081218_1.html).

## 2 Law for Partial Amendment of the Basic Residents' Registration Act

In response to these developments, the law for Partial Amendment of the Basic Residents' Registration Act, which aims to make some revisions, such as inclusion of foreign residents in the residents covered by the Basic Residents' Registration Act, was approved and enacted in the ordinary session of the Diet held on July 8, 2009, and was promulgated on July 15 of the same year (Act No.77, 2009).

Details of major revisions related to foreign residents are as follows: (i) Resident registration
cards for foreign residents, including medium to long-term residents and special permanent residents, will be created; (ii) These cards shall specify not only name and address, but also matters specific to foreign nationals, such as nationality, status of residence, and period of stay; (iii) If modification of the matters listed in the resident registration cards for foreign nationals becomes necessary along with a change of status of residence, extension of period of stay, etc., the Minister of Justice shall inform municipality heads of such modification.

These revisions aim to allow the Minister of Justice to smoothly provide municipality heads with the requisite information that the Minister will have under the new system of residence management, and to play an important role in operating the register system based on precise information.

The enforcement date of this law shall be the same as that of the amended Immigration Control Act concerning the new system of residence management (Section 1, Paragraph 1 (4)).

## Section 3 ◆ Measures to Ensure Accurate Registration

Before the enforcement of the new system of residence management and the register system for foreign residents, it is important to ensure in the mean time that accurate registration is practiced under the current alien registration system, and the Immigration Bureau is taking a series of measures.

Specifically, in FY 2007, (i) posters in various languages were posted at the counters, etc. of municipal offices all over the country and regional immigration offices, calling on foreign residents to accurately apply for registration and (ii) additional measures were implemented to ensure prompt notification of departure to the municipalities concerned of foreign nationals whose data is registered in the municipalities in case they leave Japan without having a re-entry permit issued.

Further, the Team for Enhancement of Accuracy and Improvement of Operations was set up in the Registration Division of the Immigration Bureau in April 2008. This team was set up to enhance accuracy and to improve the operations of the Immigration Bureau through various new measures including: (i) start of quick acceptance of inquiries from municipalities by setting up an exclusive e-mail address for inquiries, etc.; (ii) tentative provision of departure and landing information based on the granting of a re-entry permit (Note); and (iii) sending of registration cards which are considered to be out of date to the Ministry of Justice and encouraging management thereof.

From the standpoint of smooth transition to the new system, the Immigration Bureau intends to enhance accuracy and improve operations based on the opinions of the municipalities expressed at the Meeting of Representative Staff of the Municipalities for Alien Registration Services.
# Chapter 2 Measures on the Training and Technical Internship Programs

The training and technical internship programs are designed to train human resources who will assist in the economic progress of various countries through the transfer of technology and skills to trainees and technical interns. Those who enter Japan with a status of trainee and those who apply to change their status to a technical intern are increasing year by year, and the programs has become established in Japan.

However, some accepting organizations that do not understand the objectives of the programs treat the trainees and interns improperly and pay them low wages.

Under the provisions of the ordinance of the Ministry of Justice, the Immigration Bureau may make a finding of “misconduct” with regard to organizations that have acted inappropriately regarding training and technical internship and suspend such organizations from accepting trainees and technical interns for three years. The number of organizations that were recognized to engage in “misconduct” during the year 2008 was 452.

According to the type of receiving arrangement, there were 7 organizations (1.5%) accepting trainees under the supervision of a single company and 445 organizations (98.5%) accepting trainees under the supervision of a group of companies. According to the type of receiving organization, there were 29 organizations (6.4%) as primary receiving organizations (entities like cooperative associations, which implement training programs as an undertaking), and 416 organizations (92.0%) as secondary receiving organizations (entities like membership companies, which accept trainees).(Table 48)

Table 48 Changes in the number of organizations subject to a finding of misconduct by type of receiving arrangement

Organizations subject to a findingType of receiving arrangement	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Supervision of a single company	2	5	11	9	7
Supervision of a group of companies	Primary receiving organization	28	17	28	36	29
Secondary receiving organization	180	158	190	404	416
Total	210	180	229	449	452

Three major categories of misconduct in descending order are “work in excess of statutory working hours” committed by organizations which have trainees work other than training hours or holidays when they are prohibited to work, “violation against labor-related regulations” committed by organizations which have technical interns work in violation of labor-related regulations, and “name lending” committed by organizations which allow other organizations that
had not applied for acceptance to accept trainees and technical interns, and these three categories account for about 76% of all misconduct. (Table 49)

Table 49 Number of findings of misconduct by category (2008)

(Cases)

Findings	Supervision of a single company (7 organizations)	Supervision of a group of companies	Total (452 organizations)
Category	Primary (29 organizations)	Secondary (416 organizations)
①	Dual contract	0	0	0	0
1st	Variance compared with training and technical internship plan	1	11	36	48
②	Name lending	0	4	92	96
③	In addition to the foregoing, preparation and use of fraudulent documents	1	21	6	28
4th	Work in excess of statutory working hours	4	5	160	169
2nd	Malicious acts of infringement of human rights, etc.	1	3	32	36
3rd	Failure to report serious cases, etc.	0	0	1	1
4th	Employment of illegal foreign workers	0	1	14	15
5th	Violation against labor-related regulations	2	0	153	155
6th	Recurrence of similar acts	0	1	0	1
Total	9	46	494	549

(*) If one accepting organization is recognized as having committed “misconduct” of more than one category, it is listed for the respective categories, and as such, the number of accepting organizations is not identical to the number of recognized cases by category.

To respond to an increase in cases of inappropriate acceptance, necessary reviews on the system were made in line with revisions to the Immigration Control Act, including establishment of status of residence for technical interns (see Chapter 1, Section 1, Paragraph 2 (1)).
# Measures on Acceptance of Foreign College Students and Pre-college Students

# Section 1 ☐ Background of study on Acceptance of Foreign College Students and Pre-college Students

## 1 Study by the Government

The “300,000 Foreign Students Plan” was proposed in the Prime Minister's policy speech in January 2008. To that end, an outline of the plan was compiled by related ministries, including the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in July of the same year. It aims to accept 300,000 foreign students by 2020 as part of “global strategies” to expand the flow of humans, goods, money, and information between Japan as a country more open to the world, and other countries in Asia and the world.

## 2 Study by the Discussion Meeting on Immigration Control Policy

The Discussion Meeting on Immigration Control Policy repeatedly held meetings on acceptance of foreign college students and pre-college students, and compiled a report entitled the “Proposal on Acceptance of College Students and Pre-college Students”, which was submitted to the Minister of Justice on January 22, 2009. The full text of the report is shown in Data Section 3, and is also available on the website of the Ministry of Justice (http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan82.pdf).

## Section 2 ☐ Outline of a Report by the Discussion Meeting on Immigration Control Policy, “Proposal on Acceptance of College Students and Pre-college Students”

As described above, a report by the Discussion Meeting on Immigration Control Policy was submitted to the Minister of Justice, and its outline is shown below.

Based on the above outline, some measures have already been taken: the maximum period during which foreign students who graduated from colleges can engage in job-hunting activities was extended to one year; and the two statuses of residence of “College Student” and “Pre-college Student” were integrated in accordance with the revised Immigration Control Act (see Chapter 1, Section 1, Paragraph 2 (2)).
# Efforts Toward the Creation of a Society that Prevents Foreign Nationals from becoming Illegal Residents, and that Realizes Multicultural Co-existence

## Section 1 ◆ Formulation of five-year Illegal Resident Reduction-by-half Plan

## 1 Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime

In 2003, it was estimated that there were 220,000 overstayers and 30,000 illegal entrants, many of whom were presumed to engage in illegal employment. In addition, some foreign nationals were involved in vicious crimes. Therefore, it was pointed out that the existence of illegal residents was a hotbed of recurrent of organized crimes committed by foreign criminal organizations. From the perspective of security in the country, the solution of problems related to illegal residents was considered to be an urgent issue.

Aiming at restoring Japan to the position of “the safest nation in the world” and taking active comprehensive measures to recover public safety, the national government formulated the “Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime” at the Ministerial Conference to Discuss Countermeasures against Crime on December 18, 2003.

According to this Action Plan, the government will aim at halving the number of illegal foreign residents, some of whom are potential criminals, in the next five years up until 2008 to ensure public safety. Also with a view to eliminating unreasonable suspicion toward the many foreign nationals who are staying in Japan peacefully and legally, the Immigration Bureau will promote various measures such as “tightening monitoring immigration control at the border”, “taking measures against foreign nationals who illegally enter and stay in Japan”, and “reinforcing cooperation with foreign counterparts”. Namely, the Immigration Bureau will actively strive to implement stricter examination of the status of residence on entry, strengthen detection of illegal residents increase efficiency in the deportation procedures and promote measures to properly accept foreign nationals such as students and trainees, and will request foreign countries to exercise stricter control over their nationals who have been deported from Japan. Aiming at reinforcement of the immigration control procedures and a significant reduction in the number of illegal foreign residents, the Immigration Bureau will also promote measures to reinforce the immigration control system by increasing the number of immigration control officers and immigration inspectors and by upgrading the facilities for detention, devices and equipment.
## 2 Promoting Comprehensive Efforts to Halve the Number of Illegal Residents

With the aim of halving the number of illegal foreign residents, including overstayers and those residing secretly in Japan after entering with the help of brokers, namely stowaways, in the five-year period from 2004 to 2008, the Immigration Bureau has been working closely with the police and other agencies concerned to jointly detect illegal residents in order to prevent illegal foreign residents from "staying in Japan". The bureau has also promoted active transfer of custody in accordance with Article 65 of the Immigration Control Act, and the application of the departure order system enforced on December 2, 2004. Further, by improving the efficiency of procedures for deportation to speed up the process to handle cases of violations by illegal residents and promoting active negotiations with the countries of origin on deportation and passport issuance, it has been taking measures to promptly deport illegal residents. To prevent foreign nationals to intend to illegally stay from "coming to Japan", the Immigration Bureau has been strictly examining foreign nationals applying for certificate of eligibility, requesting foreign countries to effectively prevent its nationals from leaving for Japan if many nationals of that country are working illegally in Japan, and introduced a pre-clearance system in 2005. As for those foreign nationals intending to illegally stay in Japan who pass themselves off as tourists, to prevent these fake tourists from "landing in Japan", the Immigration Bureau has been taking various measures, including tightening landing procedures, introduction of the Advance Passenger Information System, implementation of immigration examination utilizing information for personal identification, and reinforcement of the examination of forged or altered passports. To meet the recent strong social need for restoring public safety, the bureau has been actively working with the agencies concerned to address the problem of illegal immigrants in accordance with three principles: preventing illegal immigrants from "coming to", "landing in" and "staying in" Japan.

## 3 Results and Future Efforts

The number of overstayers as of January 1, 2009 is 113,072, down by 48.5% from 219,418 as of January 2004. The goal of halving the number of illegal residents in five years has almost been achieved, and it means that the plan has contributed to realization of a society in which people can live in security. It is estimated that there were originally about 30,000 illegal entrants, and they have decreased to at least about 15,000 or at most about 23,000.

The Immigration Bureau intends to continue efforts for reduction of about 110,000 overstayers who are still in Japan, and to deal harshly with fake residents (those who lie about their status position and reasons for being in Japan, such as fake marriage or fake student status, and pretend to be legal foreign residents in order to work illegally in Japan), who are estimated to exist in large numbers at present.
## Section 2 ◆ Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime 2008

As stated in Section 1.1, the “Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime” was formulated on December 2003. In the five years since then, there was a drastic decrease in the number of cases which were recognized as criminals, and overstayers, and public safety has been significantly improved. However, people's perception of safety has not yet improved, and it is necessary to continue taking more fundamental measures against crime aiming to restore Japan to the position of “the safest nation in the world” in the true sense. Thus, the “Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime 2008” was formulated at the Ministerial Conference to Discuss Countermeasures against Crime on December 2008.

The above-mentioned action plan cites responses to internationalization, and methods of dealing with threats of terrorism, etc. as priority issues based on crime trends, and states that the Immigration Bureau should also make efforts from the standpoint of an agency that administers immigration control. Specifically, the bureau is supposed to carry out the following: (i) ensuring proper residence management by establishing a system to precisely and continuously keep information necessary to manage the residence of foreign nationals; (ii) implementing smooth and strict immigration examination by improving landing procedures based on personal identification information about foreign nationals and upgrading forgery detection devices; (iii) strengthened detection of illegal residents and improved efficiency in forced deportation; and (iv) ensuring effective operation of the new system of residence management to eliminate illegal residents. On the assumption that those efforts will be made, the plan aims to implement various measures to enhance the convenience of foreign nationals legally residing in Japan, including extension of the maximum period of stay and review of the re-entry permit system.

## Section 3 ☐ Daily Life Support for Foreign Nationals through the Establishment of Comprehensive Consultation Counters

With the advance of internationalization, the number of foreign nationals living in Japan as of the end of 2008 has increased to about 2,220,000 by 47% compared to the end of 1998, ten years ago (see Chart 12, Chart 13). As seen from the greater diversification of foreign residents' nationalities and an increasing tendency in the percentage of “permanent resident” among all registered foreign residents, diversification and settlement of foreign nationals have accelerated. From a perspective of countermeasures against crime by foreign nationals, the “Action Plan
for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime 2008" emphasizes that it is important and effective to create an environment that does not allow a crime by foreign nationals to occur even before it is committed, and to take preventive measures against crime. The plan is based on the recognition that fundamental measures against crime by foreign nationals should contain stricter and more effective implementation of residence management and a crackdown on illegal acts, as well as the creation of a society in which foreign nationals legally residing in Japan can enjoy the same diverse daily life services as Japanese citizens do, and can comfortably live together with Japanese citizens. Specifically, the provision of daily life support to foreign nationals through the establishment of comprehensive consultation counters is included in the plan as measures to improve a social infrastructure that enables us to achieve multicultural coexistence.

In the light of these circumstances, in cooperation with local authorities in the region where many foreign settlers live, the Immigration Bureau decided to establish a "One-Stop General Information Center for Foreign Nationals", which offers one-stop services, including administrative procedures for entry, immigration, etc., counseling on daily life, and provision of information. It was established in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture on April 1, 2009, and is planned to be established in Tokyo and Saitama Prefectures during the year.

In view of the present worldwide economic recession due to the crisis in world financial and capital markets and the fact that it is seriously affecting foreign settlers, including those of Japanese descent who do not have enough ability to speak Japanese to live in Japan, the Office for the Coordination of Policies on Foreign Residents was established in the Cabinet Office in January 2009. On January 30, 2009, the Cabinet Office formulated the “Immediate (Short-Term) Support Measures for Foreign Residents in Japan”, including improved consultation counters for foreign settlers through the establishment of one-stop information centers, etc. Thus, the Immigration Bureau intends to promote the establishment of one-stop information centers in the future.