Abstract
Hamamatsu is an industrial city in the western part of Shizuoka Prefecture in which a large number of foreign workers, especially Brazilian workers, are employed in the manufacturing field of transport machinery. As the 2006 and 2010 Hamamatsu surveys have indicated, migrant workers have faced unstable employment conditions. However, three Hamamatsu mayors have pursued multicultural community building policies, which can be classified as follows : dawn （1979―1999）, full―dress evolution （1999―2007） and developmental succession （2007― ）. The SWOT analysis is effective in explaining the multicultural situation in Hamamatsu. The strength of the policies lies in the presence of active NPOs as well as a loose network among the local government, the Board of Education, international associations, and universities. On the other hand, weakness can be observed in the insufficient participation by residents’ associations which have daily contact with migrants, and by companies which employ migrants directly or indirectly. In addition, the lack of collaboration among ethnic organizations can be regarded as another weakness. Xenophobia by Japanese citizens and migrants’ unstable working conditions undermine efforts at multicultural community building. However, the rise of second generation migrants who can link host and ethnic communities provides a hopeful opportunity.
