Xenophobic outrage results from an attempt to pair Japanese cities with African nations.

After inaccurate media reports claimed the plan would result in a “flood of immigrants,” an effort to foster friendship between Japan and African nations has devolved into a xenophobic dispute over migration.

The dispute started when the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, announced last month that it had chosen four Japanese cities—Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania—as “Africa hometowns” for its African partner nations.

The initiative, which was unveiled at the conclusion of an international conference on African development in Yokohama, would include events and personnel exchanges aimed at strengthening links between the African countries and the four regional Japanese cities of Imabari, Kisarazu, Sanjo, and Nagai.

A flood of irate calls and letters to the offices of Japanese cities, as well as an unpleasant backlash on social media in Japan, have been attributed to media coverage in the four nations and allusions to the stories in Japanese.

Some detractors seemed to think that having “hometown” designation would grant African nationals unique rights to reside and work in their partner cities in Japan.

“If immigrants come flooding in, who is going to take responsibility?” said one social media post.

One post on X claiming that Kisarazu was “seriously considering handing over the city to Africans” attracted 4.6m views.

The four cities have received thousands of complaints from confused residents. “Our team of 15 officials spent a whole day handling hundreds of phone calls and thousands of emails from residents,” an official in Sanjo told Agence France-Presse. According to the official, since Monday, the town has received 350 phone calls and 3,500 emails, while Imabari has gotten 460 calls and 1,400 emails from locals inquiring about if the town has implemented a new immigration policy.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said the claims were baseless. “There are no plans to promote accepting immigrants or issue special visas,” he told reporters.

The cities also attempted to set the record straight. The mayor of Kisarazu, Yoshikuni Watanabe, pointed out that the city had hosted Nigerian athletes during the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, adding that project would not lead to “accepting migrants”.

He added: “Our initiatives will involve cooperating in the education of young people based on discipline through baseball and softball, and it’s not a programme that will lead to relocation or immigration.”

The mayor of Sanjo, Ryo Takizawa, said in a statement: “It is not true that the city has requested to accept migrants or immigrants from Ghana, and the city has no plans to make such a request in the future.”