Discriminatory Online Posts Targeting Foreigners in Mie Prefecture Triple Year-on-Year to 148 in April-June; Ordinance Revision Would Let Prefecture Ask Providers to Delete
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A monitoring survey of online content conducted by Mie Prefecture found that discriminatory posts targeting foreign residents reached 148 during the three months from April to June 2026, roughly triple the 52 recorded in the same period a year earlier, the Chunichi Shimbun reported on October 24, 2026. The trend has been rising steadily: 69 posts in July-September 2025, 82 in October-December 2025, and 116 in January-March 2026, before climbing further in April-June.
The prefecture has conducted the outsourced monitoring survey for about 20 years and says it "requests deletion mainly of posts that violate site administrators' rules." It is also considering revising its ordinance on eliminating discrimination, with a proposal to add provisions enabling it to request that internet service providers delete social media posts that promote discrimination.
Current status: Details on the nature of the posts, how many deletion requests were honored, and when the ordinance revision will be submitted remain unclear as of this writing. This article will be updated as further details emerge.
Amid worsening rhetoric about foreign residents, a research group's proposals on discriminatory rumors during disasters were also reported in September 2026. Related article
Editorial Perspective
The Technical Intern Training Program is set to be replaced by the new Employment for Skill Development system in April 2027 (related article), and developments like this one can be seen as part of the institutional design process during that transition. Expanding acceptance also requires resolving practical issues such as broker problems in sending countries and building proper oversight systems among accepting employers. For the new system to work as intended rather than merely on paper, it will be important to continue examining how it actually operates once implemented.