Kyodo via Yahoo: Japanese gov't vows to improve livelihood of foreign residents
The government will map out measures to improve living conditions for foreign residents in Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Thursday. A panel of senior government officials from several ministries and agencies will focus on how foreign workers, their families and longtime residents have led their lives in Japan, he said. At Abe's initiative, the panel will take up various problems facing foreign residents, including economic issues and language and other handicaps their children may face, Abe said. It will also try to ascertain how they have been accepted by local communities, he said. Abe said he has set no time frame but envisages a package of measures, including those to be taken by the business sector and local governments as well as the national government. "Having admitted them into the country, Japan bears a certain degree of responsibility," he said.