Xenophobic row erupts over Africa, Japan scheme

An attempt to promote friendship between Japan and countries in Africa has led to a xenophobic row about migration, reports The Guardian. This after inaccurate media reports suggested the scheme would lead to a ‘flood of immigrants’. The controversy erupted after the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) said this month it had designated four Japanese cities as ‘Africa hometown’ for partner countries in Africa: Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania. The programme, announced at the end of an international conference on African development in Yokohama, will involve personnel exchanges and events to foster closer ties between the four regional Japanese cities – Imabari, Kisarazu, Sanjo and Nagai – and the African nations. Media coverage in the four countries, and Japanese-language references to the articles, have been blamed for triggering an ugly backlash on social media in Japan, along with a wave of angry calls and emails to the Japanese cities’ offices. Some critics appeared to believe that ‘hometown’ status meant that people from the African countries would be given special permission to live and work in their Japanese partner cities. The four cities have received thousands of complaints from confused residents. But Japan’s chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said the claims were baseless. ‘There are no plans to promote accepting immigrants or issue special visas,’ he told reporters.