Japan¡¯s overseas aid agency scrapped an agreement Thursday that had aimed to strengthen ties with Africa after struggling to contain a slew of misinformation about the initiative.

The ¡°hometown¡± agreement, announced by JICA at an African development conference in Yokohama in August, sought to foster exchanges that would help bridge four municipalities in Japan with four countries in Africa.

The municipalities ¡ª the city of Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, paired with Nigeria; Nagai in Yamagata Prefecture, paired with Tanzania; Sanjo in Niigata Prefecture, paired with Ghana; and Imabari in Ehime Prefecture, paired with Mozambique ¡ª already had strong relations.

But the initiative sparked a flurry of online rumors that Japan was planning to accept a large number of immigrants from Africa.

¡°Taking the situation seriously, upon consultations with stakeholders, JICA has decided to cancel the ¡¯Africa Hometown Initiative,¡¯¡± Akihiko Tanaka, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said Thursday.

¡°We emphasize, however, that promoting international exchange, including with Africa, remains an important priority, and pledge to continue supporting such efforts despite withdrawing the Africa hometown project.¡±

JICA said it had been working with the Foreign Ministry to correct the misinformation regarding the agreement, but that the confusion has not settled and continued to cause problems for local municipalities.

¡°We would like to make it clear that JICA has never undertaken initiatives to promote immigration, nor does it have any intention of doing so in the future,¡± Tanaka added.

The confusion intensified when the Nigerian government stated that special visas would be issued for skilled Nigerians to relocate to their counterpart, Kisarazu. Japan denied that such visas would be issued, and the Nigerian government later corrected its statement.

However, this did little to dampen the rumors, with protests being organized for the agreement to be canceled.

The confusion came amid rising anti-immigrant rhetoric in Japan, with the far-right Sanseito party making huge gains on their ¡°Japanese First¡± platform during the July Upper House election.

Earlier this month, major opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai submitted a policy proposal for the government to set a cap on the percentage of foreign residents in the country.

With such trends in mind, Tanaka said Thursday that it was necessary for Japan to continue building positive relations with various countries in order to maintain its place in the international community.

JICA said it is continuing its projects with the belief that they serve Japan¡¯s long-term national interests.