Photo/Illutration A protester holds a placard demanding the cancellation of the African hometown program during an Aug. 28 demonstration at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. (Chika Yamamoto)

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will withdraw its “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative amid an unceasing wave of protests fueled largely by misinformation spread on social media, sources said.

A formal announcement of the unusual reversal is expected on Sept. 25.

The project, which was announced in August and involved the Foreign Ministry, was intended to foster exchanges between four Japanese cities and African nations.

However, the program was mistakenly perceived as a policy to promote immigration from Africa, prompting a backlash in Japan and calls for its cancellation.

“The content of the project is meaningful,” a Foreign Ministry official told The Asahi Shimbun. “Although we are withdrawing it, we will continue to promote international exchanges more actively.”

The Japanese cities and their respective partner nations were: Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture with Nigeria; Nagai in Yamagata Prefecture with Tanzania; Sanjo in Niigata Prefecture with Ghana; and Imabari in Ehime Prefecture with Mozambique.

The brouhaha over the program escalated when the Nigerian president’s office issued a mistaken statement claiming the Japanese government had named Kisarazu as “the hometown for Nigerians willing to live and work,” and that Japan “will create a special visa category.”

Protest phone calls and emails inundated the Japanese municipalities. Demonstrations even called for the dismantling of JICA.

Despite repeated denials from the central and local governments that the program was related to immigration, the protests and criticism continued.

Some of the cities ended up asking the central government for a complete cancellation of the project.

JICA and the ministry reviewed the situation and concluded that the initiative was placing an excessive burden on the local governments.

They also determined that the term “hometown” may have caused the misunderstanding that the initiative was aimed at encouraging immigration.

One senior ministry official expressed concern about the decision to withdraw the project: “It would be problematic if this is seen as a victory on the internet.”

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