The Japanese government plans to lift restrictions on foreign nursing workers making home care visits to the elderly as soon as fiscal 2024, the labor ministry has told an expert panel.
Yusaku Yoshikawa is an aid consultant at JIN Corporation and is engaged in agricultural Official Development Assistance (ODA) Projects in Africa. He completed his Master in Development and Rural Innovation at Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.
The number of foreign workers in Japan as of the end of last October topped 2 million for the first time, government data showed Friday, as the country grapples with labor shortages amid an aging population.
A government panel proposes replacing Japan's controversial trainee program for foreigners with a new system with more flexibility and oversight to prevent human rights infringements.
A total of 86 percent of municipalities across Japan feel the need to increase foreign labor, a recent survey by Kyodo News showed, underscoring the serious shortage of workers in farming and other key sectors in the local regions as the country grapples with a declining population.