[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 ;-)