Japan is set to offer tests for driver's licenses for taxis and buses in foreign languages amid a shortage of drivers in the country, with the police agency distributing sample questions in the coming weeks.
The Japanese government has approved a policy to replace its controversial trainee program for foreigners, featuring improved rights protection with increased flexibility for changing jobs and tougher oversight.
A Tokyo bus operator has declared its desire to hire foreign drivers, hoping the move will prompt Japan to open up the job to people from abroad as the country grapples with a growing labor shortage in the public transport sector.
Japan's immigration authorities have proposed expanding the scope of a blue-collar skilled workers visa that effectively allows holders to stay in the country indefinitely in a possible major shift in its foreign labor policy.
The Japanese government has set up a panel of experts mainly composed of academics, municipal government chiefs and lawyers who will review the country's problematic foreign technical intern program and propose ways to improve it.