Gov't to study accepting more highly skilled personnel from abroad

Saturday 10th May, 06:14 AM JST

TOKYO —

The government said Friday it will study measures to keep Japan’s economy growing with the help of foreigners, after a key economic policy panel proposed that the country almost double the number of highly skilled workers from abroad over the coming years. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said he will set up a task force under his cabinet that will considers ways to aggressively support foreigners’ job-seeking efforts and improve their living conditions in Japan.

As of 2006, there were some 158,000 people who entered the country with resident status in such fields as education, art, journalism, legal and accounting services, corporate management, and technology. The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, which advises Fukuda, said the government should press for measures to increase the number to 300,000 by the end of 2015.

Latest 15 of 19 Total Comments Show All

antizombie at 09:44 AM JST - 10th May

Their solution should be preparing better Japanese with real university and professional standards and allowing women to carry out if they want a professional career. On the other hand, I do not think that foreigners that get more info about the real situation of Japan might desire to come to this country knowing that one is only a "guest worker" and Japanese prefer that after the task they would prefer they return to their homeland, the new professional that replaces has to work again from the scratch as well those foreigners that want to raise a family with a Japanese national realize that their rights of citizen are curtailed and society still sees gaijins as strange and potentially dangerous people. Good luck Japan!
some14some at 09:52 AM JST - 10th May

Highly Skilled Personnel: Fully reserved and absorbed by U.S.A. and as i have said Nikkei Jin will be right labor and perfect fit for J-society.
thedeath at 12:45 PM JST - 10th May

"accepting more highly skilled personnel from abroad"

yeah! don't forget to tell them that this working culture have no overtime payment, a lot of stab in the back and employer will look at you just like another xerox machine whenever he push that start button you must work attitude too.

if the skill worker can not "respecting and working with the local culture", people in this culture will just reduce them from skilled worker to just a problem some worker since this culture have no respect for anyone personal/family life!
capone at 01:36 PM JST - 10th May

never happen...if you're coming to asia (and YES japanese people, you are part of asia) why would you pass up HK and Singapore, both of which have a better business/tax/living standard situation than japan does ? Even Kuala Lumpur attracts more foreign skilled workers than tokyo does.
umbrella at 02:22 PM JST - 10th May

capone exactly. There's absolutely no reason why a skilled foreigner would ever have the remotest reason for wanting to come to japan. Why they even consider you a criminal at the airport and demand your fingerprints. Much better places in Asia to go to
GW at 06:45 PM JST - 10th May

adding another 150,000 of us fools who are already here works out to a tiny fraction of 1% of the J-pop, insignificant in the scheme of things Nippon.

And as many others have pointed out there simply aint many reasons for the skilled foreigner to come to Jpn for the long term, plenty cycle in/out & do their 2-3yrs & then move onto better jobs, better lifestyles, Japan is at best a stepping stone for 99.9% of the type of foreigners they seem to be grasping for.

I for one will keep working here but dedfinitely dont want to retire & croak here, only I will do that is if Jpn nose dives severly(& its possible imo) then my savings value might go up enough to life even better off then I am now, then I might stay to the bitter end!
illsayit at 10:33 PM JST - 10th May

I agree with WMD, the incentive to increase births would only take a little push imo, and would create a better lifestyle overall. Though a few foreigners around would also be worth it, especially considering the type of foreigner Japan could attract.

I do not see where womens education has anything to do with foreigners working here???
dw at 10:58 PM JST - 10th May

It really is hard work finding properly 'skilled' workers in Japan. "Thinking out of the box", is a new concept here, and indeed continues to be so.

The Japan based corporate culture (not just limited to Japanese Companies) is to work long hours, but really, many could shorten those hours by focusing more upon being productive within those working hours - for example by simply getting rid of those meetings about meetings... wonders could be achieved.

I completely agree with comments from others above, that there's a social psychology about work and long hours and how this impacts the Population, not leaving before the boss, etc etc that exists predominantly here in Japan. It's all about control here. I wouldn't really be surprised to hear of cases where termination was enacted due to work commitments.

Here in Japan, Elitistism and Racism are rampant. (Elititism also amoungst Native Japanese), Foreigners are deemed ... working class, 2nd/3rd/sub-class citizens, and also we're never allowed to vote - and in the minds of most, are quite simply considered as being the casue of all problems in Japan, ... typified recently by regardless how long you've lived in Japan, you still have to have your figer-prints retaken upon entry as every other temporary newcomer... seems a waste of effort. But, this is the Japanese way... meetings about meetings, etc. etc...

So for the Foreigners, like myself, we're generally more closer-knit that we would be in any other country, even back in our own countries, Since here, regardless of whom we are, we're all in the same boat, facing the same level of Japanese racism here. For that reason alone, I'd recommend that anyone wanting to work in a multi-racial environment, that they should come to Japan first, to appreciate foreignism and understand the issues that foereigners to their own countries, experience. There's nothing better than experiencing the same issues at first hand.
sfg2001 at 06:24 AM JST - 11th May

a) for the fingerprinting. The US does the same, and other countries will fellow sooner or later. b) for the housing problem. In most countries, if you are a foreigner you are in a weak position when searching for an appartment. There are always many valid reasons not to rent to a foreigner. Thats part of the challenge. If you have a problem with that, stay at home. c) not many countries allow foreigners to vote. So if you are not from those countries, shut up. d)In many Japanese companies the internal organization is bad, okay, but in other countries people work much more. In my home country I do not get paid for overtime either.
realist at 03:07 PM JST - 11th May

WMD Brilliant posts! Couldnt agree more with you. Well said! sfg2001 Like it or not, Japan is a very xenophobic, racist country. It is a fact that over 80% of Tokyo Japanese landlords hate gaijin and will not rent their properties to them. Please dont make excuses for downright racism. Its disgusting, anf there is no excuse for it. In other civilised countries like the UK and US, there are laws against discrimination and racism - in Japan, there are none, and its a way of life in this country. Read WMD`s posts for the facts about Japan.

If the J government wants more "skilled foreigners" (what a disgusting term!) then they had better start treating us like human beings, and give us basic human rights. I am one of the "crappy one year contracts" that WMD was talking about, and I also worked for a numnber of years without a pay rise, in the futile hope that they might recognise and reward my hard work. I was exploited, pure and simple. As foreigners here in Nippon, we have virtually NO human rights.
sfg2001 at 05:29 PM JST - 11th May

The ones who complain about "racist" landlord, should at least try to understand the other position. I worked for landlords before in my home country and yes we usually did not rent to foreigners. The reasons are simple. To make contract work and explain everything in English requires a very high level of English ability. Not everyone has this. Also English from diffrent countries is diffrent. That can be tough to understand. Also to translate the documents in a correct way is expensive and requires loots of work. So you ve got much more work, but your return is the same. And in my country not paying the rent is a big problem. As a landlord sooner or later it will hit you. But a foreigner is later much more difficult to track. And in the house where I lived before, there were lots of trouble with foreigners, so they were thrown out.

You can call me or the landlords here racist if you want. But if you should ever become a landlord by yourself, your additude will change overnight and you will understand.
Betting at 05:59 PM JST - 11th May

sfq2001, I completely understand what you're saying, but that doesn't make it right. We're living in a world that should be trying to solve these problems, not that these problems will be solved any time soon. We need to keep at and then keep at. Every country has problems and most countries can be seen to be having a go at solving them. But the only thing that happens here is nothing, they just try to keep the status quo, which never solves anything.
faulkmore at 07:23 PM JST - 11th May

BTW the target for this post is not for worker level people. It's targetted at people who can apply their skills in a way that results in employment of others. How are these people supported by the Japanese gov't? How does the current gov't intend on improving these support programs? How much is the funding increase, that is all anybody needs to see advertised in the media...

Have noticed that most articles of this sort only say, "Japan gov't is talking about bring in more foreigners", but does not say how they intend on attracting these foreigners. So here are a few questions for the J gov't...

Is the J gov't talking about attracting workers or foreigners that can apply their skills to employ others with the right funding? If the later then (don't care about the former)....

How is Japan assisting / funding these foreigners in Japan? Are these programs promoted in Japan Engrish media? Do foreigners have "easy" access to technology grants or extremely low rate loans? Can we apply for these in Engrish?

Where are J gov't programs, intended to attract these desirable foreigners advertised? Or is the media just reporting on pipe dreams over and over and over again?

Do these highly skilled workers get a stimpend to support their lifestyle needs while pursuing growing "gov't priority" area businesses? The Japan gov't does support students studying in Japan. These programs cover their lifestyle costs and tuition. So where are the professional support programs?

When the J gov't throws funding behind programs to promote foreigners to start "J gov't priority" businesses in Japan then foreigners will be attracted by the stories from foreigners already living here.

So we need to take a step back and ask, "What history does Japan have supporting highly skilled professionals that are already in Japan?" If this groups needs are addressed then these awareness of these programs will spread quickly to foreigners not currently living in Japan.

Where can we inquire about these pipe dreams the J gov't is having and what they have decided to fund?

Kind Regards, Dave Faulkmore www.usguyintokyo.com
sfg2001 at 07:41 PM JST - 11th May

In general speaking it is very easy to set up a business in Japan. The paper work is not that terrible. JETRO has support centers, if you have any questions talk to them.
1keiron at 04:24 PM JST - 13th May

How is Japan assisting / funding these foreigners in Japan? Are these programs promoted in Japan Engrish media? Do foreigners have "easy" access to technology grants or extremely low rate loans? Can we apply for these in Engrish?

^^^ NO.why should Japan offer everything out on a platter in EnGLish? Learn Japanese, its not difficult! IF you want to live and work in an English speaking society why on earth would one go to Japan! Go work in UK, Canada, U.S, NZ, Australia or somewhere in the Carribean. I think some of you have clearly misread the title. It says highly skilled foreigners. I dont mean to be patriotic because i'm no perfect skilled tradesman, heck i'm still in Uni trying to complete this BA Japanese. But if you're a highly skilled tradesman wanting to work in Japan surely it would be common sense to learn the language to! Its Japanese over there not English. Well i'm settled that the JP bashing on here is nothing more than it is because i'm fully aware of how easy and ok it is to do things once you switch on. Abit like this gentleman mentioned..

In general speaking it is very easy to set up a business in Japan. The paper work is not that terrible. JETRO has support centers, if you have any questions talk to them.

no offense, but that kind of "ugly foreigner" attitude, the kind that wants other countries to accomodate and cater to their every whims, instead of respecting and working with the local culture, will lead to nothing but problems.

Too right mate! Ignorance gets you nowhere and nothing