Japan preparing to add transport roles to skilled visa amid shortages

So, this measly uptake means that Japan doesn’t offer would be migrants much.

Compared with the UK, US, Canada, UAE etc Japan just doesn’t offer any tangible opportunities compared with other countries.

Uptake of the programs, however, is behind government expectations.

Work for peanuts under long hours, ridiculous rules; paying regional taxes and pension which you will never see any benefit from.

LDP: Hmm, It is almost as if these foreigners realize we àre exploiting them and don't wish they were here.

Compared with the UK, US, Canada,

Not all foreign truck and bus drivers who apply to work in those nations will get a visa. Plus, there will definitely be some who wish to work for 5 years driving trucks in Japan.

Anyway, driverless tech will be everywhere within a decade.

As part of its efforts to secure more foreign labor, the Japanese government last year expanded the scope of industries covered by the No. 2 visa to 11 from two, in a major shift in the country's restrictive immigration policy.

All these measures and not a single little change in the critically understaffed Shinagawa immigration.

I have my car, speak japanese and make sure I'm bringing all the neccessary documents, still I have to wait many hours for the littlest thing, I can't imagine the ordeal the people face catching the bus to that place, how they can even ask questions or explain their situation in case there is a blip in their documents, imagine being told to come back another day. Tokyo Immigration is not ready for these changes at all.

So allowing cheap labor into very expeisve taxi services to allow companies to exploit and earn even higher profits. What’s not to like.

so allowing cheap labor into very expeisve taxi services to allow companies to exploit and earn even higher profits. What’s not to like.

are they actually paying the foreigners less than the Japanese? That doesn't sound legal.

@finally rich

That’s why there are intermediate companies that do all the paperwork.

YEs yes yes. But will they make a place on application forms for MIDDLE NAMES? LOL

There isn't a labour shortage in Japan. If there were, wages would be increasing; it's simple economics.

Aging's Real, ONLY Age Group Growing in Japan = 80+ and we all know how risky old drivers are!

Are they going to let non Japanese drive trains now?

The No. 2 visa allows for unlimited renewals and permits workers to bring their children and spouses to Japan.

The net uyoku won't like this, but you cannot expect all workers, especially skilled ones, to be single or have families they are happy to leave behind.

In any case, even if Japan violates their rights, they will stop the VISA and force the cleaner to go back home to prevent any litigation. it is just modern slavery....

The Japanese overlords doing their best at discriminating again and again

But as of the end of November last year, some 200,000 people held the No. 1 visa, while just 29 had the No. 2 status

This says it all.

Are they going to let non Japanese drive trains now?

Most likely, or until there is full driverless capability on all trains.

Trainees from Vietnam. Indonesia, Myanmar etc would presumably love the opportunity to drive the Shinkansen for 5 years, acquiring skills to take back home. Many SE Asian nations are developing high-speed trains.

Trainees from Vietnam. Indonesia, Myanmar etc would presumably love the opportunity to drive the Shinkansen for 5 years

This will never happen. It's hard enough for a regular Japanese train driver to become a shinkansen driver. There's no way a foreigner will be allowed to do this.

The way I see it, incorporating transport roles into Japan's skilled visa program appears to be a strategic move to address labor shortages in a critical sector. The benefits, such as economic growth and global competitiveness, need to be weighed against potential drawbacks, including integration challenges and social impacts. Effective implementation and regulation will be crucial for ensuring the success of this initiative while safeguarding the well-being of international workers.

Japan's need for foreign labor has risen due in part to a declining birthrate. 

so, NOT low pay and long hours?

got it

That’s why there are intermediate companies that do all the paperwork.

Yeah, but I kind of enjoy doing these mundane things by myself, same way I only use self service gas stations.

Besides I came to Tokyo after living in Osaka and Nagoya, where they're not only fast, but also just 1 ride away (20 seconds from the station exit).

How the hell people just fresh off the boat manage to access that island is beyond me, imagine being a bus driver and having to explain the same stuff (how to pay, etc.) to newcomers every single day.

I doubt the roads will be safer for it.

Taxi driver? Sounds like a bad idea. Taxi drivers know their area like the back of their hand. The foreign taxi drivers are going to get lost. How many times do we see in the news taxi drivers being assaulted? A drunk salary man giving a complicated address in slurred Japanese will surely end in violence.

Trucks driver? Well we know which group controls a lot of this industry. It rhymes with makuza.

Taxi driver? Sounds like a bad idea. Taxi drivers know their area like the back of their hand. The foreign taxi drivers are going to get lost.

Have you not been in a taxi and told the driver a place, and they had no idea were it was?

They also have no clue as to what GPS is either.

No. So many of these old Japanese taxi drivers have no clue as to where anything is.

Japan start to stop being Japan.

Both demography and wages are reasons for staff shortages.

If population dwindles, guess what, the services needed dwindles too.

Greed is leading the companies obviously.

Taxi driver? Sounds like a bad idea. Taxi drivers know their area like the back of their hand.

This is a joke! Taxi drivers only know the "main routes" it's the daiko drivers who know the short cuts!

This will never happen. It's hard enough for a regular Japanese train driver to become a shinkansen driver. There's no way a foreigner will be allowed to do this.

Exactly!

Why risk losing opportunity and stay on the bottom rung of the ladder for 5 years when working in a first world country would bring citizenship and promotion too?

There is no laber shortage. The Japanese people just don't want to work on crappy salaries anymore. They prefer to get the social which is almost as high as a minimum salary.

So the callous companies instead of raising salaries, prefer to hire cheap labor from Easter Asian countries. You can see this everywhere. Now the slave owners, sorry, the outsourcing agencies, can bring (ridiculously low) payed slaves to those industries too.

The UK went down the "cheap" foreign labor route..... Not so cheap when you calculate the crime costs in.

I wonder what professional language test it is considering the government already runs the JLPT, perhaps one specific to the industry?

If the Japanese people are complaining about a living wage, how could Jp expect foreigners to come work in a country where the people are just barely making a living wage.