A public-private program has been underway in a Shiga Prefecture city to teach Spanish or Portuguese to children of migrants from Latin America working at local manufacturing plants.

The program in Konan, launched in 2013, started after local officials found many children of Latin American migrant workers who attended local Japanese schools were unable to speak their parents' native languages well.

Classes to teach these languages are held in an old two-story building in a section of the city where many automobile parts and plastic products factories are located.