Tokyo (EFE).- Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday instructed her cabinet to draft a plan to review immigration and tourism regulations by January, aiming to achieve zero illegal residents, align visa costs with other major powers, and raise taxes on international tourism.
The request coincided with the first cabinet meeting held on Tuesday to discuss immigration policies under Takaichi’s leadership.
She took office two weeks ago and has advocated for building a “harmonious society” in Japan, addressing recent concerns among Japanese citizens in the current context of increasing foreign residents and a booming domestic tourism industry.
Japanese government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said at a press conference that the meeting was convened to strengthen the functioning of the government and “build a safe, secure, orderly, and inclusive society for the people and foreigners living in our country,” local news agency Kyodo reported.
The document published by the government after the meeting acknowledges the need for tourism and foreign labor in certain sectors, given the rapidly aging population and low birth rate, but points to the existence of “illegal actions” and violations of regulations by some foreigners, which have led to an atmosphere of unease and insecurity among the population.
The document also instructs the relevant agencies to submit proposals for the coming year to strengthen immigration controls in order to achieve “zero illegal residents” in the country “while keeping a distance from xenophobia,” as well as to tighten inspections of residency statuses and raise current visa requirements, categories, and costs to levels comparable with other major economies.
The implementation of such measures could translate in practice into restrictions on the entry of foreigners into the country.
Furthermore, in order to address the problems related to overtourism, Takaichi ordered consideration of an increase in taxes linked to international tourism and urged the promotion of areas with lower tourist concentration to encourage a regional dispersion of visitors.
Japan is experiencing a tourism boom. During the first nine months of the year, the number of foreign tourists arriving in the country exceeded 30 million, a record figure for that period. EFE
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AloJapan.com