Japan eyes opening farm work, in-home care to foreign workers

The Japanese government decided Tuesday to consider allowing skilled foreign workers to work in the agricultural sector in certain special economic zones, while compiling plans to allow certain foreign nursing care workers to provide in-home care services as soon as next year. The moves target two industries suffering severe labor shortages in the face of Japan’s rapidly graying population, and signal a shift in the country’s immigration policy, which has welcomed only highly skilled migrants except through a few limited programs. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a meeting of an advisory council on national strategic special zones that the intake of farm workers is important for the economic revitalization of Japan’s regions. “We will speed up the debate (on the issue) with a view to submitting bills in the next Diet session on measures that require legislative amendment,” Abe said, referring to the ordinary session set to convene in January....