There are about 300,000 people living in the city of Shinjuku. The unique quality of our city is that one out of every 10 resident is from another country. This is the largest percentage of the 23 cities of Tokyo. The differences in the various communities are also great, with such communities as Okubo boasting a percentage of foreign residents of over 40%.
　The number of registered foreign residents rapidly increased from around 1985, and the numbers have continued to increase through the 1990’s, especially foreign residents from China and Korea. Their objectives vary, such as studying, family stays, short-term stays, marriage and permanent residence.
For foreign residents, Shinjuku seems to be a very convenient place to live for those who commute to school or work.
City administration needs to work beyond cultural and language boundaries for foreign residents who live in Shinjuku, such as considering how to establish communication lines and how communities and city government can support these communication lines.
　Improving venues for studying the Japanese language and counseling centers for foreign residents; creating opportunities for mutual exchange and providing information; and establishing cooperative networks with NPOs and related persons for meaningful exchanges of opinions…With these objectives in mind, Shinjuku City opened the Shinjuku Multicultural Plaza on September 1, 2005 and is actively developing programs more than ever before.
　We hope to serve as a foothold to protect the human rights of all people, understand each other’s culture, and create a truly rich society. Our city will continue to communicate the message of working toward multicultural harmony, seeing the fact that there are many foreign residents as our positive image and active characteristic.
　I hope we can continue to look forward to everyone’s understanding and cooperation.