As I have announced previously, I have sent the petition as well as the list of supporters and the comments supporters have written to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Justice, and the House of Representatives on July 6. According to the tracking service of Japan Post, it arrived at their designations on July 8.
In the morning of July 6, I was interviewed by a reporter of NHK, and they talked about this petition the same day at “Kokusai Hōdō”, which was aired on NHK BS1 from 10 p.m. Please find the article based on that broadcast under the following link: https://www.nhk.or.jp/kokusaihoudou/archive/2020/07/0710.html
On July 15 I took part in a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, together with Andrej Bekeš, president of the European Association for Japanese Studies, and Carolin Funck of Hiroshima University. I talked about this petition. The main focus of this press conference was on non-Japanese affiliated with Japanese universities (students, professors, and researchers) that are badly affected by the current entry restrictions. So, it dealt with easing the restrictions towards them, but I believe, that easing the restrictions for non-Japanese at Japanese universities is a viable way that leads to the easing of the restrictions for all non-Japanese residents. The recording of the press conference can be found under the following link: http://www.fccj.or.jp/news-and-views/club-news-multimedia/2232-reopening-japan-to-foreign-students-and-scholars-by-andrej-bekes-sven-kramer-carolin-funck.html
Related to this topic, the Japanese Association of National Universities also send a petition to the Ministry of Education, requesting to ease the entry restrictions for non-Japanese affiliated with Japanese universities. It was sent on July 13 and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.janu.jp/news/files/20200713-wnew-youbou.pdf
Many people are active to persuade the government to allow non-Japanese residents to reenter, and it is not just this petition. Let us continue until the government finds a wise and satisfactory solution to this huge problem.
近況報告
前回予告したように、陳情書および賛同者名簿ならびに賛同者によるコメントを7月6日に首相官邸、法務省ならびに衆議院に送りました。郵便の追跡機能によると7月8日に届いたそうです。
7月6日の朝にNHKの記者に取材を受けで、当日の夜10時からNHK BS1の『国際報道』で本陳情書のことは紹介されました。この放送に基づく記事はこちらでございます： https://www.nhk.or.jp/kokusaihoudou/archive/2020/07/0710.html
7月15日にヨーロッパ日本研究協会会長のベケシュ・アンドレ氏と広島大学のフンク・カロリン氏と一緒に日本外国特派員協会にて記者会見に出席し、本陳情活動について話しました。主に大学への影響についての話でしたが、日本の大学に所属外国人（留学生も教員も研究員も）は現在の再入国拒否に特に悪影響を受けていますので、大学関係者に対する緩和は外国人住民各位に対する緩和とつながるのではないかと思います。記者会見の録画は次のリンクにあります： http://www.fccj.or.jp/news-and-views/club-news-multimedia/2232-reopening-japan-to-foreign-students-and-scholars-by-andrej-bekes-sven-kramer-carolin-funck.html
なお、記者会見の内容と似たものとして、国立大学協会は7月13日に大学関係者に対する水際対策の緩和を求める請願書を文部科学省に送ったようです。国立大学協会による請願書は次のリンクにございます： https://www.janu.jp/news/files/20200713-wnew-youbou.pdf
本陳情活動だけでなく、様々な活動が現在進行されている模様です。引き続き目的を果たすまで頑張りましょう。