Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Sep 4, 2019
AFWJ celebrates 50 years of uniting women
by Louise George Kittaka
Members of the Association of Foreign Wives of Japanese reflect on the group's achievements and progress.
Business / Corporate | Regional voices: Chubu Aug 30, 2019
When it comes to foreign hires, restaurant chains in Japan's Chubu region are taking a long view
Amid a continuing labor shortage in the food service industry, major restaurant chains in the Chubu region are hiring an increasing number of foreign workers who have just graduated from universities in Japan. The firms are hiring them not as short-term, part-time workers but as ...
National Aug 26, 2019
More than a quarter of Japanese municipalities have expressed concerns about potential problems resulting from an anticipated surge in the number of visitors to the country from overseas, a survey showed Sunday. While the central government has seen the tourism boom in recent years as ...
National | Regional Voices: Okinawa Aug 23, 2019
Chinese became largest foreign community in Okinawa in 2018, excluding U.S. military personnel
Chinese people became the largest group of foreign nationals living in Okinawa Prefecture in 2018, surpassing American residents — excluding personnel on U.S. military bases and their dependents — for the first time since a new calculation method was employed in 2012. As of the ...
National Aug 23, 2019
Tokyo temple mixes Buddhism with beatboxing to attract younger, more diverse crowd
by Ryusei Takahashi
Buddhism meets beatboxing, hip-hop dancing and laser light shows at a temple in Tokyo, where efforts to get youth and foreign nationals interested in the centuries-old religion have taken on a modern twist. About 30 students from around the world visited Komyoji temple on Thursday ...
National Aug 21, 2019
Japanese-language students from South Asian countries see plunge in visa approval rates
The drop in approved visas appears to reflect a government effort to crack down on foreign nationals who enter the nation to work under the guise of being students.
National Jul 25, 2019
Japan to conduct tests for prospective caregivers in four Asian nations this fall
Japan will conduct tests in Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar and Mongolia this fall for prospective caregivers who want to work in Japan under a new visa program, according to government officials. The labor ministry said last week that the exams, aimed at securing more workers in ...
Business Jul 12, 2019
Laid-off expat bankers struggle to find new jobs in high-cost Hong Kong
For years, Hong Kong was a hotspot with plum jobs for overseas bankers as global firms hired aggressively. But many recently laid-off bankers in the city are finding that cost-cutting and a demand for Mandarin speakers have diminished the opportunities for expats in Asia's ...
National / Media | BIG IN JAPAN Jul 6, 2019
Friction growing in Osaka over rising foreign population
by Mark Schreiber
The guests from the gala Group of 20 conference may be gone, but Osaka continues to garner attention in the media. Nishinari Ward, an arguably sordid section of the city perhaps best known for its large population of day laborers, is on the verge of ...
Business Jun 27, 2019
Vietnam eager to work with Japan to help fill labor gap under new visa program
Vietnam is eager to deepen its cooperation with Japan in the field of labor dispatch, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said. In a written interview with media organizations Wednesday, Phuc expressed his appreciation for Japan's introduction in April of a new visa program ...
National Jun 25, 2019
Filipino worker with new visa category reflects on opportunities and challenges of living in Japan
Overseas workers in April took the first-ever exam for the newly introduced Specified Skilled Worker visa category. One of them — aspiring hotel worker Magil Farah Piastro, a Filipino woman who took the written and practical exam in Nagoya — said, “I want to work ...
National Jun 21, 2019
New law holds government responsible for teaching Japanese to all foreign residents
by Tomohiro Osaki
The legislation places the onus for providing learning opportunities on the state but does not contain any concrete measures to fund.