As Japan considers allowing more foreigners, tiny rural town wants to go further

Filipina Gladys Gayeta, 22, a trainee at Starlite Co. car parts factory, works with her fellow trainee worker in Akitakata, Hiroshima prefecture, western Japan November 28, 2018. Picture taken November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Linda Sieg

AKITAKATA, Japan (Reuters) - Brazilian Luan Dartora Taniuti settled in the remote municipality of Akitakata in southwest Japan when he was nine. Leonel Maia of East Timor has been there nearly seven years. Filipina Gladys Gayeta is a newly arrived trainee factory worker, but must leave in less than three years.

Japan's strict immigration laws mean Taniuti, who has Japanese ancestry, and Maia, who is married to a Japanese, are among the relatively few foreigners the country allows to stay for the long term.