INTERVIEW: Justice Min. Notes Need to Review Foreigner Policies

Tokyo, March 5 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said in a recent interview that the government must review policies related to foreign nationals amid a surge in the number of foreigners in the country. In Wednesday’s interview, Hiraguchi said that the “situation is direr” compared with when he was state minister of justice from 2018 to 2019. “We will work to optimize various systems that were not based on the premise that many foreigners would reside in the country,” such as immigration and residency management systems, the minister said. Hiraguchi stressed that the proposed policy of giving legal validity to the use of maiden names will “further reduce the number of people who experience inconvenience and disadvantages in social life.” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has instructed ministers to consider allowing married individuals’ official documents to list only their maiden names instead of both their surnames in the family registry and maiden names. Regarding a review of the country’s retrial system, Hiraguchi said that his ministry will swiftly prepare to submit a bill to revise the Code of Criminal Procedure to the ongoing session of parliament. The bill will be based on a report by the Legislative Council, an advisory body to the justice minister, which called for continuing to allow public prosecutors to file appeals against courts’ decisions to start retrials, he said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]