Fukui City Erects Language Barrier

[Mulboyne]

Fukui City has decided that prospective public housing tenants must be able to speak Japanese. Already, the ruling has come under fire from foreign residents and local government officers for being discriminatory. A spokesman for the city says they are responding to residents committees, who have complained about noise and problems over separating garbage. Just this fiscal year, Fukui was promoting multiculturalism in the city's danchis so the rule is seen as a drastic U-turn. It seems some foreign residents have been objecting to the new screening process when making a housing application. Fukui City is the capital of Fukui-ken and is so far the only district in the area to have introduced such a policy. The vice chairman of the prefecture's international programme has criticized the city, saying that foreign residents have the same right of access to government services and, if language difficulties are producing problems, it is the obligation of local officers to provide the necessary support. A spokesman at the Land Ministry wouldn't be drawn directly on the legality of the language policy but indicated that local governments have a degree of autonomy in administering local housing which they are expected to exercise responsibly. Fukui has 1,957 units of public housing of which 75 are currently occupied by foreigners. As of December, city records show 3,917 foreign residents although it's unclear how many of these would be entitled to apply for public housing.

Source (Japanese)

[Doctor Stop]

Fukui City has decided that prospective public housing tenants must be able to speak Japanese.

Fukui City, putting the FU back in Fukui by kicking the FGs out of the city.

[Bucky]

Not too much of a difference with this policy and some English-Only policy efforts in the U.S. There are folks in the U.S. who consult on this issue like this.

Mulboyne your translation doesn't say how many different languages are spoken among the residents. Surely Fukui must have some JET folks bumping around who they could send out to do some outreach or the landlord could meet with the FG residents to work things out.

[Mulboyne]

Surely Fukui must have some JET folks bumping around who they could send out to do some outreach or the landlord could meet with the FG residents to work things out.

Fukui City is the same place which recently saw a series of arson attacks against foreign targets. Given it's location, I don't think English-speaking westerners are a significant part of the foreign population there.

It looks like the prefecture may not be impressed by the city's policy which suggests foreign residents aren't alone in this issue. Since it's public housing, the landlord is the state so it'll be interesting to see whether the Ministry decides to intervene.

[IparryU]

why doesn't japland take a lesson from california DMV?

employ the FGs, make them write all the info in their language, translate all the tests/signs/cautions/warnings/blah and put it into a small book that you can put in your back pocket...

please note that everyone at the DMV gets a bit over minimum wage + benifits... if only japan would cut off some of the old jijis and babas that dont do shit, they could hire like 3 FGs and have them work in the same hole the old foegy did...

they would also probably bitch about the FGs not knowing a high level of japanese, but when their job is done, they wont have to run around the office like a retard trying to figure out what the hell someone wants (minato ward office for example)

prolly wont happen in japland for another 20 years or so.

[Greji]

why doesn't japland take a lesson from california DMV?

Those FGs should just give up on Fukui and go to the USA, where they can be better accommodated.....
[YT]/v/WgOHOHKBEqE?fs=1&]

[Christoff]

Not too much of a difference with this policy and some English-Only policy efforts in the U.S. There are folks in the U.S. who consult on this issue like this.

Mulboyne your translation doesn't say how many different languages are spoken among the residents. Surely Fukui must have some JET folks bumping around who they could send out to do some outreach or the landlord could meet with the FG residents to work things out.

This is not the same at all. The above link speaks to employment, not housing.

[dimwit]

I'm just trying to figure out what kind of foreigners live in public housing. Are we talking about ethnic Koreans? If so than there shouldn't be a language issue anyways. I assume slave/trainee usually reside in company dormatories or at least the one I know about here do. Out here in the sticks, I can't think of anyone living in public housing.

[wuchan]

[dimwit]

[Mulboyne]

Perhaps it's worth pointing out that Fukui City isn't the first or only district to do this. The whole prefecture of Shiga had the same unofficial policy for years. In the early 90s, they decided to make it formal, turning away applicants who arrived with a translator. It was only in 2002 that they abolished the restriction and even produced multilingual manuals.

It might seem that Shiga became enlightened but the truth is probably a little more prosaic. Local employers wanted their foreign workers to have access to cheap housing, because it allowed them to keep salaries low, and I'm sure they had a lot of clout with local officials. Not all public housing is low rent and occupied by the low paid but this is the type at the centre of the matter in Fukui City.

That goes some way to answering dimwit's question. The kind of foreigners who end up in low cost public housing are usually low-paid foreign workers. The Homi danchi in Aichi is particularly well-known for its large Nikkei Brazilian population and is a case study in cultural clash.

One of the difficulties in many danchi, both public and private is that recruitment agencies (haken gaisha) will grab a job lot of units and place foreign workers in them, usually single men. This tends to reduce accountability on all sides which can exacerbate problems.

[Mulboyne]

The Japan Civil Liberties Union presented a formal letter (Japanese PDF) to Fukui City pointing out that their language restrictions constitute a breach of human rights.

[Dreamy_Peach]

Where in the hell is Fukui?

Fuck em - probably a shitty little provincial backwater that no-one has ever heard of, visited or will visit.

[IparryU]

The Japan Civil Liberties Union presented a formal letter (Japanese PDF) to Fukui City pointing out that their language restrictions constitute a breach of human rights.

will they do anything about it though????

most likely, the govt. will just "ask" them to make the proper amendments for the buta kusai gaijin-san and then never follow up on it.

TIJ

[Hikonejou]

I guess the Google Translate APP will come in handy...

[matsuki]

the buta kusai gaijin-san

Now that summer is back to being hot again, the only buta kusai people I keep running into aren't FG....the construction workers are by far the worst. I don't think they ever wash their uniforms

[Mulboyne]

A group in Fukui has started a couple of courses to help foreign residents settle in Japan: traffic regulations and self-defence.

Source (Japanese)