Kirk here. The other day I introduced a short (about one minute) video about this meeting with the mayor. This video is over four minutes long. If you understand Japanese you can hear some astute comments by the participants directly. (I may add some notes in a comment later, if I have time.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raHOior1wIU

In addition to this YouTube video, here’s a text article that has come out recently:

https://news.goo.ne.jp/article/asahi/nation/asahi_region-ASRC70076RC3TLVB001.html

And here’s a ChatGPT 4.0 translation:

—- start translation —-

The article is titled “Multilingual Support Still Insufficient: Kumamoto Mayor, Dialogue Meeting with Foreign Citizens” and was published on November 7, 2023, at 10:00 by Asahi Shimbun Digital.

The dialogue meeting “Let’s Talk More with the Mayor!” was held on the 3rd at the Kumamoto City International Exchange Hall (Chuo Ward) to hear the opinions of citizens of foreign origin and to use them as a reference for Kumamoto city administration.

As of the end of September, 8,685 foreign-born residents were registered in Kumamoto City, doubling over the past decade and exceeding 1% of the city’s population. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) moving into the neighboring Kikuyo town, the number is expected to increase. Fifteen people who had moved from Asia, Europe, and Africa participated in the dialogue meeting.

Many mentioned the low cost of living, the richness of nature, and the delicious food as comfortable aspects of living there. On the other hand, there were many voices of concern and calls for improvement to the city.

An Indonesian man said, “I can’t eat pork due to religious reasons. The school understands, but they refuse to let me bring an alternative dish for my child’s school lunch.”

A Malaysian man mentioned, “My name is about 30 characters in Katakana notation. It’s an average length in my home country, but often cannot be registered in Japan.”

A Taiwanese woman expressed, “When I came to Japan, I could hardly speak Japanese and had trouble with the moving-in procedures. If only it could be done in English.”

A Nepalese man suggested, “Can’t the city bulletin include features and interviews about foreign cultures? It would greatly reduce anxiety and prejudice.”

Kumamoto City had intended to revise its basic autonomy ordinance to clearly include “persons with foreign nationality” in the definition of citizens, but faced many opposing opinions through public comments and had to give up on the idea.

Mayor Kazufumi Onishi explained, “It doesn’t change the fact that foreigners were originally included in the definition. You are all comrades. We will resolve misunderstandings through repeated dialogue.” He also said, “I thought we had been advancing multilingual support, but I realized it is still insufficient. We will start making improvements immediately where we can.” The article is by Kikuma Morikita.

—- end translation —-