ISTANBUL

Japan on Thursday announced the withdrawal of its Africa Hometown project after a wave of misinformation falsely claimed it was meant to bring in African migrants.

Tokyo faced backlash over erroneous reports that the project involved creating a special visa program to attract African workers to ease labor shortages.

Japan stressed that the initiative was not a migration scheme.

The program, run by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), had designated four Japanese cities as hometowns for four African countries, intending to promote cultural and social exchanges through various activities.

"JICA believes that the very nature of this initiative – namely, the term 'hometown' and the fact that JICA would ‘designate’ Japanese local governments as 'hometowns' – led to misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities,” " the agency said in a statement. “JICA sincerely apologizes to the municipalities involved for causing such situation.”

It added that JICA “has never undertaken initiatives to promote immigration and has no plans to do so in the future.”

Following the withdrawal, the agency said it intends to continue supporting efforts to promote international exchanges.