As a result, those people who most need quick protection are affected. That's a fundamental problem," Tsuru said. "We haven't caught up with all kinds of recent developments, but we are trying to figure out how we can help those who really need help."
Limited public support for allowing in more displaced people weakened after the November attacks in Paris, "but we do take the criticisms seriously," he said.
To alleviate labor shortages in the construction sector and other industries, the government has expanded a program that brings in foreign technical trainees. The understanding is that those trainees will go home; in reality, many escape the menial, low-paying jobs they are sent to fill, in some cases seeking refugee status. The program is now being reviewed after being criticized as a cover for slave-like labor.
As of the end of 2014, there were 59.5 million individuals forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations, and is on track to exceed 60 million this year for the first time.
During a recent visit, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres appealed to the government to increase the number of people allowed to resettle in Japan, "and especially now to look into the humanitarian admissions of Syrians."
Guterres also urged Japan to improve its asylum system, which many working with refugees say is flawed, and to do a better job of integrating those its accepts into their new communities.
Japan's Refugee Recognition Act does not include war refugees in its narrow interpretation of the international Refugee Convention. That excludes most of the millions fleeing the 5-year-old conflict in Syria, said Eri Ishikawa, who chairs the board of the Japan Association for Refugees, a group that helps asylum seekers with legal issues, food, housing and other needs.