The language barrier and unfamiliar workplace environment pose daily challenges to the 205 Indonesian nurses and caregivers who began working at hospitals and nursing facilities nationwide about a month ago.
But because they will need to pass special exams in three or four years to stay on, there has been little excuse to slack off.
Mohamad Yusup, 27, and Erli Ridwan, 35, who started work Feb. 16 as nursing aides at Kawakita General Hospital in Tokyo, always carry a dictionary in case they need to check the meaning of a Japanese medical term and are still learning how to communicate with their Japanese coworkers and patients.