Vietnam is now the biggest provider of labor to Japan under a government-sponsored training program for foreign workers. However, delays in expanding the system to include nursing care have made some young Vietnamese rethink their plans.
Do Thi Hang is among them. At 23 and with nursing experience already on her resume, she hoped to work in Japan as a caregiver under the Technical Intern Training Program, which accepts workers from developing countries for on-the-job training.
Hang is now working at a restaurant while studying Japanese on her own, having quit language classes at a Hanoi language school in April. She still wants to find work in Japan, despite her parents' urging to return to her home town in Vinh Phuc province, north of the capital, and get married.