Tokyo Foreign Resident’s Support Center

ByJason Gatewood

Tokyo City, Tokyo Metropolis

Jul 29, 2020

Tokyo Foreign Resident’s Support Center

As a foreigner in Japan, dealing with governmental bureaucracy takes a few more steps than you might be used to. Finding information about starting (or relocating) a family and/or business here, or what is needed to navigate the legal system, can be a real challenge. There’s the expected nuance that everything will be written and conducted in Japanese, but also there are things that are very different from the systems we understand; for example, a potential workplace complaint.

Maybe you have a business, and you want to know how to hire other immigrants. What used to involve hours of internet research, phone tag with bureaucrats, and wearing the heels out of your shoes searching for the information in various agencies is, at least in Tokyo, more manageable now that the Tokyo Foreign Residents Support Center has opened in Yotsuya.

Located across the street from Yotsuya station in the literal center of Tokyo, the center combines many different departments of the national government under one roof for convenience and resource sharing:

• Immigration Bureau: Provides information to foreign residents and also companies interested in hiring immigrants.
• Legal Affairs Bureau: Handles cases of discrimination, abuse, and harassment against foreign residents and people with disabilities.
• Japan Legal Support Desk: Provides information concerning the Japanese legal system and provides free consultation on Japanese legal matters, including those in need of financial assistance.
• Labor Bureau: Provides consultation on working conditions for foreign residents as well as information for businesses that employ them.
• Employment Service (Hello Work): Offers support and information on job interviews and internships for international students and people on working visas.
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Provides a place to answer all Japan visa questions.
• Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO): Provides information for professional foreign residents about starting businesses and also introduces small to medium-sized companies that hire professional foreign residents.

Tokyo Foreign Resident’s Support Center

Information on the new center can be found here in English (PDF link).

Address: 13F YOTSUYA TOWER, 1-6-1 Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0004, Japan

Phone: 03-5363-3013

Image via MOJ website – http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/fresc01

Image via Tokyo Foreign Resident’s Support Center website