Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka asked the prefecture's personnel commission Monday to eliminate the nationality clause in hiring for most prefectural posts and to allow foreign citizens to be promoted to managerial positions.
Tanaka said the jobs that will continue to be inaccessible to non-Japanese even after the change in the personnel system will include posts in the police force.
If approved, Nagano would be the first prefecture to allow foreign citizens to hold managerial positions in its bureaucracy.
Other prefectures, including Kochi and Osaka, have eliminated the nationality clause for hiring, but they have placed restrictions on promotion to managerial posts in line with the national government's view that only Japanese can hold positions that involve exercising public authority and making public decisions.
According to Nagano's personnel commission, there is a nationality clause for 30 of the 53 types of prefectural government employment, including law-enforcement services.
There is no such clause for the remaining 23 types of work, including posts in the medical and social welfare sectors.