Indonesian nurses head to Japan

Over 200 Indonesian nurses and caregivers left their country yesterday to begin language training and work in Japan:

After arrived in Japan, the nurses and caregivers for the elderly will be taught Japanese for six months before they are placed into hospitals as nursing assistants, or at nursing care facilities as care workers, officials said.

Those working at hospitals will need to pass the national examination of nurses within three years while those working at nursing care facilities will need to pass the national examination of care workers within four years if they wish to continue working in Japan.

Failure to pass will mean they have to return to Indonesia.

The TBS news report embedded in this post notes that some people believe it is unreasonable to insist that the Indonesians take the exact same exam that Japanese nurses must take, and such a strict requirement could cause a lot of valuable workers to be simply thrown away.