OSAKA -- The Osaka Municipal Government introduced a new guideline May 2 allowing foreigners with permanent residency to engage in virtually all municipal jobs except posts involving policymaking or unilateral decision-making in matters concerning local residents' rights.
Some 5,600 municipal jobs in 276 fields, including public relations, engineering and social welfare services, will be opened to non-Japanese residents, city officials said. Under the new guideline, qualified foreign residents can be promoted to section chief or higher within the specified fields, they said.
Osaka's non-Japanese population numbers about 120,000, or 4.6 percent of the total. As of October, some 110 foreign residents, including municipal college employees, had been hired by the city government.