The provision of lifestyle support for facilitating the acceptance of foreign researchers in Japan involves a varied number of points of consideration. Support relating to the provision of housing and assistance with medical treatment is particularly important, but because this entails receiving lots of specialist opinions it is important that measures are taken to prevent additional difficulties in the unlikely event of some kind of incident occurring. This is especially the case given that the individuals receiving this support comprise a wide group of people (including researchers, exchange students, trainees and families of these individuals), and the people providing the support also inhabit a range of roles, from the staff members at host research institutes through to volunteers.

In light of these circumstances, this research project identified the potential legal issues in the lifestyle support projects being carried out for foreign researchers, which are expected to only increase and further diversify in future. By carrying out this much-needed advance investigation, important perspectives can be included into the project management and planning.