Jobs in Japan easy to get, but Bangladesh hardly avails the chance

You don’t have to run with money after agents to go to Japan. Once there, wages and allowances range from Tk 135,000 to Tk 157,000 in Bangladeshi currency. But to go, one must know the Japanese language. With just a six- to nine-month language course, it is possible to go to Japan. Later, there is also the chance to settle there permanently. Japan’s labour market is indeed very attractive. Yet Bangladesh has not been able to take full advantage of the opportunity to send workers to there.

Japan’s birth rate is the lowest in the world. In fact, in 2024 it dropped to its lowest level in 125 years. To address the crisis, the Japanese government announced a “childcare policy package” worth 3.6 trillion yen. According to projections by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, by 2070 Japan’s population may shrink by 30 per cent to 87 million. At that time, 4 out of every 10 people in the country will be 65 years old or older.

With the falling birth rate, the number of working-age and young people is decreasing year by year, while the elderly population is rising. The mortality rate, however, remains low. For this reason, Japan is now known as a “country of the elderly.” By October 2024, Japan’s population had declined to 120.3 million, that is, 900,000 fewer than the year before. Because of these factors, Japanese companies are struggling to find workers.

The labour shortage has become so acute that they are looking to hire people from abroad. This is an opportunity Bangladesh could seize. The difficulty is that without knowledge of the Japanese language, it is impossible to find work there.

Finance advisor Salehuddin Ahmed visited Japan in the third week of August this year and returned home in the first week of September. Afterwards, speaking with journalists at the secretariat about sending workers to Japan, he said: “It is possible to send 100,000 workers from Bangladesh to Japan within just three months. The condition is that the workers must know the Japanese language. Many people think only caregivers need to be sent, but in reality there are more categories. The Japanese told me that if Bangladeshis know the language, their jobs will be guaranteed.”

For many years Japan has been recruiting workers from China, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam. The list includes more countries. Bangladesh was added in 2019. On 29 January that year, Bangladesh signed its first memorandum of cooperation with Japan in this regard.

On 17 February the same year, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment issued a policy framework. Yet Bangladesh has not been able to show much success in sending workers to Japan.

According to sources in the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, there are currently 26,000 Bangladeshis living in Japan. The economic adviser said, “What’s surprising is that Nepal has sent 250,000 people to Japan. The Japanese told me that Nepalis are very disciplined and that the country does not suffer from the dominance of recruiting agencies.”

There are opportunities to work in 14 sectors in Japan. These include: nursing care or caregiver services, restaurants, construction, building cleaning, agriculture, food and beverage industry, the service sector, materials processing, industrial packaging, electrical and electronics equipment, shipbuilding, fisheries, car painting, welding and automobile mechanics or automotive parts manufacturing, and airport ground handling and aircraft maintenance (aviation).

At present, Japan is hiring the most workers as caregivers, technical interns in industrial packaging, welders and automobile mechanics. Bangladesh, however, is not remaining idle. The Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment has set up a separate unit for aspirants to Japan, called the “Japan Cell.”

Recently, at a seminar titled “Japan: A New Labour Market, Prospects, Challenges and the Way Forward,” Expatriates’ Welfare Advisor Asif Nazrul said that Japan’s working-age population is shrinking, which is creating more opportunities for Bangladeshis. “Bangladesh must prepare to tap the Japanese market. I told the Japanese they could recruit people by providing their own language training. They are interested. Japan could be the next major labour destination for Bangladesh. The migration cost to Japan is not very high, and there is no scope for recruitment through fake documents,” he added.

Sources in the ministry say that at present the highest demand for Bangladeshis in Japan is in the nursing care category, where 60,000 workers are needed. Although Japan’s average life expectancy is 84 years, the number of people aged 100 or above is nearly 70,000. The demand for workers in this category is to provide care for this elderly population.
Sources also indicate that the following numbers of Bangladeshi workers could be sent to Japan in the coming years: 2,000 in 2026; 6,000 in 2027; 12,000 in 2028; 30,000 in 2029; and 50,000 in 2030. By sector, this could include 40,000 in construction, 20,000 in factories, 20,000 as caregivers, and 20,000 in agriculture and car servicing.

Under Japan’s labour laws, a worker’s minimum wage is 700 taka per hour (in Bangladeshi currency). Workers may work eight hours a day, which means they can earn around 135,000 taka a month. In some cases, there is a limit of 44 working hours per week. Salaries are paid through bank accounts.

So far, 27 recruiting agencies in Bangladesh have been permitted to provide training and assist with worker placement in Japan. One licence has been canceled on charges of overcharging workers, while the others remain in operation. The advisor also noted that there is no problem in learning Japanese at either public or private institutions.

The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), under the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, has already started providing Japanese language training through 32 centers. Under BMET, several Technical Training Centers (TTCs) across the country have introduced a four-month Japanese language course, with 40 trainees per batch. In addition, there are private technical and language training institutions. For example, in Mirpur there is the International Language Institute “Ekush.”

It has been learned that a company named Kawai Group Japan Limited has built a residential training center on 22 bighas of land in Birulia, Dhaka, to teach Japanese. From 1 October, Japanese teachers have begun offering both language and skills training there. Dhaka University, Green University and North South University also offer Japanese language courses.
Nurul Islam Khan, founder and CEO of Ekush, told Prothom Alo: “We are teaching Japanese with great care. Many have gone to Japan after learning the language at our institution, and many more are waiting to go.”

BMET’s training centers include the Bangladesh-Korea Technical Training Center (TTC) in Mirpur, the Women’s TTC (Mirpur), Bangladesh-Korea TTC (Chattogram), Narsingdi TTC, Chapainawabganj TTC, Tangail TTC, and Khulna TTC. These institutions provide training up to the “N4” level. Passing N4 indicates basic proficiency in understanding Japanese. Anyone with an SSC certificate is eligible for admission.

In addition, several more Japanese language centers have been opened under a “hybrid model.” These include Bangladesh-Korea TTC (Mirpur), Women’s TTC (Mirpur), Bangladesh-Korea TTC (Chattogram), Chapainawabganj TTC, Khulna TTC, Moulvibazar TTC, Brahmanbaria TTC, Kishoreganj TTC, Kapasia TTC, Barishal TTC, Rajbari TTC, Chandpur Sadar TTC, and several others.

After training, workers sit for an exam. If they pass, they receive a further four months of training under Japanese management. Afterwards, they are taken to Japan as apprentices.

Officials of the ministry acknowledge that BMET’s Japanese language training centers lack skilled Japanese language teachers.