山脇　啓造

　本日は、日本における外国人材の受入れと地域社会、そして「秩序ある共生社会」の形成に向けて、これまでの経緯と現在の課題を整理しながら、今後何が必要かをお話ししたいと思います。

国民の不安は「人数」よりも「設計」の問題

　最初に確認したいのは、現在日本の各地に広がっている不安や摩擦を、どのように理解したらよいかという点です。日本ではこの3年間で外国人住民が約100万人増加しました。これほど急速な変化は、どの社会にとっても摩擦を生みます。しかし、より本質的な問題は、その現実に見合う制度の設計が十分に整えられてこなかったことではないでしょうか。
　日本は1990年代以降、外国人労働者の受入れを本格的に拡大してきました。当初は日系人の受入れから始まり、その後、技能実習生や留学生、そして近年では特定技能制度へと形を変えながら、実質的に外国人労働力への依存を深めてきました。その結果、製造業、建設、介護、農業、宿泊業など基幹産業の多くが外国人材なしには成り立たない状態になっています。例えば、愛知県や静岡県では、製造業に従事する外国人労働者の数がここ数年で大きく増加しており、地域の自動車関連産業や食品加工業などを支える重要な存在になっています。茨城県や長野県などの野菜産地、北海道の酪農・畑作、各地の水産加工業でも、外国人材への依存が高まっています。

言説と現実のギャップ

　日本政府はこれまで、「移民政策はとらない」という立場を基本としてきました。一方で、日本で暮らす外国人は大きく増加し、地域に定住し、生活者として暮らすことが広がってきたのも事実です。その結果、日本社会は、制度上の位置づけと実態との間に一定のズレを抱えながら、多様な人びとが共に暮らす社会へと移行してきました。
　このような言説と現実のずれのもとで、外国人住民の定住や生活を支える日本語教育、住宅、学校、医療、相談体制といった基盤が、十分に制度として整えられてこなかったため、その対応の多くが自治体や地域の現場に委ねられる形となってきました。
　この構造の中で、自治体は非常に難しい立場に置かれてきました。企業は人手不足を背景に外国人材を受け入れます。外国人の方々は地域で生活を始めます。しかし、外国人材の受入れと地域での生活を一体的に支える国の仕組みが十分に整っていないため、学校、ゴミ出し、近隣トラブル、医療など、あらゆる問題が自治体の窓口に集中します。例えば、ゴミ出しのルールひとつとっても、誰が、いつ、どの言語で説明し、問題が起きたときに誰がフォローするのかが、必ずしも明確ではありません。その結果、「外国人が増えて不安だ」「ルールが守られない」「不公平だ」といった感情が地域に蓄積していきます。これは、外国人そのものへの反発というよりも、「きちんと管理されていない受入れ」への不信ではないでしょうか。
　自治体の現場からは、次のような声が聞かれます。「日本語がほとんど話せない子どもが短期間のうちに転入してくる一方で、日本語指導の教員や支援員の配置が追いつかず、担任が通常の授業と日本語指導を同時に抱えざるを得ない。」「夜間や救急の医療現場では、専門の医療通訳を即座に確保することが難しく、多言語音声翻訳アプリや機械翻訳ツールに頼らざるを得ない場面が少なくない。」。こうした状況が、自治体職員や教員、医療従事者、そして地域住民の負担感につながっています。

「秩序ある共生社会」とは

　ここで重要なのが、日本政府が掲げる「秩序ある共生社会」という考え方です。私は、秩序とは排除や単なる管理のことではなく、「役割と責任が明確である状態」だと考えています。IOMをはじめ国際社会が強調しているのは、「外国人を受け入れるなら、その統合を社会として支える責任を引き受ける」という視点です。「秩序ある共生社会」とは、外国人が日本社会に適応するために、企業、自治体、国がそれぞれ何を担うのかが明確になっている社会ではないでしょうか。
　まず、受入れ企業の役割が極めて重要です。外国人材を雇用するということは、単に労働力を確保することではありません。住居の確保、日本語学習の支援、職場のルールや生活習慣の説明など、その人が社会に入っていくための入口を企業がどう用意するかが、その後の定着を大きく左右します。さらに重要なのは、雇用の開始時点だけでなく、その後も外国人材が地域で生活を続けていく過程において、企業が自治体や地域と連携しながら、継続的な支え手として関わっていくことです。職場と地域をつなぐ存在としての企業の役割は、外国人材の定着と地域の安心感の双方にとって欠かせません。
　次に、自治体の役割があります。学校、医療、福祉、防災、地域活動など、日常生活のほとんどは自治体の範囲にあります。外国人住民が孤立せず、地域の一員として生活できるかどうかは、自治体の体制と工夫にかかっています。実際、日本の多くの自治体は、国の制度が十分でない中で、独自の多文化共生施策を積み重ねてきました。
　こうした企業や自治体の現場の努力があってこそ、外国人材は地域で働き、生活することができています。だからこそ、これらの取り組みを一過性の工夫に終わらせず、全国的に持続可能な仕組みにしていくために、国がそれを支える枠組みを整えることが重要になります。日本語教育、定住支援、子どもの教育支援、全国共通の基準づくりは、本来、国が制度として整えるべきものです。2018年以来、国の取組みは大きく進展していますが、まだ十分とは言えません。今のままでは、自治体にも住民にも過大な負担をかけることになります。
　日本政府も現在、外国人住民が日本語や社会のルールを体系的に学ぶための「社会包摂プログラム」の検討を始めています。この構想は、学びの機会を制度として保障するという意味で大きな前進であり、共生の基盤になりうる取り組みです。その内容を、自治体や企業による生活支援とどのように結びつけ、全国共通の基準として設計できるかが、今後の重要な課題となります。

国際的な経験

　諸外国を見ても、多くの国が明確な枠組みを示しています。ドイツでは、連邦政府が言語教育と職業訓練を行っています。企業は職業訓練の受け入れ先として協力しています。カナダでは、定住支援を国家が財政的に支えています。韓国でも、結婚移民や外国人労働者を対象とした国家レベルの統合プログラムが整備されています。ドイツの統合コースでは、600時間の語学教育と100時間のオリエンテーションコースが提供され、費用の大部分は連邦政府が負担します。カナダでは、連邦政府が定住支援機関に財政支援を行い、言語教育、就労支援、地域定着支援を一体的に提供しています。韓国の社会統合プログラムでは、レベル別の韓国語教育と韓国社会の理解を深めるプログラムを修了すると、永住許可や帰化申請時の優遇措置が受けられる仕組みになっています。

結論

　諸外国の取り組みに共通しているのは、「外国人を受け入れるなら、社会として責任をもって支える」という考え方です。日本に今求められているのも、この発想ではないでしょうか。「秩序ある共生社会」とはただ管理を強化することではなく、国・自治体・企業それぞれの役割を明確にし、相互に連携しながら、外国人を社会の構成員として支える仕組みを整えることです。外国人材の活力を生かしながら、国民の安心と地域の安定を守るためには、既存の政策を基に、受入れの制度設計をきちんと行うことが不可欠です。本日の議論が、その実現に向けた建設的な一歩となることを願い、私の基調講演といたします。

＊本稿は、2026年2月4日に外務省と国際移住機関の共催で実施された「外国人の受入れと社会統合のための国際フォーラム」における基調講演の原稿に、若干の加筆修正を加えたものです。

Foreign Workers and Local Communities: Towards an "Orderly and Cohesive Society"

Yamawaki Keizo

　Today I would like to talk about foreign workers in Japan, local communities, and how we can move toward what is called an "orderly and cohesive society," by looking at where we stand today and what challenges we face.

Public concerns are shaped more by design than by numbers

　Let me begin by emphasizing one important point. Public concerns and tensions currently observed in many parts of Japan are not simply the result of an increase in the number of foreign residents. Japan has experienced a very rapid increase in its foreign population--nearly one million in just three years― bringing the total number of foreign residents to approximately 3.96 million as of June 2025. Such a pace would generate friction in any society. However, the more fundamental issue lies in the fact that institutional design has not kept pace with this reality.
　Since the 1990s, Japan has steadily expanded the admission of foreign workers. It began with people of Japanese descent, and later included technical intern trainees, international students, and more recently workers under the Specified Skilled Worker program. As a result, many key industries--manufacturing, construction, caregiving, agriculture, and hospitality--now depend heavily on foreign workers. For example, in prefectures such as Aichi and Shizuoka, the number of foreign workers employed in manufacturing has grown significantly in recent years, and they have become an essential part of local automobile-related industries and food processing. In major vegetable-producing areas such as Ibaraki and Nagano, as well as in dairy and crop farming in Hokkaido and in fish processing industries in many regions, dependence on foreign workers has also been increasing.

The gap between discourse and reality

　For many years, the Japanese government has maintained the basic position that it does not adopt an immigration policy. At the same time, the number of foreign residents in Japan has grown significantly, and an increasing number are settling in local communities. As a result, Japanese society has gradually shifted toward a more diverse society, while carrying a certain mismatch between its formal policy stance and social reality.
　Under this gap between discourse and reality, the foundations needed to support the settlement and daily lives of foreign residents--such as Japanese language education, housing, schools, medical care, and consultation services--have not been sufficiently institutionalized. Consequently, much of the responsibility has been left to local governments and communities.
　In this situation, municipalities have found themselves in a very difficult position. Companies recruit foreign workers to address labor shortages, and they begin to live in local communities. However, because national frameworks that comprehensively support both the admission of foreign workers and their lives in local communities have not been sufficiently developed, issues related to schools, garbage collection, neighborhood relations, and healthcare tend to accumulate at the municipal level. Even with something as basic as garbage disposal rules, it is often unclear who should explain them, when, in which language, and who should follow up when problems arise. As a result, feelings such as "there are too many foreigners," "rules are not being followed," or "this is unfair" begin to spread. These sentiments are not so much hostility toward foreign residents themselves as a lack of trust in an unmanaged and poorly designed system of admission and settlement.
　Voices from municipalities illustrate these challenges. "Within a short period of time, several children who speak little or no Japanese enroll in our schools, but we do not have enough teachers or support staff for Japanese language instruction, so teachers are forced to handle regular classes and Japanese language support at the same time." "In emergency and night-time medical settings, it is often difficult to secure professional medical interpreters immediately, so staff have no choice but to rely on multilingual voice translation apps or machine translation tools." These situations increase the sense of burden felt by municipal officials, teachers, medical professionals, and local residents.

An "orderly and cohesive society": Clear division of roles and responsibilities

　This brings us to the Japanese government's idea of an "orderly and cohesive society." I understand "order" not as exclusion or control, but as a situation in which roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. IOM and the wider international community emphasize a simple principle: when a society admits migrants, it also assumes responsibility for supporting their integration. An orderly and cohesive society is one in which it is clear what companies, municipalities, and the national government each should do to support the integration of foreign residents.
　First, the role of receiving companies is crucial. Hiring foreign workers is not simply about securing labor. It also involves providing housing, supporting Japanese language learning, and explaining workplace rules and everyday customs. How companies prepare this "entry point" into society has a major impact on whether foreign workers are able to settle successfully. What is even more important is that companies remain involved not only at the initial stage of employment, but also throughout the process by which foreign workers continue to live in local communities, working in cooperation with municipalities and local civic groups as ongoing sources of support. By serving as a bridge between the workplace and the community, companies play an indispensable role in both the settlement of foreign workers and the sense of security within local communities.
　Next, municipalities play a vital role. Schools, medical care, welfare services, disaster prevention, and community activities all fall within the sphere of local government. Whether foreign residents can live as members of the community depends largely on the capacity and ingenuity of municipalities. In fact, many local governments in Japan have built their own multicultural and cohesion policies through trial and error, often in the absence of sufficient national frameworks.
　It is precisely because of these efforts by companies and municipalities that foreign workers are able to work and live in local communities today. That is why it is so important for the national government to create a framework that supports these local initiatives and makes them sustainable on a nationwide basis.Japanese language education, settlement support, education for children, and national standards are all areas that should fundamentally be established as national systems. Since 2018, national efforts in these areas have made significant progress; however, they cannot yet be regarded as sufficient. If the current situation continues, it will place an excessive burden on both local governments and local residents.
　The Japanese government has very recently begun considering a "social inclusion program" that would allow foreign residents to systematically learn Japanese and social rules. This is a significant step forward, as it seeks to guarantee learning opportunities as part of a national system. The key challenge now is how to link this program with the everyday support provided by municipalities and companies, and how to design it as a national standard.

International experience

　Looking at other countries, many national governments have provided a clear framework. In Germany, the national government and companies work together to provide language education and vocational training. In Canada, settlement support is financed by the national government. In South Korea, there are national-level integration programs for marriage migrants and foreign workers. In Germany, the integration course provides 600 hours of language instruction and 100 hours of orientation, with most of the costs covered by the federal government. In Canada, the federal government provides financial support to settlement agencies, which offer language training, employment assistance, and community integration support in an integrated manner. In South Korea, those who complete level-based Korean language education and programs designed to deepen understanding of Korean society under the Korea Immigration and Integration Program can receive preferential treatment when applying for permanent residency or naturalization.

Conclusion

　What these countries share is a common understanding: when a society receives foreign residents, it also assumes responsibility for supporting them as members of that society. This is precisely what Japan now needs. An "orderly and cohesive society" should not be understood as a matter of control, but as one in which the respective roles of the national government, local governments, and businesses are clearly designed and coordinated to support the inclusion of foreign workers as members of society. In order to harness the vitality of foreign workers while maintaining social stability and public trust, the key challenge is how to design appropriate admission and support systems based on existing policies. I hope that today's discussion will be a constructive step toward achieving it.

＊This article is a slightly revised version of the manuscript of the keynote speech delivered at the "International Forum on the Acceptance of Foreign Nationals and Their Integration into Japan," co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the International Organization for Migration on 4 February 2026.