Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied creating special visas for Nigerian immigrants seeking to live and work in Kisarazu, stating that President Bola Tinubu’s administration misrepresented the facts regarding the JICA Africa Hometown initiative, which was launched to improve bilateral relations between Japan and select African countries.

A director of information at the State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, on Friday, announced that Japan would soon begin issuing special visas to “highly skilled, innovative, and talented young Nigerians who want to move to Kisarazu to live and work”.

Mr Oladunjoye said the move was aimed at fostering economic ties between the two nations, following Japan’s designation of Kisarazu as a hometown for Nigeria.  

At the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9), other Japanese cities, such as Nagai, Sanjo, and Imabari, were named hometowns of Tanzanians, Ghanaians, and Mozambiquans, respectively.

“Artisans and other blue-collar workers from Nigeria who are ready to upskill will also benefit from the special dispensation visa to work in Japan,” he stated.

However, the Japanese government stated that the special visa reports were “not true”.

“There are no plans to take measures to promote the acceptance of immigrants or issue special visas for residents of African countries, and the series of reports and announcements concerning such measures are not true,” Japanese authorities said in a statement on Monday.

The foreign government clarified that the designation of hometowns was only to “promote exchanges between the four Japanese cities and the four African countries through various activities”, which does not include the issuance of special visas.