Protests and misinformation sink Japan's “African Towns” initiative
JICA, the development agency of Tokyo's Foreign Ministry, has been forced to abandon its twinning initiative between four Japanese cities and Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and Mozambique. Perceived as encouraging immigration, it sparked demonstrations and alarm. This is a serious blow to development cooperation in a political climate marked by the rise of the far right.
Rome (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The protests have prevailed. They have been taking place since the end of August in front of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Tokyo's Chiyoda district.
Protesters demanded the abandonment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' ‘JICA African Town’ pilot initiative, which aimed to promote exchanges between four Japanese cities and several African nations. Today, the measure was officially abandoned. Perceived as an attempt to encourage immigration from Africa, it had provoked discontent, mobilisations, and immediate calls for cancellation throughout Japan.
The plan was announced last August. It envisaged twinning between four Japanese cities and four African countries. Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, with Nigeria; Nagai, Yamagata Prefecture, with Tanzania; Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, with Ghana; and Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, with Mozambique.
Opposition to the project grew when Nigeria described Kisarazu as “a cradle for Nigerians willing to live and work”, pointing out that Japan would create a special category of visas for its citizens.
These inaccurate statements were followed by a wave of protest emails and phone calls to Japanese municipal administrations. Among the most extreme demands was the dismantling of the Cooperation Agency itself, as happened in the United States with USAID.
The stated objective of the plan by JICA was instead ‘both to address the challenges in Africa and to revitalise local communities in Japan’. The latter have been crippled by the long-standing problem of an ageing population.
As observers of the phenomenon have noted, discontent has been largely fuelled by misinformation spread on social media. The government has attempted to salvage the core of the initiative, the content of which was described as “significant” by a ministry official who spoke to Asahi Shimbun, emphasising that even with its closure, international exchanges will continue to be promoted “more actively”.
These statements were accompanied by several other denials by the government, which reiterated the absence of links with immigration, despite it being a topic of past initiatives aimed at reviving entire productive sectors in difficulty due to a lack of local labour.
However, this was not enough and the plan was abandoned. One by one, the cities involved in the “JICA African Town” plan asked the government to cancel it completely. Thus, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the ministry, reviewing the situation, concluded that it was placing an excessive burden on local governments.
Although it is considered “problematic” to categorise this step backwards as a victory. This loss of confidence in JICA is, in fact, a serious blow to the Japanese development cooperation agency, which provides support to around 190 countries and today, with the departure of USAID, remains the most important in the world alongside Germany.
The protests are part of a national climate of concern about the influx of foreigners, perceived as a “silent invasion”. This was also demonstrated by the rise of the anti-immigration Sanseito party in last July's Upper House elections, with its “Japanese First” campaign , which originated on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This has eroded the majority led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who announced his resignation on 7 September following an internal crisis within the centre-right, which is now set to choose a new leader. In the last elections, voters preferred the far right represented by the Sanseito party, due to Ishiba's departure from the conservative wing.
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28/01/2022 14:48
31/01/2025 18:13
