As a country with the need for global talent to add values to their export and to promote overseas business, Japan has faced difficulty in attracting and retaining the highly skilled. In eleven months after its start of the point based system for the highly skilled in 2012, there were only 434 applicants while more than 2,000 applicants were expected; among the actual applicants, only 17 applied from overseas while the remaining 417 were living in Japan. Language barrier, seniority system which hampers speedy promotion of young able staff in Japanese companies, and insufficient support for the foreign residents are counted as causes of unattractiveness of the Japanese labor market. In such a situation, international students have been regarded as an important source of skilled workforce in Japan.
International student policy in Japan has undergone a major change in 2008, when the plan to accept 300,000 international students was announced by the then-Prime Minister Fukuda: the plan declared a linkage with the recruitment of the highly skilled whereas the policy had been conducted as a part of ODA and promoted the return of students after graduation until that time. Various programs have been launched since then to support the job hunting and employment of international students in Japanese companies. The number of international students who changed to skilled work visa in Japan increased from 8,272 in 2006 to 19,435 in 2016.
Though the number of international students who got employment in Japan has increased, the retention rate is not very high. According to the survey by Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC entrusted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 40% of former international students working in Japanese companies plan to leave the workplace within five years. This is partly because of their dissatisfaction with working environment and partly because of their life planning to seek for better jobs after building up their career at the Japanese companies.
This is a bad thing for the Japanese companies who spend considerable resources for the training of their staff. However, those who kit Japanese companies and returned to their home countries often find their employment at Japanese affiliated companies, utilizing their Japanese language ability and connection with the Japanese people.
In this research, the author analyzes the perception of career development and working environment of students/graduates from four Asian countries, based on the questionnaire and interview surveys. Four countries are China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, which were picked up considering the number of students and the zest of Japanese companies for their recruitment. Through this comparison, the reason for the difference of their career development patterns and adaptation in Japanese workplaces will be discussed from economic, cultural and political point of views.
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