The government appears to be ready to throw everything behind a belated effort to address the increasingly serious problems Japan's approximately 230,000 Brazilian residents face in areas including education, social welfare and working conditions.
The first concrete evidence of the government's commitment will come Feb. 1, when a government-sponsored symposium in Tokyo discusses ways of coping with problems facing the nation's third-largest foreign community after the Chinese and Koreans.
Government sources say the symposium will be attended by central and local government officials, Brazilian government delegates, academics, representatives of the Brazilian community as well as those from nongovernmental organizations engaged in support activities for Brazilian residents.