Asia

New Support Center Opens for Foreign Residents in Japan

A demonstration of an interpretation system via videolink is shown to the press at the Foreign Residents Support Center in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on July 6, 2020. / Kyodo

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By Kyodo News 6 July 2020

TOKYO—Japan on Monday opened a new support center in Tokyo for the country’s growing number of foreign residents to give advice on employment, visas, laws and humanitarian issues.

The move comes as the Japanese government shifts toward bringing in more foreign workers under a new visa system launched in April last year in response to an acute labor shortage amid population declines.

The Foreign Residents Support Center hosts the offices of eight public organizations on one floor of a building located in front of JR Yotsuya Station in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward.