[mikekchar]

This is an opinion piece backed up with practically no information whatsoever.

If you want to know about immigration policy in Japan, you need look no further Japan's ministry of foreign affairs website. For example, here are the categories where you can get a long term visa [0]

You will notice there is a points system [1]. You need 70 points to get in. A degree gives you 10 points. A salary of ~$100K gives you 40 points. Being under 30 gives you 15 points. Having 5 years of experience gives you 10 points. N1 on JLTP gives you 15 points.

I mean, it's ridiculous. And this is a 5 year visa with relaxed permanent residence requirements, ability to sponsor your parents, ability to work in any field (even jobs that aren't related to your skill set!!!). The list goes on!

And if by some incredibly unfortunate circumstance you can't qualify for that, there are still over 10 categories where you basically only need a relevant university degree and a job offer for a 3 year visa.

And if that isn't enough, you can start a company in Japan with about ~$50K and sponsor a business visa for yourself.

My wife is Japanese and I'm here on a spousal visa. The application process took 1 week and was free. I am also eligible for relaxed permanent residence status.

Seriously, compare this to your home country and then come back and tell me that Japan doesn't want immigration.

Now if you want to know why Japan doesn't have a lot of immigration, it's because it is difficult for foreigners to live here if they can't speak Japanese and/or they can't accept Japanese culture. But as far as the government is concerned, the red carpet has been rolled out for a long time. If you have an established company in many foreign countries and wish to open a branch office in Japan (so that you can transfer people here), the government will even give you free assistance!

[0] - http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/index.html [1] - http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_3/en/pdf/point_calculat...

[jpatokal]

Japan's primary problem, though, is not a lack of skilled professionals (although as someone involved in hiring bilingual IT professionals there, I can assure you that's a problem too), but a lack of unskilled/low-skilled workers to work in agriculture, nursing, etc. And Japan is not at all keen on this type of immigration.

As a simple example, Japan invited a bunch of Filipino nurses to work in Japan for a while, and they could stay if they completed the Japanese national nursing exam... in Japanese:

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/pinoyabroad/253140/13-pi...

Surprise surprise, the pass rate was 8%, and many of those who passed have returned home:

http://news.abs-cbn.com/global-filipino/04/13/16/some-filipi...

Instead, there's ever-increasing abuse of various "trainee" and "language student" visa programs to cycle in and out what amounts to indentured labor, with zero prospects for actually staying in the country:

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/travel/welcome-to-th...

[mikekchar]

Yes, the Filipino nurse situation was a debacle (and for the most part continues to be). However, the government has been routinely extending visas for those involved [0].

The reality of the situation is that it is very hard to live here if you are a foreigner with that kind of job. In the town where I live something like 22 of the 130 or so foreigners who live here are Filipino nurses. I've met some who have stayed for 4-5 years, but most cycle through pretty quickly -- not victims of immigration policy, but more victims of not being able to live and work in Japan without speaking Japanese. My wife used to work at the retirement home nearby and it is a hard job. It is completely unrealistic to bring in foreigners to do it unless they have extensive experience with the Japanese language and Japanese customs.

The same can also be said for other kinds of "cultural" visas. I've only ever met 1 person on a cultural visa and her stay was a disaster. I know some people on the city council and they decided never to do it again.

As for migrant workers... or even non-migrant workers who are willing to farm. I have no idea what the government intends to do, but it's getting desperate out my way. I live in Shizuoka prefecture and we're losing something like 10% of our population every year and nobody wants to farm. I've met a couple from England who got visas to farm here and they have done very well by renting land (which you can get virtually for free). But I agree that something needs to be done.

So, no, it's not nirvana by any stretch of the imagination. But I think the image that people have (fuelled by stories like the one that started this thread) is grossly misaligned with reality.

[0] http://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/03/17/japan-to-extend-st...

[hkmurakami]

I remember visiting my grandmother many years ago in an assisted care facility in Kyoto for people with dementia/Alzheimer's and was struck by how hard the nurses work was. I shudder and am in awe even recalling it today.

I agree with everything you've said regarding cultural assimilation when you can't speak the language. If you're a knowledge worth in a major city, then you can get by since people respect you and your peers can speak some level of Japanese. But as unskilled labor life would be very difficult.

[cattlefarmer]

The other problem is that many folks working unskilled jobs typically don't care to improve their lot in lives. I've been working on software for managing cattle farms with customers all across from Kyushu to Hokkaido and our biggest hurdle is that the employees simply aren't interesting in learning or trying to improve their lives. This extends to some farm owners even.

Talk to them and all they care about is pachinko, women, alcohol and messing with their cars.

[hkmurakami]

Well employees probably wouldn't make more even if the owner made 59% more.

Owners, I wonder if their lives are good Enough already that they really don't care.

[mikekchar]

> Well employees probably wouldn't make more even if the owner made 59% more.

I don't suppose you could explain that concept to the Prime Minister? ;-)

[fiblye]

Are you speaking specifically about your farming town losing 10% of its population? Because I also live in Shizuoka-ken near the countryside and population decline is nowhere near 10%/year. It's been pretty much the same for 20 years now.

http://www.citypopulation.de/php/japan-admin.php?adm1id=22

But there is a definite decline in the liveliness of small towns, but that's due to migration to other towns and cities.

[mikekchar]

Hmm... you are correct. I was stupidly repeating unverified information I heard on a news report. I should know better :-( Actually, that's great news for me!

BTW, feel free to ping me at my username on gmail. It would be great to meet someone else in this area! I'm also interested in writing games (and I wonder if we've met a few years ago... although that person said they wanted to make iPhone games)

[cattlefarmer]

I'd love to hear about that free farmland thing you mentioned.

I've spoken with a few entrepreneurs about trying to build something like a scaled up version of Farmbot [0] for small Japanese farms but most reactions I've gotten is negative. The councils don't want robots, they want young people back.

[0]: https://farmbot.io

[mikekchar]

If you want to farm on some land, usually you can just walk up to a farmer and ask if they know anybody that would lend you some land. The going "price" around here seems to be a bottle of whiskey for the year. Of course the land owner continues to get the tax benefit (and you must have the land in production or else they will lose that). Not sure what it's like in other places, but it's quite easy get get land here (unless it is an orchard or tea field). But then I admit that I spend half my day chatting with the farmers near my house ;-)

[cgarrigue]

Salaries in Japan are much lower than in the Bay Area: many Japanese companies use a salary grid and reaching the 10 million yen mark requires decades in the same company. It might be possible to get such a salary much earlier in some startups, and it is certainly possible for people detached from a foreign company. For everybody else following the same route as Japanese people the highly skilled professional visa is very difficult to get.

[darklajid]

I just got a (admittedly: limited to 2 years for now, bound to the corporate sponsor) working visa for Singapore. Looking at your description:

- I don't have a recognized degree (I do, but .. it's complicated)

- I never had, nor will for the foreseeable future, reach 100k USD (DE doesn't pay like that, neither will SG in the future based on sources like Glassdoor etc.)

- I'm over 30

I guess what I'm trying to say is: For me the list you provided is merely a curiosity and doesn't feel like I would have a good way to migrate to Japan if I'd like to. It was trivial for Singapore. "Incredibly unfortunate circumstances" seem to imply that you believe that nearly anyone can check all the boxes. Which for the salary requirement alone seems rather insane from my European point of view.

That said: I have no clue about immigration requirements for Germany, so I cannot compare Japan to my home country. DE might be worse.

[jaredklewis]

Indeed, the kind of visa discussed is actually one of the more difficult ones to get. Most people come in on category based visas which have more restrictions, but more lax requirements. Usually a university degree (for young folks) or a bunch of industry experience (for folks like yourself) is enough. No big salary or young age required.

[fzeroracer]

This ignores the issue that while Japan opens the red carpet for people to move and work in Japan, once you get past the welcoming mat you enter the vaunted Japanese Business Grind where you get to deal with incredibly long working hours, abuse and shitty pay. This is before you even start talking about black companies.

The reason why foreigners have trouble accepting Japanese culture is because work culture in Japan is so incredibly toxic except in rare circumstances that you don't bother adapting and you don't bother learning.

[jpatokal]

Not sure what's up with the downvotes: that's a harsh but accurate assessment of what it's like to work at the average large Japanese company.

[RandomInteger4]

Black companies? As in Black Market or Yakuza?

[micaksica]

"Burakku Kigyou" are (usually) white-collar 'sweatshop' type companies. Long hours, bad pay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_company_(Japanese_term)

[mnm1]

So just be in your twenties with a degree, making $100k, and have 5 years of experience and you're in for five years. Why would someone like that want to move to Japan when they could flourish just about anywhere else in the world including many places where the business culture doesn't amount to white collar slavery? These are the same type of insane regulations the current administration is, appropriately, criticized for trying to bring to the U.S. Seems like an extremely high bar to me.

[zcbenz]

What's more, if you get 80 points, you can apply for permanent residency after staying Japan for only 1 year.

[tanilama]

> A salary of ~$100K gives you 40 points

That is incredibly high for Japanese standard... Even Google JP engineers might not be paid for that much, and they are the top of the food chain. Most engineers I know, their salary is around 40k-50k a year. Apparently, Japan doesn't want below exceptional engineers in their country, which is a fair requirement, but hardly a welcoming one.

[andy_ppp]

Yes, I was shocked when I arrived how easy it actually is to get a working visa! Almost anywhere else is more difficult.