Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's offer to open Japan more to foreign medical professionals for its aging population has a taker.

Kanagawa Prefecture, designated by Abe's administration as a special zone to experiment with looser regulations, plans to tap caregivers from overseas to ease a growing labor crunch in health care services, Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa said in a recent interview.

"We'd like to make a breakthrough," said Kuroiwa. "There is an immediate issue of a shortage of people for care services and I'm thinking of making use of foreign caregivers who are qualified in their own countries."