A cross-party group of lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a draft version of what would become Japan's first-ever law defining the government's responsibility to systematically promote Japanese language education both at home and abroad.
The drafting of the bill comes as Japan experiences a continued increase in non-Japanese residents, including under categories such as technical intern trainees, students, and highly skilled professionals, but at the same time lacks a unified policy as to how to teach them Japanese.
The group hopes to submit the bill to the fall session of the Diet for possible enactment, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Hiroshi Hase, secretary-general of the group, told The Japan Times.