Japan's employment situation has gotten pretty dire, especially for non-Japanese workers. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry reports that between last November and January, more than 9,000 foreigners asked the Hello Work unemployment agency for assistance — 11 times the figure for the same period a year earlier.
The ministry also claims that non-Japanese don't know Japan's language and corporate culture, concluding that they're largely unemployable. So select regions are offering information centers, language training, and some degree of job placement. Good.
But read the small print: Not only does this plan only target 5,000 people, but the government is also trying to physically remove the only people they can from unemployment rosters — the foreigners.