Japan Begins Survey over Nationality of Public Housing Residents

Tokyo, Jan. 23 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s land ministry said Friday that it has been looking into whether local governments nationwide are aware of the nationalities of residents living in public housing. The ministry will compile the survey results as early as February. It will issue a notice to municipalities within fiscal 2025 asking them to check the nationality of new residents. The survey comes as some local governments confirm the nationalities of foreign residents while others do not. Identifying the dominant nationalities of foreign residents will help officials address challenges such as etiquette awareness and disaster response, ministry officials said. Launched on Jan. 6, the survey covers prefectural and municipal governments across the country but does not ask for the number of foreign residents. The forthcoming notice will instruct local governments to ensure that emergency contact numbers for foreign residents belong to those who understand Japanese. The ministry is considering finding the total number of foreign residents of public housing in Japan. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]