BANDUNG, Indonesia — Since August 2008, only two of the 570 foreigners who have managed to pass Japan's rigorous national examinations to become certified nurses have been Indonesians.

But that doesn't stop many hopeful Indonesians from struggling to master Japanese and fulfill their dream of working abroad for better pay.

Last week, in West Java's capital city Bandung, once dubbed "Paris Van Java" for its art-deco Dutch colonial buildings, 115 nurse and caregiver candidates selected from about 500 applicants began their first day of Japanese-language training.