The Japanese government denies that it will give up the city of Nagai to a country in Africa, after speculation caused a wave of indignation

The government of Japan wants to clarify one thing: no, it does not give a gift to Tanzania. Tokyo authorities have faced a true crisis in recent days, after misinformation about a cultural exchange program has caused a public panic, CNN reports.

The controversy began when Japanese authorities announced last week a new initiative under the aegis of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which collaborates with global partners such as climate change and health.

The new program has designated four cities from different Japanese prefectures as symbolic “cities” for partner countries in Africa: Mozambic, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania.

Through exchange events and volunteers sent abroad, the program aims to approach the challenges that Africa faces, also revitalizing local communities in Japan, many of whom face their own economic and demographic decline issues.

But soon the misinformation began to circulate, some reports in the local African media leaving “the false impression that … the city of Nagai in the Prefecture of Yamagata would become part of the state of Tanzania,” Jica said in a statement on Monday.

The city of Nagai has a population of approximately 26,000 people, according to the last census, and an area of ​​214 square kilometers.

The Nigerian government also amplified the agitation, saying on Friday, in an announcement (meanwhile deleted) that “the Japanese government will create a special visa category for very qualified Nigerians, innovators and talents who want to move to Kisarazu to live and work.”

The reaction of the Japanese public was fast and angry.

The Japanese assaulted the authorities with messages on this topic

The social networks were flooded by viral messages on this topic, with indignant comments that expressed concerns about public safety, the pressure on resources and the fear that immigrants could exceed their residence guaranteed by visas.

The four cities involved in the program woke up overwhelmed by complaints. For example, at Improari, the authorities received about 1,000 emails and 450 phone calls on this topic on Monday, according to the NHK public broadcaster. In other places, the mayors were forced to issue public statements to calm the population.

The Tokyo government was finally forced to intervene, the chief secretary of the cabinet, Hayashi Yoshimasa, organizing a press conference on Tuesday to denote the rumors. He also stressed that, while the program will receive trainees through JICA training programs, they will be temporary and will return to their later origin countries.

“There are no plans to take measures to promote the acceptance of immigrants or to issue special visas for residents of African countries, and the series of accounts and ads on such measures is not true,” the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Japan asked African countries to clarify their own messages

Jica and other authorities urged the partner African governments and the media in their countries to correct the information. Since then, the Nigerian government withdrew its initial announcement and republished a new version on Tuesday, labeled as “correction”, without mention about special visas.

But many social media users are not convinced, some even demanding the abolition of Jica or expressing distrust of the organization's statements.

CNN notes that this new controversy reflects the increasingly strong wave of anti-immigration feelings in Japan-also visible in the ascension of the Popularist Party on the right Sancesito, which has achieved surprising results at the recent parliamentary elections after a campaign with the message “First Japanese”, inspired by Trump's style.

Japan was traditionally strict in terms of immigration and is ethnic and cultural homogeneous. Those who look different-either of foreign ethnicity, or teas-have constantly reported experiences of daily racism, harassment and discrimination, even if they were born in Japan or are Japanese citizens. This is especially true for people with darker skin.

The years of reduced immigration, along with the low birth rate, have left huge goals in the workforce, as the elder population increases, and the young one decreases – which has pushed the government in recent years to look for more international and migrant workers.

To a point, it worked – the population of foreign residents in Japan has increased from 2.23 million to 3.77 million in the last decade, although it represents only 3% of the total population of over 120 million inhabitants.

But the phenomenon has also caused dissatisfaction among the Japanese, who say they are already facing a number of problems that they fear could aggravate-including wages that stagnate, high inflation and high living costs.