Hello, this is Shimoyama of IMS. Recently, there has been a series of news reports on the technical internship system, and at a study group I recently attended, there was also mention of "acceptance and coexistence of foreign human resources." In this blog, I would like to discuss these topics.
According to data from the Immigration Bureau, the number of foreigners residing in Japan as of the end of 2021 is 2,760,635. Since the number of foreigners coming to Japan is expected to increase after COVID-19 is under control, the government is working in various ways to properly accept foreign personnel and to improve the environment for accepting foreign personnel.
＜References>
- Roadmap for Realization of a Society Coexisting with Foreign Residents (Summary) (Japanese)
- Comprehensive measures for acceptance and coexistence with foreign human resources (revised in 2022) (Summary) (Japanese)
The Five Themes
Broadly speaking, there are five major themes.
Japanese language education and other efforts for smooth communication and social participation
- Improvement of the environment in which foreigners can acquire the Japanese language necessary for daily life, etc.
- Improvement of the quality of Japanese language education, etc.
Strengthen information dissemination to foreigners and consultation system for foreigners
- Strengthen information dissemination from the perspective of foreign residents
- Strengthen the consultation system that is attuned to the problems faced by foreign residents.
- Further promotion of easy-to-understand Japanese in information dissemination and consultation services
Support for life stages and life cycles
- Support for foreigners mainly in their "infancy" and "school age
- Support for foreigners mainly in early adolescence
- Support for foreign nationals mainly in their "adolescence" →Support for foreign nationals mainly in their "adolescence
- Support for foreign students in finding employment, etc.
- Support in employment situations
- Ensuring an appropriate working environment, etc.
- Support for foreign nationals, mainly in the "aging" stage, etc.
- Efforts common to all stages of life
Smooth and appropriate acceptance of foreign human resources
- Measures to support matching of foreign nationals with specified skills, etc.
- Smooth implementation of the specified technical skills test, and facilitation of publicity and use of the specified technical skills system, etc.
- Elimination of malicious intermediaries, etc.
- Enhancement of the infrastructure for Japanese language education overseas, etc.
Efforts to develop the infrastructure for a symbiotic society
- Foster awareness toward the realization of a symbiotic society
- Enhancement of government statistics to grasp the actual living conditions of foreign residents
- Strengthen information collection and cooperation among related organizations to develop the infrastructure for a symbiotic society.
- Establish a system in which foreign nationals can be the supporters of a symbiotic society.
- Establishment of a residency management system as a foundation for a symbiotic society
- Reinforcement of residency management infrastructure
- Thoroughly manage the enrollment of foreign students
- Further optimization of the technical internship system
- Strengthen measures against illegal aliens, etc.
For details of the measures, please refer to the above-mentioned Reference materials, but I believe that the background of this problem -- which I have mentioned in my previous blog -- is the lack of an environment for teaching Japanese to foreigners. There is also a noted lack of a well-functioning system for information dissemination and consultation for foreigners.
How to Move Forward?
I asked the lecturer about this point at the study session, and he answered, "We would like to work toward the realization of a society in which foreigners live together, including the promotion of Japanese language education and school enrollment for foreign children and students."
There are signs of change in the technical internship system, with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) working with the Vietnamese government to eliminate the collection of high fees for technical interns, and Justice Minister Furukawa showing a commitment to a full-scale review of the technical internship system.
Living together with foreigners" and "creating a society that is equally comfortable for foreigners to live in" are themes for Japanese society in the future, and we will continue to closely monitor future developments to ensure that the government's measures do not end up being "just a picture.
For more information, please contact us below ↓
https://imsvisa.support/en/contact/
