Visa and Beyond by Takatsuka Office, Immigration Services

09/11/2023

Although many foreign residents already faced difficulty of opening a bank account in Japan, I am sure that it will be more difficult to open it as a result of such fraud, unfortunately.

Police in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, have reported a surge in the misuse of bank and other accounts held by foreign nationals in phone scams, nearly tripling over the past three years.

29/04/2023

A number of the refugee visa application was peaked in 2017, but suddenly it became a halve in 2018. It was most likely as a result of the immigration changed their policy that in many cases, applicants waiting for their refugee visa application result are no longer given a working permit.

Since then, a number of application is declining, however a number of refugee and humanitarian intakes are increasing.

I am not so sure how many people who critisise politicians supporting this bill, actually have a close relationship with refugee applicants. Also I am not so sure how many of them have ever visited the third floor of Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau (where the refugee visa applications are handled).

Yet, it seems preventing fake refugees to apply for a refugee visa helps saving genuine refugees.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230428_26/

https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/001391854.pdf

26/04/2023

Why doesn't Japanese government focus on improving working conditions of less popular occupations. Using foreign workers as a band-aid solution will not help sustaining these industries for a long run.

The Japanese government has begun talks on updating a status of residence for skilled foreign workers. The change would let them work in more fields.

11/04/2023

The technical intern training program was supposed to be an international contribution by transferring skills to developing countries. Yet, as criticized, it became a way to find workers for jobs which are less popular among Japanese people.

There is a clear gap between its purpose and the reality, even we saw some human rights violations. Therefore, it makes sense to abolish a current program and to set up new program to help securing workers for less popular industries.

Why don't the government spend their resources to improve various conditions in such less popular industries? It is obvious that many domestic people will consider applying for jobs which offers better conditions.

A Japanese government panel has come out with a draft set of proposals that calls for scrapping Japan's current foreign trainee program and setting up a new system.

26/03/2023

Although the number of foreign residents in Japan in 2022 rose 11.4% from a year earlier, I think Japan is far from being a multicultural society.

Unfortunately still many foreign residents are isolated from Japanese society. They may prefer to stay closely to their ethnic community rather than being a member of local community, but building a good friendship with local people can definitely help. Needless to say, a vice versa is true. That's what I found when I was in Australia.

The number of foreign residents in Japan at the end of 2022 rose 11.4% from a year before to hit a record high of 3,075,213, according to the Immigration Services Agency.

22/01/2023

New employees from overseas need supports and assistance much more than employing local people in many cases. Since many Japanese business people has some experiences of staying oversea for business, it would not be so difficult to imagine about it. Yet, it seems that our society in general has not implemented effective measures to accept people from overseas. I assume that this is partly because people making a relevant decision doesn't give attention to what is going on in the ground level.
s://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/2187/

A 23-year-old Pakistani who moved to Japan as a child and provided critical language assistance for his parents has dedicated his professional life to supporting other immigrant families.

19/01/2023

It seems, finally companies realized that an ability of speaking is essential for them to stay in such a competitive business world.

Japanese tech firms are moving to an English-first model to attract AI experts from around the world in the face of a shortage of local talent.

15/01/2023

Nowadays there are many good study tools are available online and often it is a free of charge, so it may be a good idea to take advantage of using online resources, then focusing on communicating with native speakers including volunteer language classes to measure how good your language skill and knowledge becomes. This is what I am doing for improving my English. Since my time and budget are limited, I think this approach works for me.

With more people coming from overseas, the need for language classes is increasing. However, some believe the role of teacher shouldn't be a volunteer position.

11/10/2022

finally lifts most of its COVID-19 border controls from today. A visa waiver program for temporary visitors from 68 countries and regions (such as US, UK, South Korea, etc.) are also being reintroduced. Please note that either proof of three vaccine doses or a negative test from within 72 hours of departure is still necessary.

Japan will reintroduce a visa waiver program for short-term visitors, and allow visits by non-escorted individual tourists on Tuesday, as the country lifts most of its COVID-19 border controls.

23/09/2022

Finally PM Kishida announced yesterday that will allow visa-free, independent tourism and abolish a daily arrival cap. Which is good news for sure.

Yet, I wonder if Japan is really ready to host international tourists. Since Japan is reputed by their high level hospitality and professionalism, a shortage of experienced people in tourism, food & beverage services, retailing, etc. must be a huge blow.

I am sure that International tourist's expectation is much higher, so I hope Japan will not let them down.

The move marks a major policy shift after nearly 2½ years of stringent COVID-19 restrictions.

16/09/2022

According to the 's national broadcaster NHK, "It is also preparing to resume a short-term visa exemption for visitors from about 70 countries and territories if they stay in Japan for 90 days or less."

Seemingly easing the daily limit on arrivals in the past didn't work well since many foreigners hesitated to come to Japan because of complicated procedures. So I hope that the temporary visitor visa exception will be a game changer.

Japan's government is preparing to further ease its coronavirus border controls as early as next month.

01/09/2022

Please note that according to the article of The Japan Times, "a tourism ministry official said that tourists will still need to have “sponsors,” or travel agencies in Japan that they can contact if they get infected with the coronavirus, meaning individual tourists, such as backpackers traveling without a sponsor, won’t be allowed in."

Starting Sept. 7, entry will be allowed for nonescorted visitors on package tours and the daily arrival cap will be raised to 50,000.