Japan denies reported special visas for young Africans

At the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD 9, held in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, last week, the Japan International Cooperation Agency named four pairs under its "hometown" project to promote people-to-people exchanges.

Tanzania was paired with Nagai, Yamagata Prefecture, Nigeria with Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, Ghana with Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, and Mozambique with Imabari, Ehime Prefecture.

According to JICA, the project "aims to further strengthen the relationships that each municipality has built with African countries, contributing both to addressing challenges in Africa and revitalizing local communities in Japan."

Based on its know-how accumulated in Africa for over 60 years, JICA hopes to support the Japanese cities, including helping them organize exchange events.

Regarding the project, the Nigerian government released a statement saying that Japan would issue special visas for young Nigerians who want to move to or work in the Asian nation.

The statement was reported by BBC and African newspapers.

This, however, triggered concerns among Japanese social media users, and the four Japanese partner cities were flooded with protests.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said, "We don't assume (the project) would promote the acceptance of immigrants or include the issuance of special visas to partner nations."

JICA also said that reports that "may give the false impression" that Nagai, Tanzania's partner city, would become part of the African country or those "suggesting the promotion of immigration acceptance or the issuance of special visas" are "all factually incorrect."

The four Japanese cities said on their respective websites that the JICA program will not lead to accepting more immigrants.

At the Japanese government's request, Nigeria corrected a related statement on the presidential office's website on Tuesday.