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In Japan, translation of important information for foreign residents into community languages has occurred for many years mainly at the local government level rather than the national, largely because the national government has been slow to acknowledge Japan’s increasing diversity given the enduring national belief in ethnolinguistic homogeneity. In recent years, however, this has begun to change: although the bulk of the translation activity for foreign residents still occurs at grassroots level through the agency of local government and private organizations, the national government has begun to view such residents as seikatsusha ‘people making their lives in Japan’ rather than as visitors passing through. This article examines the provision of translated multilingual information to newcomer foreign residents in Japanese communities by both local and national government in order to examine this change.
