Pandemic could foster new attitudes toward immigration
In recent weeks, doctors, nurses and care workers for the British National Health Service — in particular, immigrants — are presently being hailed for their gritty sense of duty, for standing between many people and premature death.
Japan's farm and hotel sectors cooperate as pandemic halts entry of foreign labor
Under entry controls, 220 workers from China, Indonesia and Myanmar bound for one of the Japan's major cabbage production areas have been unable to enter the country.
Foreign students in Japan fear pandemic narrows job opportunities
As the outbreak continues to take a serious toll on Japan's economy, those hoping to find work here now fear they will be first to miss out.
Foreign workers and students vulnerable as virus-hit Japan firms ax staff
Immediately after all Chinese group tours through this summer were canceled at the end of January and February following the coronavirus outbreak, a Chinese man in his 20s who had worked as a full-time employee at a hotel near Kansai International Airport lost his ...
More foreign workers in Mie losing jobs and homes in virus pandemic
As the spread of COVID-19 infections hits the nation’s economy hard, foreign workers at manufacturers are being severely affected, with some losing their jobs and homes. At a public employment security office in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, this month, foreign nationals visited the interpretation service counter ...
Coronavirus slowing immigration procedures for labor-hungry Japan firms
Businesses reliant on a foreign blue-collar workforce are struggling to fill openings as the coronavirus pandemic slows immigration procedures to a crawl both in Japan and abroad. The global crisis has left stranded hundreds of foreign nationals who were set to join the Japanese workforce ...
Japanese businesses hit by lack of Chinese trainees amid virus outbreak
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has dealt a heavy blow to the manufacturing, farming and fishing industries in rural areas, as it has halted the arrival of Chinese trainees they have relied on for labor. A textile manufacturer in Fukui Prefecture said one of ...
Prefectures in Japan face lack of volunteer interpreters for disasters
Several prefectural governments around Japan have raised concerns about a shortage of volunteer interpreters and translators to support foreign residents and tourists during disasters, after making limited progress with addressing the problem, a new survey has shown. The massive floods that were caused by typhoons ...
Myanmar man arrested for murder of compatriot in central Japan
Police arrested on Tuesday a 28-year-old Myanmar man on suspicion of stabbing to death a compatriot co-worker in a company cafeteria in Mie Prefecture. Kaung Kyaw Htet was arrested for allegedly stabbing Ye Htet Zaw, 25, in the back sometime between 4 p.m. and 4:25 ...
Holders of new Japan working visas surge past 1,600, but still way off target
Japan set up the new visas to attract more blue-collar workers from overseas to address its acute labor shortage.
As Japan opens doors wider, firms confront reality of workplace racism
As Japan opens its doors to more and more foreign workers, the problem of racial harassment in the workplace is under renewed scrutiny. While racial harassment — including slurs, jokes or the targeting of a person due to their race or ethnicity — is considered ...
Number of foreign workers in Japan totals record 1.66 million
Chinese accounted for a quarter of the total with 418,327, followed by 401,326 Vietnamese and 179,685 Filipinos, the labor ministry says.
