Overview

• JICA President Akihiko Tanaka announced on Sept 25 that the Africa Hometown initiative will be withdrawn, emphasizing the agency will continue other exchange programs and does not handle immigration policy.
• The scheme paired Imabari–Mozambique, Kisarazu–Nigeria, Nagai–Tanzania and Sanjo–Ghana for cultural and job-training exchanges with no visa or residency provisions.
• A mistaken Nigerian government claim about a “special visa category,” along with confusing reports, seeded false narratives about mass immigration that Japan moved to correct.
• City halls reported being deluged with complaints—reportedly up to about 200 calls a day and thousands of messages—disrupting regular municipal work.
• Viral posts and high-profile commentary, including from Elon Musk, amplified alarm, and editorials now warn the cancellation could damage Japan–Africa relations and set a precedent for policy reversals driven by misinformation.