As the decade-long economic slump grinds on, non-Japanese Asians studying in Japan face diminishing job prospects amid language and cultural barriers, a lack of information, a hermetic corporate culture and competition from native students.

In 2001, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry launched a panel of experts to discuss ways to improve the situation. According to Yutaka Nada, the labor ministry's section chief for employment service for foreigners, the panel looked into ways to build a network that would share job information among universities, corporations, related ministries and nonprofit organizations that support foreign students.

Nada said the panel plans to continue considering ways that information such as corporate demand and job guidance could be shared via such a network. Support groups for job seekers believe not enough information is made available and that companies need to be more welcoming to foreign graduates.