With the government planning to introduce a new visa status next April to accept more foreign workers, demand from companies suffering from the manpower shortage is so high that officials are reportedly weighing expanding the sectors to be included in the program's initial stage. To start, the new status was to cover agriculture, construction, shipbuilding, lodging services and elderly nursing care, but these may be joined by manufacturing, fisheries and food processing. That is yet another indication that the Japanese economy, despite the government's official policy of not accepting simple labor from overseas, already relies heavily on foreign workers.

But as the government's new program will effectively lift the ban on low-skilled foreign workers, steps must also be taken to ensure that their rights as workers are protected and adequate living conditions in this country assured. These steps will be needed for Japan to win the tightening competition with other countries to attract enough workers it needs from abroad.

Since the government's plan to create the new status for foreign workers was unveiled in June, Aichi Prefecture — home to a large numbers of manufacturing firms such as automakers and machine tool companies — requested that the government include manufacturers among the sectors eligible to accept workers under the new status. As the local manufacturing companies continue to enjoy brisk business, small and medium-size firms in the prefecture that supply the manufacturers are reportedly facing a tightening manpower situation. As most recent school graduates are recruited by major companies, many of these smaller enterprises reportedly depend on participants in the Technical Intern Training Program to fill their staffing needs.