일본 광역지자체의 다문화공생정책에 관한 사례연구- 기후현을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper examines the case of Gifu Prefecture in order to examine the roles and functions of municipal governments which are important agents for Japan’s multiculturalism but rarely studied compared to the lower level local governments. Gifu Prefecture made public its policies for multicultural coexistence in 2007 and revised it in 2012 and 2017. It can be seen that the contents have been developed in conjunction with changes in the composition of foreign residents, such as, nationality, visa status and generation. Under such changes, Gifu Prefecture’s multicultural coexistence policies have shown the following characters as a municipal government. First, it plays an important role as a 'middleman' for both bottom-up and top-down policy progress in promoting multiculturalism in the community. In other words, the municipal government plays a role as an organic link between the central government and the lower level local governments. And this indicates that the municipal government os fulfilling what is stipulated in ‘Multicultural Coexistence Report’ and ‘Multicultural Coexistence Plan’ announced in 2006. Second, in addition to administrative agencies, it tries to actively connect with entities that are indispensable for the lives of foreign residents, for example, corporations, hospitals and schools. This is particularly noticeable when the municipal government is able to exercise more appropriate "pressure" than the central government or the lower level local governments. In the case of Gifu Prefecture, the effect is enhanced through solidarity with neighboring municipal governments. This case study of Gifu Prefecture is meaningful as a rudimentary work for understanding the multi- layered nature of Japan 's multicultural coexistence policy and should be developed into more productive discussion thorough other case studies on Japan’s municipal government and international comparative studies.