ABOUT US

Purpose of Establishment

Currently, Japan’s demographic structure is characterized by a declining birthrate and an aging population, and the hollowing out of the workforce necessary for the economy is occurring. According to the Census of Population by Age Group, the aging rate is expected to reach 40% by 2025, making the future of the Japanese economy even more uncertain. Under these circumstances, the number of foreigners residing in Japan has been increasing year by year, reaching approximately 2.93 million at the end of 2019. Here in Kitakyushu, as of May 2019, there were 2,730 overseas students, including 1,031 from China, 784 from Vietnam, and 417 from Nepal, and many overseas students are working hard to balance part-time jobs with their studies in order to work in Japan.
The number is increasing every year. I believe that it is important to have a complementary demographic structure between Southeast Asia, where domestic industry has yet to develop and where young, talented students have serious difficulties finding employment, and Japan, where there are few young people and a chronic labor shortage.

I have been involved in the education and daily life of overseas students, and have closely felt the environment they are in and what they are carrying, and have been close to them and supported them. In particular, there is a very high barrier to employment for overseas students, and many schools do not have a platform to support overseas students in their job hunting activities. In many cases, overseas students return to their home countries without being able to find a job, even though they have paid for their arrival in Japan and tuition fees at Japanese language schools, universities, and vocational schools.

Japan is facing a major issue of regional decline due to the declining birthrate and aging population. In order to revitalize and revitalize Kitakyushu City, we believe there is a need to discover new values and build connections and new communities. It is also important to expand local and multigenerational exchanges with people of many different nationalities and to foster new ways of thinking and values in the children who will be the leaders of the next generation as we move toward a global Japan.

When I think about the future of Japan and the creation of local communities, I would like to lead to measures to revitalize shopping malls and tourist attractions in a multicultural environment.
We have also decided that we would like to develop from Kitakyushu to the rest of the country as an organization that provides support to foreign students who want to work in Japan, including support for acquiring the qualifications for the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which were established to address the serious shortage of human resources in Japan, as well as support for recruiting activities.