A Professional consultation for Foreign Residents Was Held
On the ninth of November, (a Saturday), a professional consultation session for foreign residents was held. This consultation session has been conducted via local governments and organizations (which belong to the Tokyo Supporting Network for Foreign Residents) taking turns. In Nakano, we usually have one in this time of the year. Possibly because of the impact of the revision to the Immigration Act, it was a busy session ――nine countries and twenty two cases. The visa was the primary focus on consultation, followed by the issues concerning job and family. Nineteen volunteer interpreters, handling a total of eight languages, helped with the session.
An increasing number of people from overseas settling in Japan prefer to ask questions in Japanese, rather than their native tongues. In response, ANIC has been including Easy Japanese in its interpretations since 2010. The interpreters for Easy Japanese are those who have been teaching Japanese-language teaching volunteers. This year, there was a shortage of Easy Japanese interpreters; it is likely that more will be needed going forward.
