In the nearly 10 years since its establishment, the Kawasaki City Representatives Assembly for Foreign Residents, an advisory body to the mayor made up of non-Japanese residents, has been largely successful.

As the country's only foreign residents' panel established by ordinance, residents and those involved in the assembly alike say it has helped reflect foreigners' needs in local administration, for example by taking on the issue of housing discrimination.

But the problems facing foreign residents continue to multiply and the assembly's work is far from over, they added.