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Japan – Demand for foreign workers up amid rising tourism

24 November 2014

Demand for foreign workers has been strong in Japan over the past few years, following a rise in the number of foreign tourists and a growing number of Japanese companies expanding their business abroad, reports Kyodo News

Globalpower, a Tokyo-based staffing agency that specialises in the placement of foreign nationals with good Japanese language skills, has placed workers at more than 1,000 companies across a range of industries.

The strongest demand is from department stores and shopping malls that want to provide language services for foreign customers. There has also been rising demand from manufacturers looking for foreign workers, as they expand into the global marketplace.

Company President Koichi Takeuchi, who lived in the United States when he was a student, said: "I developed a website that should be easy to use, based on my job-searching experience, which was hard."

In June this year, the company added a new service, which dispatches part-time foreign workers with limited Japanese skills, in order to respond to demand from companies struggling with a shortage of workers amid an economic recovery.

The benefit of the new service is two-fold; companies can secure staff at short notice, and the workers themselves get the opportunity to practice and improve their limited language skills.

"We have collected data regarding some 40,000 foreigners from about 130 countries who are all fluent in Japanese. By increasing the number of our registered staff, we will serve the various needs of Japanese companies," Mr Takeuchi added.