Takashi Kumon is a professor at the Institute of Asian Studies at Asia University and a visiting lecturer at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Public Policy.
Japan launched a new program this spring called J-Find to try to attract more highly skilled foreign professionals to come work in the country.
The program, formally the Future Creator Human Resource System, is targeted at those with degrees from top schools. Those who graduated within the last five years from a university ranked in the top 100 on at least two of three designated global lists will be able to stay in the country with their family to look for work or start their own businesses for up to two years.
While well-intentioned, this program looks unlikely to have a big impact.
One reason is salaries. According to a survey conducted late last year by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in the U.S., a fresh engineering graduate there can expect an average starting salary of $74,405. Those getting a bachelor's degree in business can get $62,069.
Those salaries are more than double what such graduates would likely be able to get in Japan. And the graduates of the top programs targeted by J-Find would command even higher pay in the U.S.
The Japanese employment system is also not that accessible for outsiders. In Japan, it is common for students to spend 12 to 18 months during the final two years of college hunting for a post-graduation job. This process can be difficult for newcomers to penetrate, even if they come directly to Japan.
Speaking about J-Find, a graduate student at the University of Tokyo who arrived from the former Soviet republic of Georgia said, "I don't think this system will have much impact on many foreign students.
"Not many foreign students at top 100 universities can speak Japanese, so they will probably choose countries such as the U.K. that offer a similar policy and allows them to work in English," she added. "Also, the competition for Japan is fierce because the U.S. and many European countries offer higher salaries."
As she suggested, foreigners who are not fluent in Japanese have often found it difficult to work at many Japanese companies.
However, there are many foreigners who are interested in studying and working in Japan. Last year, there were about 230,000 foreign students studying here. The catch is that 93% are from other Asian countries, many from ones that do not figure highly in the top 100 university rankings.
Nearly 90% of the highly skilled foreign professionals who were working in Japan as of June 2022 were from Asia. Almost half of this group arrived from other East Asian countries, with the rest mainly from Southeast or South Asia, according to Immigration Services Agency of Japan figures.
Eight years earlier, Asians accounted for 79% of the total number of highly skilled foreign professionals in Japan. At that time, about 70% of those workers came from East Asia.
New employees at a Konica Minolta initiation ceremony in Tokyo. (Photo by Mizuho Miyazaki)
These snapshots show how the share of foreign professionals in Japan coming from other Asian nations is on the rise, with arrivals from the southern parts of the continent growing most quickly.
"Japan is world-class when it comes to manufacturing technology, so I want to gain experience at a Japanese manufacturing company and use my expertise in the digitalization process," an Indian student studying IT at a graduate school in the Chugoku region told me.
Of the 89 universities that fit the J-Find program criteria, two are in Japan, 15 are in other Asian countries and seven are in Australia. The rest are located in the U.S. or Europe.
Aside from two universities in Singapore, none of the Asian schools included in the 89 are located in Southeast or South Asia. Instead, those are in Hong Kong, China and South Korea.
It would make more sense for Japan to have a program targeting students from leading universities in South and Southeast Asia.
For one, it is difficult for many young people in these regions to find work. According to the International Labour Organization, the unemployment rate for those 15 to 24 in India last year was 23.2%, while the rate was 20.6% in Nepal and 13% in Indonesia. These youth might find more opportunities in Japan.
Secondly, although Japanese language proficiency can be a hurdle, Japanese companies have a higher preference for fresh graduates seen as having potential than do foreign companies, which often seek midcareer hires with skills and experience.
Japanese policymakers and industry leaders should get out of their current Western-oriented mindset and try to attract enthusiastic Asian graduates with high potential. Without foreign talent from around Asia, Japan's labor shortages are likely to continue to mount.
