TSU, Japan - A survey asking residents of a central Japan prefecture about whether the local government should continue hiring foreign nationals has been judged "discriminatory" by an advisory panel, a source with knowledge of the matter said Friday.
The survey targeting around 10,000 residents in Mie Prefecture but excluding foreigners living there came after Gov. Katsuyuki Ichimi said the prefecture would begin considering reinstating a Japanese citizenship requirement for its employees to prevent information leaks abroad.
According to the source, a panel of experts that advises the governor said that asking whether the hiring of foreign nationals should continue could encourage further discrimination and mislead respondents.
The panel is expected to submit its conclusions to the governor next week at the earliest, recommending that the results of the survey conducted in January and February not be disclosed, the source said.
Ichimi has said he plans to make a final decision on reinstating the requirement after taking the results of the survey and other factors into account.
In April, a third-generation ethnic Korean man living in the prefecture filed a petition seeking nondisclosure of the results, prompting the expert panel to begin discussions based on Mie's anti-discrimination ordinance.
