Japan Ichiban! Number One!

Gov’t eyes enrolling foreign nationals in resident registry
Thursday 26th February, 05:45 AM JST

TOKYO —
Japan is considering enrolling foreign nationals living in the
country for more than three months in the nationwide resident
registry system together with Japanese, government sources said
Wednesday. As the government plans to abolish the current alien
registration system in 2012, the ministry previously considered
setting up a separate new registry system for foreign residents but
it eventually decided it would be more efficient to amend the
Japanese resident registry system to include foreign nationals, they
said.

The system will cover Korean residents with special permanent
permission to live in the county as well as foreign nationals staying
in Japan for more than three months, they said. The system would help
local municipalities grasp a precise picture of foreign nationals
living in their areas and provide welfare and education services
equivalent to those of Japanese nationals, according to the sources.

Municipal governments will issue residency certificates and “juki”
network registration cards at the residents’ request. The
certificate would include data on the name, address, sex, date of
birth, nationality, resident status and length of stay.

About 2.15 million foreign nationals are registered to live in Japan
as of the end of 2007, about 1.5 times that of 10 years ago.

© 2009 Kyodo News.