Abstract
In Japan, globalization, aging, and a declining birthrate are simultaneously in progress. As a result of these phenomena, increase in the future population of foreigners and diversification in their composition have become more natural eventualities for the Japanese.
However, the consciousness toward foreigners in Japan has worsened, and both the government and the academics have no effective measures to improve the situation. This paper deals with administrative measures that can improve the consciousness toward foreigners in Japan.
Based on national statistics and my questionnaire survey that compared municipalities that are home to foreign-born residents and where many Russian sailors land, the following facts became apparent: the lack of communication between foreigners and Japanese and the negative influence of the media have elevated the uneasiness and prejudices against foreigners.
With reference to the abovementioned facts, this paper examines the governmental policies by analyzing literature. In addition, by interviewing executive officers, the paper examines the governmental policies with regard to five municipalities in Hokkaido; these municipalities have many contacts with foreigners.
The analysis revealed three problems. First, municipalities in Japan do not generally have a standard for cross-cultural understanding. Second, there is no post to taking care of cross-cultural understanding measures. Third, there are no official rules concerning the education of cross-cultural understanding.
Cross-cultural understanding is the common issue in all the three problems. However, with regard to this, the Japanese government depends entirely on the initiatives of municipalities and nongovernmental organizations. Furthermore, the government has been negligent in giving the most basic instructions to the municipalities or in setting fundamental standards to facilitate cross-cultural understanding. If the government does not set a standard or cope with every situation that arises, it would be difficult to improve the feeling of hostility toward foreigners in Japan.
