Construction workers labor at a large building in Tokyo on May 20, 2015. Japan said the number of foreign workers in the country had surpassed the 1 million mark in 2016. It said Chinese workers led the group followed by Vietnamese and then by Filipinos. AFP
TOKYO, Japan — The number of foreign workers in Japan topped 1 million for the first time last year, the government has said, as the country looks overseas to offset labor shortages.
Tokyo has moved little on loosening strict rules for foreign workers despite years of calls to crack open Japan’s borders to more immigrants.
But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled a plan to review the rules, saying foreign labour will increasingly be needed, particularly in the booming construction industry ahead of the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
