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SHIMODA, Shizuoka Prefecture: Japan is one of the world's fastest aging societies and this is creating a demand for healthcare services for the elderly.
Even though the country's unemployment rate remains high at five per cent, Japanese workers are not keen in the job, which is physically demanding and low-paying.
So in order to address the labour shortage, Japan has opened its doors to foreign nurses and healthcare workers.
25-year-old Maribel Bustamante Nagano comes from Luzon in the Philippines. She has been studying the Japanese language in Tokyo since her arrival in the country in May 2009, before she was accepted as a trainee at the Mikura no Sato senior care centre.
"I wished to come here to Japan for family support and ideally for my professional growth, and most especially to provide tender loving health care to the aged people here in Japan," Maribel said.
Maribel is not new to the job. Back in the Philippines, she had worked as a nurse in the National Centre for Mental Health for three years. She believes that opportunities, as well as the pay, will be better in Japan.
But to stay here, she must pass the national examination in three years. Traditionally, only half the Japanese students pass the examination.
"It is not easy - especially the language. There are Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. They are difficult to study. But Mikura no Sato is also supportive. They teach me how to overcome the situation," Maribel said.
Other than the examination, welfare centres and hospitals must also satisfy other conditions before they are allowed to employ foreigners.
For example, foreign trainees are paid the same amount as qualified Japanese nurses, and they also receive subsidised housing as well as training to clear the examinations.
There are less applicants from the Philippines and Indonesia than earlier expected. The Japanese government, for instance, was about to accept 450 people from the Philippines in 2009, but only 60 per cent arrived in Japan.
Despite the higher costs, the other staff at Mikura no Sato are pleased to have Maribel.
Sayaka Fujiwara, nurse, Mikura no Sato said: "In the beginning, we used a textbook to study and she was not doing work here. But Ms Maribel is keen to work. She reaches out to people and always has a smile. She is a good role model."
On Maribel's part, she is happily settled in and hopes to stay in Mikura no Sato as long as she can.
- CNA/sc
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