Category Archives: Immigration

104 Indonesian nurses, caregivers to depart for Japan

July 8, 2011 in Immigration, News, Nursing

“As the length of Japanese language training has been increased from six months at the beginning, and now to nine months, and to 12 months by next year, we all hope more candidates can pass the local examinations,” Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar said.

Tokyo finally grasps the migration nettle

June 27, 2011 in Immigration, News

“Unless radical policies are implemented, it is simply a matter of time before manufacturing, consumption, tax receipts, fiscal health, the pension and welfare system, and the very ability of people to make a living will all collapse under the inexorable dual pressures of rapid ageing and rapid declines in the young working population.”

18 tax offices in 4 central Japan prefectures kept files on foreigners

June 27, 2011 in Discrimination, Immigration, News

Each of the tax offices are thought to have kept such files on more than 1,000 foreign taxpayers, but the number of those identified by nationality or alien registration number is not known.

Govt to set point system for foreigners

June 20, 2011 in Immigration, News

The government will introduce a point system by the end of the year to give preferential treatment, such as easing the conditions for permanent residency, to non-Japanese with advanced expertise who want to come to Japan, according to a government source.

An Immigration Stimulus for Japan

June 20, 2011 in Immigration, News

Hidenori Sakanaka, former Chief of Entry and Residence at the Nagoya and Tokyo Immigration Bureaus, argues that Japan allowing in more foreign workers would boost growth, especially in quake-ravaged areas.

Foreign refugees pitch in to help

June 1, 2011 in Immigration, News

Myo Myint Swe, a 42-year-old refugee from Myanmar, said that since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, he wanted to help those in the Tohoku region affected by the devastation.

Chinese exodus hurts industries dependent on foreign trainees, interns

June 1, 2011 in Dispatch, Immigration, News, Trainees

“If the expenses for (going to China to) recruit and train are added to their wages, Chinese interns now cost more than Japanese workers,” the president said. “I intend to do away with accepting interns over the next three to five years.”

Muslims file suit over antiterror investigations

May 19, 2011 in Discrimination, Immigration, News

A group of 14 Muslims has filed suit against the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments, demanding 154 million yen in compensation for violations of privacy and religious freedom after police antiterrorism documents containing their personal information were leaked onto the Internet.

Media starting to tally the economic effects of foreigner flight

May 16, 2011 in Immigration, News, Trainees

Common factors among companies whose foreign workers chose not to leave after the disaster, [can be] compiled mnemonically as A-B-C-D, which stand for “Accountability” (dispelling anxiety by working to keep the foreign staff informed); “Bonds” (building relationships that will make them want to stay); “Career” (making the acquisition of “knowledge” their motive for staying on the job); and “Diversity” (discarding the awareness of differences because the workers are foreigners).

Japan needs to draw foreign workers for quake recovery: panel chief

May 13, 2011 in Immigration, News

Japan needs to attract a large number of foreigners to help revive the farming and fishery industries in areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the head of a key reconstruction panel said Friday. “It is important to draw human resources, including permanent foreign residents” to the hard-hit northeastern region of Tohoku, Makoto [...]