Abe says Japan wants to accept more foreign workers from April

Good luck with that, learn a second language, pass tests, to get a low paying unskilled job for five years. Leaving your family behind. I might be wrong. Can imagin the paper work involved with this new "unskilled" government Department.

Let's see ... Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico are places to find unskilled workers.

Good luck with that, learn a second language, pass tests, to get a low paying unskilled job for five years. Leaving your family behind. I might be wrong. Can imagin the paper work involved with this new "unskilled" government Department.

absolutely agree. the play seems to be not worth the candle.Maybe, they should first try to do something with the existing corporal culture, to attract the natives to those positions and the problem will cease to exist.

sorry, not corporal x) corporate although I didn't mean that x) although it also needs imporoving of course x) I mean... maybe, its better to think of the ways to attract the natives to these jobs

Sounds like a positive step. The key is to get good workers who won't leech the system and commit crimes. Don't be like other countries who learned the hard way.

Win win. This plan preys on desperate people who are willing to suffer indentured servitude for 5 years only to be spat out by the people they've served who consider them with disdain. Nice.

Good luck with that, learn a second language, pass tests, to get a low paying unskilled job for five years. Leaving your family behind. I might be wrong. Can imagin the paper work involved with this new "unskilled" government Department.

It work very well until now for the USA , Germany , Canada , Australia , and so it can work for japan too !

Unlike the bad countries the people will come from the japan in great place to live and build a new life !

Sounds like another example of Japan wanting it's cake and eat it.

Japan faces a severe labor shortage......

Incentivize employers to institute layoffs and give significant raises to the workers they retain, reflecting their record high earnings. Problem solved.

Immigration isn't the solution. My home country has the highest amount of immigration per capita in the world, and labor-intensive business operations, like call centers, and public service wait times are pathetic compared to Japan with no immigration.

The last time such numbers of foreign workers came to Japan was before and during WW2 and a certain country is still complaining about it.

with a dwindling population the corporate construct of perpetual positive growth has come to an end, thus all the trappings of that mentality must also go down with it.

There is zero accountability with Japanese companies and government today and any new worker in that environment will be rife with abuse as we have already read here many times before.

There is no point to go to a country when they can't wait until you leave. Also as those 5 years go on, declines will only increase, causing people to become even more abusive.

Abe keeps saying he wants wages to increase, but then he imports masses of cheap labour. Everyone knows these workers will be abused, underpaid and overworked and the government will do nothing at all to stop it.

Appears you have the problem. There wasn't any mention of race.

It is about people seeking better lives by the millions and Japan's Govt asking for low-skilled labor. There is lots of proof that people from those specific countries are willing to leave their home country seeking better economic situations.

Seems like a match, honestly.

They should scrap the bogus 'trainee' program at the same time. Apply Japanese labour laws fully, and allow change of jobs and renewal of visas. If dependents are not allowed there will be a lot of marriages with Japanese which will change the dynamic a bit.

I am well aware that the country’s population is decreasing and its demography contributes to labor shortage.... but still I see a lot of able bodied Japanese living on unemployment welfare.