Regarding the Feb. 3 article titled "Give foreign nurses in Japan a boost by treating accord as long-term remedy for labor shortages": I am shocked again to realize how xenophobic the Japanese authorities are. It is evident that the nationwide nursing shortage is worsening, yet the central and local governments have reacted with little sense of crisis so far.

I don't believe that all foreign nurses should have to read and speak Japanese perfectly. In day care centers for the elderly, young and robust workers are needed now. These facilities should begin accepting foreign workers in order to become accustomed to depending on them in the future for smooth operations.

If the government starts accepting them in a hasty and haphazard manner only after the nursing workforce shortage becomes critical, there will be troublesome consequences.

It is interesting that we find more foreigners working in more clerical jobs these days than before, so I surmise that there are contradictions and loopholes in our immigration policies.

The authorities should abandon their dogmatic ideas and take practical measures to meet the demands of our aging society.

shuichi john watanabe
tokyo

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.