更新日：平成24年5月7日

 Multiculturalism in Shizuoka Prefecture

Contents:

• News Bulletin
• Information for Foreigners
• Foreigners in Shizuoka
• Best of Shizuoka
• Essential Daily Life Information
• Interesting Facts
• Scheduled Testing for Radioactive Elements in Agricultural, Livestock and Fishery Products
• Cabinet Office links to official information for foreign residents
• About the CIR

 News Bulletin:

The Multicultural Affairs Department of the Shizuoka Prefectural Government manages a Facebook page (click here) where information about events, news, or items of interest are periodically broadcast. This news bulletin section hosts the most recent three posts of information published, so as to allow visitors without Facebook to be kept updated.

May 7th, 2012:

When living in a foreign country, it is essential to obey all the laws of that country, regardless of if they differ from ones own country. To assist you with learning the laws of Japan, the Ministry of Justice maintains a Japanese Law Translation website. On this website you can find extracts from various laws translated into English, with more being added all the time. Check it out at www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/?re=02

April 23rd, 2012:

Do you want to get out and enjoy this warm spring weather but not sure what to do? Shizuoka Prefecture boasts a large number of beautiful golf courses, with stunning natural scenic backdrops. Golf courses can be found scattered all over the prefecture, with course fees starting as low as 6000 yen. Check out www.golf-shizuoka.com for an abundance of information about golfing in Shizuoka, all in English!

April 19th, 2012:

Do you have a passion for plants? This weekend the Numazu Goyotei Memorial Park will play host to gardening and local produce markets, greenery classrooms and displays, a plant auction and lottery and much more! What’s more, the first few people to the event location will be rewarded with free topsoil and/or bark compost! To get there, take a bus to “Goyoteimae” (御用邸前) bus stop from JR Numazu Station.

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  Information for Foreigners

“Information for Foreigners” is a radio show broadcast every week on K-MIX and 8:53pm on Fridays. Topical, relevant or useful information is summarized in an approximately 1 minute broadcast aimed at the English speaking community of Shizuoka.. Below are links summarizing the “Information for Foreigners” broadcasts from the last 10 weeks.

• 4 May, 2012: Greenery Day and Children's Day
• 27 April, 2012: Golden Week
• 20 April, 2012: Donating Blood
• 13 April, 2012: New Tomei Expressway
• 6 April, 2012: Cherry Blossom Viewing
• 30 March, 2012: Shizuoka Festival
• 23 March, 2012: Personnel Transfers
• 16 March, 2012: Drunk Driving
• 9 March, 2012: Earthquakes
• 2 March, 2012: Vehicle Registration

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 Foreigners in Shizuoka

Did you know that as of Dec. 2010 there were 86,158 foreigners registered in Shizuoka Prefecture?
The table below outlines the changes in foreigner population of the most presented countries over recent years, and since 1988.

	Total Reg.	Brazil	China	Philippines	N・S Korea	Peru
1988	15,786	2,293	1,254	2,100	7,813	199
1998	56,732	31,329	4,024	4,817	6,965	3,800
2008	103,279	48,586	10,480	10,532	6,786	6,342
2009	93,499	42,625	13,655	12,548	6,402	6,159
2010	86,158	36,706	13,458	12,541	6,335	5,688
% of 2010	100%	42.6%	15.6%	14.6%	7.4%	6.6%

City Name	Registered Foreigners	City Population	Percentage(%)
Hamamatsu	25,392	798,638	3.18
Shizuoka	8,331	714,122	1.17
Iwata	6,893	167,266	4.12
Fuji	5,011	253,773	1.97
Kakegawa	4,150	115,753	3.59
Numazu	3,744	200,252	1.87
Fukuroi	3,369	85,009	3.96
Kosai	3,310	59,704	5.54
Kikugawa	3,162	46,821	6.75

 Best of Shizuoka

Did you know that Shizuoka is the best in Japan and even the world at many things?

Shizuoka has the:   Tallest mountain in Japan with Mount Fuji at 3,776m
                            Deepest bay in Japan with Suruga Bay at 2,500m
                            Highest manufacturing volume of Green Tea in Japan at 42%
                            Only place that Sakura Shrimp and the Japanese Giant Spider Crab (2-3m in length!) can be caught.
                            Greatest piano and photomultiplier tube production in Japan at 100%

To find out more about just how great Shizuoka is, check out My Shizuoka, the Best of Japan.

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 Essential Daily Life Information

This section will play host to various kinds of useful information for living a happy, healthy life in Shizuoka Prefecture.

• Quick guide to Japanese Customs and Etiquette.
• NTT Dengon Dial Service.
• Toukai earthquake preparedness information.
• List of hospitals in Shizuoka City offering foreign language services.
• Information regarding the new residency management system.
• Japanese law translation service.

The Shizuoka Association for International Relations has also collected information about a wide-variety of topics that are essential in your every day life. Everything you need to know from visa processes to paying taxes can be found at the link below.

Useful Information for your Daily Life (English).

The daily life guides can also be found in Portuguese and Japanese.

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 Interesting Facts

Here are some interesting and fun facts to help you get to know more about Shizuoka:

・　　Shizuoka has the 10^th largest population in Japan
・　　24% of the population is over the ages of 65
・　　Shizuoka has the 8^th highest marriage rate and 27^th highest divorce rate in Japan
・　　The average yearly temperature is 17.2C versus the national average of 15.8C
・　　Shizuoka is the 13^th largest prefecture
・　　The life expectancy for men is the 6^th highest in the country, and for women, the 16^th highest.
・　　Shizuoka boasts the most hotels or Ryokan in Japan, and the 4^th most onsens.
・　　222 million liters of alcoholic beverages are consumed annually in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Source: Statistics Usage Division (2009)

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 Scheduled Testing for Radioactive Elements in Agricultural, Livestock and Fishery Products

Information about the scheduled testing for radioactive elements in agricultural, livestock and fishery products can be found at the link below

http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/kousei/ko-510/seiei/documents/_notes/scheduledenglish.html

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 Cabinet Office links to official information for foreign residents

The Cabinet Office has compiled a list of official links for foreign residents regarding the Tohoku earthquake.

　http://www8.cao.go.jp/teiju-portal/jpn/index.html (Japanese)

　http://www8.cao.go.jp/teiju-portal/eng/index.html (English)

   http://www8.cao.go.jp/teiju-portal/port/index.html (Portuguese)

  Links will be updated as needed.

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 About the CIR

Mark Simpson is the Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) catering in particular for the English speaking community of Shizuoka. After graduating university in New Zealand with a Bachelor of Science, he got a position on the JET Programme as an ALT, and taught English at Mishima Chouryou High School, in Mishima, Shizuoka, for one year. From summer 2011 however, he transferred to the role of prefectural CIR within the JET Programme and began work at the Multicultural Affairs Division of the Shizuoka Prefectural Government.

Very simply put, the Multicultural Affairs Division exists to look after the foreign population with Shizuoka Prefecture, and to help put plans and procedures in place to allow foreigners to blend into Japanese society. As well as in-house native English checking and translations, Mark travels to primary schools and gives presentations in Japanese about New Zealand and other foreign countries to try and raise global awareness in the youth of Japan. He also hosts a radio show on K-MIX, supervises a Facebook page, and maintains this website, all in an attempt to help get important or useful information out to the people interested in, and residents of Shizuoka Prefecture.