On February 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) held a special Workshop in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, in cooperation with co-organizers the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Shinagawa Ward, and with support from the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR).
Mr Yoji Muto, State Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr Takeshi Hamano, Mayor of Shinagawa Ward, provided opening remarks at the beginning of the Workshop. Mr Muto explained that creating an environment that enables foreign nationals to work effectively at Japanese firms is an urgent issue for maintaining the vitality and creativity of Japanese firms and Japan’s economy and society as a country faced with an aging population and low birthrates. Mr Muto also added that ”employment” forms the foundation to everyday life, and is a key to the acceptance and integration of both newly-arrived foreign nationals and foreign nationals already living in Japan, and that he hoped that the Workshop would serve as a venue for sharing valuable perspectives and opinions and provide an opportunity to consider formats for Japanese firms that are suited to a globalized society.
Following the opening remarks, Amb. William Lacy Swing, Director General of IOM, delivered a keynote speech. After presentations by Japanese and foreign experts on human resource management at global companies, a panel discussion took place among Japanese people and foreign nationals working at Japanese and foreign-capital companies. The panel discussion reviewed from a variety of angles the current situation and measures necessary for the creation of a workplace environment that will enable foreign nationals already active in Japan (particularly foreign nationals employed as highly-skilled human resources) to work effectively, and following permits have been particularly underlined:
- communications efforts by supervisors, co-workers, etc.
- clear explanations on the firm’s strategy about career path, human resources development for its employees
- to respect individuals and to develop a flexible scheme
- such ”inclusion” creates between work place environment not only for foreign nationals employees but also for Japanese.
