As a first step, Japan plans to receive 3,000 personnel within one year, with Tokyo offering financial assistance for language training, and then expand to 10,000 in two years. By setting a numerical target, the government hopes to accelerate the preparations.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday instructed his cabinet to start making arrangements to accept more foreign workers into the country. Tokyo is working to set similar targets with Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.
Japan and Vietnam are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding as early as this year. It will be categorized as part of the “Asia Health and Human Well-Being Initiative,” a Japanese government program to provide Japanese knowledge and expertise on nursing care and social welfare to aging Asian societies.
Japan began accepting Vietnamese workers in the nursing field last November under an expanded technical intern training program, through which additional caregivers will also arrive.
Those who can speak some conversational Japanese are able to obtain residency for up to five years. The government will create a new program allowing those who complete their technical training to stay up to another five years.
Few people, however, have actually used the technical training program for nursing due to tough language requirements that necessitate educational spending. Participants are forced to return home if their Japanese conversational skills do not reach a certain level within the first year of stay, making the trip to Japan too costly.
Under the new program, Japan will subsidize these educational expenses and work with companies that teach caretakers how to help the elderly remain self-reliant. These workers will be paid the same salaries as Japanese workers. The government will initially accept 3,000 people through 12 designated Japanese companies as technical trainees. The Vietnamese government will also approve six agencies for sending talent abroad.
A 20-year-old Japanese national denies supplying marijuana to international school students in custody on drug-related charges, Tokyo Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday, reports TV Asahi (tokyoreporter.com)
Japan’s health ministry says the average life expectancies for men and women hit record highs in 2017. (NHK)
The life and times of Japan’s first golfer: Amsterdam 1605 (thesamuraigolfer.com)
When 8-year-old Eiki Shimabukuro left Japan in 1959 with his parents and five siblings for the two-month sea voyage to Brazil, passengers were given ribbons linking them to those who stayed behind. (Japan Times)
All six high school students representing Japan at the 59th International Mathematical Olympiad have won medals including a gold, the education ministry said Friday. (Jiji)
Japan’s university entrance examination system is scheduled for an overhaul in 2020. The planned changes in English-language testing are a particular target of attention. (nippon.com)
Japan’s population has fallen for 9 years in a row, while the capital, Tokyo, keeps growing. (NHK)
In what is believed to be a first in Japan, a prestigious national women’s university officially announced Tuesday its new policy to open doors from 2020 to people who were assigned as male at birth but identify as female, saying it’s a natural decision that takes gender diversity into account. (Japan Times)
Princess Mako’s fiance, Kei Komuro, will attend the law school of Fordham University in New York starting in August, the school announced Thursday. (Japan Times)The article "Japan agrees to accept 10,000 Vietnamese caregivers" was originally published on http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/123472.php
