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Japan Revises Tests to Help Illiterate Nurses

Media outlets in the Philippines are reporting that Japan is going to revise its nursing certification exams to make it easier for foreign nurses to pass:

Since the Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) was implemented in 2009, only one Filipino nurse qualified to work in Japan after going through rigorous application and hiring procedures, an official of the Japanese embassy in Manila said Tuesday.

In the same period, 139 Filipino nurses and 299 caregiver applicants were accepted to train in Japan between 2009 and 2010, according to the Japanese official, who requested anonymity as he was not supposed to talk about the revised exams pending an official statement from his government.

Applicants are given qualification tests after six months of the language course but the Japanese official said Filipino applicants had a difficult time passing the examinations.

For the sake of Filipino applicants, the Japanese diplomat said medical terms in Japanese — like diabetes, cataract, and pulmonary tuberculosis — will be replaced with English words to make it easier during the written tests.

“We are trying to improve the implementation of movement of natural persons particularly in the (context) of licensure examination to make it more passable for foreign applicants including Filipinos,” he said.

If the reports are true, the changes will mean that nurses who cannot read medical terms in Japanese may be able to become certified nurses in Japan and receive work visas.

If hospitals are expecting nurses that are illiterate in the language of this country to do the same work as Japanese nurses, they will need to change over to bilingual paperwork and make sure all their medicine and equipment has bilingual instructions. If that doesn’t happen, one can probably expect the newly certified foreign nurses to be treated as second-class nurses, doing menial tasks while Japanese nurses still do the important work that requires literacy.

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63 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - February 10, 2011 at 12:25 pm

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/254166 Cryptnotic

I don’t think I’d want the person preparing my medication or other treatments to be illiterate.
Omicron

Funny that the author of this article used the term illiterate because the author was referring to Filipino nurses. Nurses from Indonesia took the exam too but not were included in the “Illiterate nurses” article. I often read news about the Philippines and sadly Filipinos become easy targets by other nationalities in forums, maybe because their people are prefect and literate.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Funny that the author of this article used the term illiterate because the author was referring to Filipino nurses.

I use the term “illiterate” because the test is being revised so it is easier for people who cannot read Japanese. If you cannot read Japanese, you are illiterate in Japanese.

It has nothing to do with the nurses being from the Philippines, and everything to do with the fact that nurses cannot read Japanese. If they could read Japanese, they would not need English translations of complex words.

The quotation contains information about Filipino nurses because it from the GMA News, a Filipino news outlet.

Kuwabara Mamoru

Adding or replacing Japanese terms with English ones won’t help the nurses in the end. I could see adding furigana above the kanji on the test, but one would think furigana will not help a nurse who can’t understand 糖尿病 is diabetes; because the reading is not necessary. Even someone who doesn’t know the reading but knew kanji would understand the meaning: “sugar-urine-disease.”

Maybe what would be most helpful to the nurses would be giving them more TIME to take the test. Their reading speed in Japanese is probably comparatively lower to Japanese nurses, right? They probably can read fast enough to do their job but not fast enough to read a Japanese novel quickly or take a test. It makes sense to give them more time. That’s what’s done in American schools correct? If there is a student who can only read slowly, the teacher does not fail him because he cannot read the test quickly. He gets extra time. It’s unreasonable to expect international nurses with only a few years experience reading Japanese to read as fast as Japanese nurses who have been reading Japanese for decades.

http://tepido.org LB

If there is a student who can only read slowly, the teacher does not fail him because he cannot read the test quickly. He gets extra time.

That is all fine and good in a classroom setting, but if I am hitched up to machines and only able to communicate in writing, I don’t want the nurse who takes 3 minutes to read “YOU’RE STANDING ON MY OXYGEN TUBE!!!!!”

Omicron

Using the word “illiterate” is not proper because If say someone is illiterate, that means that person has no knowledge or no education in a specific matter. However in this case, the Filipino nurses (I assume because they are taking the test) can read and write some Kanji but not near
native excluding kanji characters that are specific to nursing that they need to study.I hope Filipinos are not labeled as “illiterate” for not passing a test. I think the first comment in this article shows the message this article is
sending to your readers.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Using the word “illiterate” is not proper because If say someone is illiterate, that means that person has no knowledge or no education in a specific matter. However in this case, the Filipino nurses (I assume because they are taking the test) can read and write some Kanji but not near native excluding kanji characters that are specific to nursing that they need to study

Those who need the English translations cannot read or write enough Japanese to pass the nursing exam. That means they lack the literacy to do so. They are not literate in the Japanese language, especially when it comes to the specific matter at hand: nursing.

They are functionally illiterate when it comes to reading and writing the terms they need to understand to carry out their job. They may be very literate in another language, but when it comes to the language of Japan, they are illiterate.

I hope Filipinos are not labeled as “illiterate” for not passing a test.

Seeing as they are supposed to already have nursing training, one should hope that inability to read and write Japanese is the major reason why so many of them are failing the tests.

I think the first comment in this article shows the message this article is sending to your readers.

I don’t see anything particularly bad about Cryptnotic’s comment. I would also prefer that nurses preparing my medication at a Japanese hospital have the ability to actually read and understand the reports and paperwork prepared by Japanese doctors and nurses.

As I mentioned in the post, if you make the nursing exam bilingual, the work environment will also have to be more bilingual. If the exam has English translations, hospital paperwork will also need English translations.
Weirdo

“Illiterate” means “unable to read or write,” and not being able to read 糖尿病 certainly counts as illiteracy.
Comment

Omicron, as a native English speaker, I often refer to myself as “illiterate” when I am in Japan. The fact is I can even read hiragana and katakana, and up to about 2nd or 3rd grade kanji, but I sure as hell can’t read a book or newspaper, so I am illiterate when I am in Japan.

When I am with my Japanese friends, and we are doing something that requires reading (like a menu without pictures, for example), I’ll often say: “Will you help me, I am illiterate.” They know I am saying I can’t read Japanese (very well), and not that I can’t read anything in any language.

Illiterate is not an insult, it doesn’t mean you are uneducated or stupid, it just means you can’t read something. We are all illiterate in many languages, and literate in others. It’s no big deal. If you are finding it insulting, it is coming from within you. James is using the term properly.

flowby

Point understood – BUT generally in the English speaking world the termm “illiterate” does have negative connotations – that’s for sure.

As a technical linguistic term perhaps it is stating a level of language acquisition and ability, but most people DON’T use it that way.

The article title, “….illiterate nurses” certainly is sloppy writing.

Comment

If so, then it is a good thing James posted the article using the terminology the way he did. It will help educate people that their understanding of the meaning of the word may not be correct.
flowby

Static language , static meanings.

Evolving language, evolving meanings.

Add on social nuances and presto – a slight can be had where no slight was intended.

http://julesandjames.blogspot.com/ James Annan

Well done on using such spiteful and hateful language as usual. Sure, after three years they aren’t up to speed on obscure stuff that may well have natives running for the dictionary. Is it really better to ship them out after 3 years and bring in another lot of fresh-off-the-boat short-term visitors – who really will be illiterate, rather than just imperfect on technical kanji? (I’m sure you already know that this *is* the current policy.) Is that really sensible or even viable given the increasing numbers of such immigrants necessary?

Of course when they can’t read sufficiently well, they will have to either have more highly supervised jobs, or else ask for a lot of help. So what? That is no different to what they were doing already, they didn’t suddenly lose all ability the day they failed the exam.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Of course when they can’t read sufficiently well, they will have to either have more highly supervised jobs, or else ask for a lot of help. So what? That is no different to what they were doing already, they didn’t suddenly lose all ability the day they failed the exam.

It’s a problem because if they pass the test, they should technically have the exact same certification as the native Japanese nurses that pass the same exam. That means that foreign nurses and Japanese nurses should be treated as equals in the workplace. After all, they have the exact same certification issued by the Japanese government.

However, if the exam is bilingual and contains English translations, it will make passing the test far less valuable for the foreign nurses. Regardless of their actual language ability, foreign nurses will suffer extra discrimination because employers will suspect that their language abilities were inferior.

They come to Japan as “trainee” nurses and basically work as poorly paid assistants to the “real” Japanese nurses. When they pass the exam, their status is supposed to be upgraded. That won’t happen if English translations are added to the test. As you write, things will be “no different from what they are doing already.” They’ll be stuck as second-class nurses.

I would like a change to the system that does more to help them reach the level of Japanese language proficiency that would allow them to pass a 100% Japanese exam. Perhaps extending the “trainee” period by a few more years and having more government-sponsored language training would do the trick. That way, there will be far less doubts about their abilities and a much better chance of being treated like actual certified nurses.

RMilner

If Japan needs to import foreign nurses, they need to find a way to train them up to the required standard in three years.

These women are not stupid or uneducated. They are qualified nurses in their own country, and possibly literate in English, Spanish and Tagalog. They must have the capability to learn Japanese. They already know the nursing techniques.

If the exam is a fair one, the training course must be inadequate, or more would pass.

Either way, the supply of foreign trainee nurse applicants will dry up once they find there is a 1% chance of qualifying.

Then where will Japan find its nurses?

potkettle

Not from Indonesia or the Philippines. It’s always the English speakers that get all uptight when English is not considered superior. Japanese is the official language in Japan! They could always try a bilingual country.

flowby

“…..superior”

That’s a joke isn’t it?

Omicron

I think it is only fair that you add Indonesian nurses to “illiterate nurses” because I heard only two of them passed. I think there are better terms
than the word “Illiterate” It is inappropriate to use it for Professionals who can’t read some Kanji because they are less trained in medical terms compared to their Japanese counterparts. I think it is also inappropriate to call Japanese doctors and nurses with insufficient English skills treating foreigners as “illiterate” right?

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I think it is only fair that you add Indonesian nurses to “illiterate nurses” because I heard only two of them passed.

I wrote about “foreign nurses” in the intro to the quote.

The report comes from the Filipino media, so that’s why the quote from the Filipino news article mentions Filipino nurses. I didn’t write that quote, and I don’t see any need to change it. If you can find a similar article about the exam revisions from an Indonesian newspaper, I’ll be welcome to add a quote from it as well.

I think it is also inappropriate to call Japanese doctors and nurses with insufficient English skills treating foreigners as “illiterate” right?

If this was a post about Japanese doctors coming to America and failing to pass a certification because they couldn’t read English, I would refer to them as “illiterate.”

Omicron

Then it is very sad that they will be labeled as illiterate for not passing the test rather than “insufficient language training or capability to pass the test”

http://www.billowykimono.com Senor Science

Good God, give it up

THEY’RE ILLITERATE IN JAPANESE, I REPEAT, ILLITERATE IN JAPANESE

Non of my bees wax

We know! But still they’re still lowering their standards,which will make medical services go two steps back. Nurses need to be able to comprehend not only language, written word. How else will they know without assistance what they are reading on the Doctors Orders? Imagine if a nurse from your region where to be illiterate and no doctor in the house to stop her from killing you…not on purpose of course.
flowby

How do you know their level of literacy in Japanese?

We’re discussing A specific field of technical Japanese that many “literate Japanese” may well stumble over. I doubt my Japanese mother in law could pass the said exam.

They may well be extremely fluent in daily Japanese and know the necessary basic 1,500+ kanji to read a newspaper and understand tv. But by your all-encompassing vision they would not qualify them as literate.

Throw-away comments only.

http://tepido.org LB

We’re discussing A specific field of technical Japanese that many “literate Japanese” may well stumble over.

Then those Japanese would be, brace yourself… illiterate in medical terminology.

They may well be extremely fluent in daily Japanese and know the necessary basic 1,500+ kanji to read a newspaper and understand tv. But by your all-encompassing vision they would not qualify them as literate.

Because they would not be, in their field. I can read a newspaper in Japanese and English, but would not be able to read and understand a medical text in either language. Therefore when it comes to medical English or Japanese I am illiterate.
flowby

So we agree the term “illiterate” as it stands alone is inappropriate and the article title would have read better using a more specific term.

Such as your suggestion – “Illiterate in medical terminology”

Clarity is the essence of communication.

Zen

I love how everyone react only when their own ethnicity is quoted in an limelight offensively…
Omicron

Same as anyone’s reaction who feels that his/her family is being insulted or ridiculed
Level3

As far as I know, the biggest problem is the 3 year time limit to acquire medical literacy in Japanese equivalent to a native speaker in speed. The bigger problem being that they are working full time, in what can be a pretty tiring job (especially if you’re getting stuck with the grunt work) AND expected to study up to full literacy within 3 years.

Keep in mind that these nurses ARE working already. This is an on-the-job training program, right? Clearly, they are good enough to work in hospitals already, despite any low-level of Japanese literacy. There must be some kind of system in place such that the non-literate nurse is not put in charge of writing critical medical reports or operating an ultrasonic lithotripter, untrained and unsupervised, from a Japanese instruction manual.

Let them just continue on supervised trainee status until they can pass the test. Set the maximum years to whatever turns out to be best to allow the acceptable majority of trainees to pass. Changing the exam to English is a bad solution. Whoever is running this program almost seems to want it to fail and open it to criticism.

In the end, I’d rather have an “illiterate” nurse give me a sponge bath than not get a sponge bath at all because there aren’t enough nurses. And even better, she’ll probably speak English, too!
April

Illiterate? Just because they can’t comprehend a language that is not their own? Please. If it was about the language, then Japanese people should be considered cavemen considering that the entire population could only comprehend their native tongue whereas these illiterate nurses can now probably speak and write three languages. Psh.
http://hanlonsrzr.blogspot.com/japan Mr. S.

Japan is a Galapagos in so many ways, and its use of three scripts is one. If you need to bring in foreign nurses, and you’d think the Japanese nursing organizations should have something to say about the wage erosion that will cause, isn’t China the obvious candidate? No other language relies on ideograms so much.

http://www.billowykimono.com Senor Science

Hiragana and Katakana can each be learnt in a day, and Kanji is nowhere near as daunting as foreigners make it out to be. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that 車、運、転 all have something to do with transport.

I fail to see how having three (With two relatively easy) scripts could contribute to Galapagos-zation.
Day-Bee-Toe

It is not so unique for a language to have multiple scripts.
All the European languages have two scripts: upper and lower cases of Latin/Cyrillic/Greek alphabets.
Korean also have two scripts: hanguels and hanjas (=kanjis).
Arabic and Hebrew have three scripts: Arabic or Hebrew alphabets and Latin upper and lower cases.

http://tepido.org/ LB

All the European languages have two scripts

We could make the case for four, I think: Upper-case printed, lower-case printed, upper-case cursive and lower-case cursive. That’s 108 letters, which are capable of being arranged in exactly the same order and yet mean completely different things, like “rose”.

薔薇？
起きた？
立ち上がった？
建てられた？
増した？
上がった？
昇った？
出生した？
耐えた？
反乱を起こした？

hohoho

People… just because all are called “nurse” doesn’t mean that there’s no difference between the woman who assists a doctor during heart surgery and the “nurses” who usually accompany old people taking a walk, wash them, etc.

Now, take a GUESS in which category 99% of most foreign nurses fall…

natem

In English, those might both be nurses. They require separate qualifications in Japan, and therefore bear separate formal titles.

Regardless, these “nurses” are failing to pass the test they were invited to take. That’s a problem, and no one is asserting that the problem lies exclusively with the would-be nurses.

Johannes

Why not be just direct and say “I think Filipino nurses are stupid and/or illiterate in Japanese culture and learning, which is why they should go away and leave Japan and the Japanese alone.”

I am Filipino, and being told that I cannot read Japanese enough to function in a specialized area is the least offensive thing that will be told to me.

What I find more insulting is how roundabout and indirect people can get when hurling their insults. Or maybe someone intentionally wants to start an argument, because the alternative is a silent “comments” section?

Day-Bee-Toe

I don’t see why someone see “discrimination” in this issue. I have never heard or imagined that a Japanese could take a Japanese version test if s/he wants to work as a nurse, doctor etc. in any countries but Japan.

Japan’s only official language is Japanese and the language is not secret at all, then it should be okay if and only if any participants, both Japanese and non-Japanese, can take the test in Japanese.

Of course the Japanese Government may revise the test and make it multilingual. But why can only English enjoy such a privileged position? If there should be the English version, there also should be Tagalog, Indonesian, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese etc. etc. etc…., am I wrong?

All the languages (and their speakers) are equal, and no languages (and their speakers) are more equal than others.

Bad Wolf

I can read sign, damnit!
kay

I understand your use of the word illiterate in this article, however I don’t believe “illiterate” belongs in the title of this article. In the main body you do use “illiterate in the language of this country” which adds specifics to its use, however in the title you do not make this distinction. Title could have been, “Japan considers revising nursing test due to dismal passing rates”

I also do not agree that not passing a nursing test after only 6 months training in Japanese a person should be labeled as illiterate. Seriously how far do u think most people get in 6 months of a Japanese course, even if it is intensive. The statement by the Japanese diplomat:

“For the sake of Filipino applicants, the Japanese diplomat said medical terms in Japanese — like diabetes, cataract, and pulmonary tuberculosis — will be replaced with English words to make it easier during the written tests.”

also does not state or label the applicants as illterate. There may be other issues with the testing process as well. I highly doubt that anyone except unusually gifted people can become fluent enough in a language in 6 months to be labeled as literate. While I do agree that these nurses are illiterate in Japanese, I am dismayed that people can expect students to become literate w/in 6 months.
Cryptnotic

They are living in Japan and working full-time in a hospital environment doing things they supposedly already know how to do in one language they can’t learn all the medical terminology in Japanese? 3 years times 40 hours per week times about 50 weeks per year is about 6000 hours of “on the job, in Japanese” time. Plus, living in Japan they’re getting another 6000 (or more) hours of “off the job, in Japanese” time. That’s roughly 12,000 hours of immersion. Compare that with three years of university level Japanese, which is only 5 hours per week, 30 weeks per year, 3 years = 450 hours of class time.

Sorry, I don’t have any more sympathy for them than I do for the people I know who did JET for 3 years, spent all their time hanging out with other foreigners and regret how they didn’t learn more than basic Japanese.

They should be figuring out how to get better, harder working, more ambitious candidates rather than make the test easier to pass.

kay

according to the article, nurses were only given 6 months of language instruction before taking the qualification exam

http://tepido.org LB

Were these nurses suddenly and unexpectedly “beamed” into Japan direct from their nursing school or job in their home countries? No. They applied for the position, correct?

Would you apply for a technical position in a foreign country where everyone spoke an unfamiliar language, and that language would be required for your job, without making an effort to learn that language?

kay

your point being?
http://tepido.org LB

My point being if you want to apply for a position overseas, and that position will require use of the local language exclusively or almost exclusively, one should learn that language before going. Not try to learn it “on the job” after arriving.

Granted, it would seem the Japanese side came up with this entirely unrealistic plan of “learn as you work”, but even so it seems to me there was wild optimism and unrealistic expectations on both sides. Japan should put far more effort into getting any nurses that are brought into Japan fluent in Japanese (perhaps before bringing them over? Just to make certain they can learn the language satisfactorily? Not everyone is good with languages after all…) but by the same token any nurses that want to work here should study Japanese and have some recognized credentials under their belt before applying for a position.

http://tepido.org LB

il·lit·er·ate (-ltr-t)
adj.
1. Unable to read and write.
2. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature.

You gotta love all the people above who are screaming “How dare you call these women illiterate because they can’t read and write to an expected standard!” Listen, that is the definition of the word, people! If you think there is a difference between “illiterate” and “unable to perform to an expected standard in Japanese” then that tells us one thing and one thing only: you are, at a minimum, partially illiterate in English.

flowby

Ah the dictionary – the true harbinger of enlightenment. A Gospel no less.

http://tepido.org LB

It is, if you are looking for the actual meaning of a word.

But thanks for the throwaway comment.

flowby

My pleasure.

And for a fuller answer please refer to my posting a little above re usage.

Hamachiman

The Foreign Services Institute considers Japanese the hardest amongst 5 languages to learn for native english speakers, and gives a time line of 88 weeks to achieve proficiency in it. The other languages are Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean.

I can only read hiragana and katakana phrase, and can carry on simple conversational Japanese on the level of a parent with a child. Once I start watching Japanese t.v., particularly news programs and the like, it’s almost like hearing an alien language as I recognize almost none of it. I would certainly think it takes more than 6 months to learn Japanese proficiently, considering as pointed out above these nurses are also putting in a lot of time doing what I would think is physically and mentally demanding work.

I say this by thinking that many Filipino’s speak english, especially those that come to work in Japan, so I base their learning ability of Japanese as that of an english speaker.
Firetribe

Funny how the PC people show up. “Illiterate” may sound offensive, but it’s used correctly, so get over it.

About the article, nursing is skilled labor, so commuication is vital. A few medical terms could be the difference between life and death of a patient. Lowering the standards for a visa won’t the actual job any easier. And it is doubtful Japanese doctors and nuses are willing to compensate. Therefore it sounds like they are being setup for failure.

David

yes, communication is vital, esp. in a matter of life and death. If I were near an accident scene with a lot of casualties in the us, and called 911, I would be stuttering in confusion and fear — in my own native language! I do not envy these non-Japanese speaking nurses who will have to deal with a patient who suddenly gets a heart attack, stroke, stops breathing, etc.

bleh

Why are you people arguing about the use of the word illiterate?

Ok, I am Filipino-American and I think the word describes these people well. They cannot pass an exam because of a deficiency in the language. They are illiterate in Japanese. That’s that.

Lets focus the discussion on the issues in the post rather than a misunderstanding of a word.

kay

The title does not specify “illterate in Japnese” only illiterate. I think that’s where the distinction should be made. I believe most likely the instruction being given is not sufficient for the nurses to gain literacy in Japanese up to the standards of the test created. It’s sad that rather than mending the issues, the suits would rather create more problems.

hoihoi

I think those Filipina is lack of effort

kanoe81

I think it’s nearly impossible to start learning a language and achieve the technical fluency of a college graduate in 3 years or less. Someone else said they only have 6 months of language instruction.
Ganda_echay

FYI… 6 months of japanese training is not enough to learn the language. How can u explain that even japanese people cannot pass the exam?

Hamachiman

I should say that some Filipino’s are quite sensitive about perceptions that any of their countrymen are being insulted in any shape or form, and word will spread quick on the world wide web.

Case in point, Miss Universe Riyo Mori in 2007. On one blog site (Ines Ligron), Mori’s day to day status leading up to the competition was posted. One day, a blog was posted where it seemed to portray Mori saying some very unflattering things about Miss Phillipines. Someone no doubt saw that and spread it across the Filipino internet community, and the outcry was swift and severe. There was so much hate directed at Riyo, some along racial lines (no doubt the ‘Japanese angle’ played a big part in Filipino’s stirring up hatreds). Nope, it couldn’t be about one woman saying things about another (which may or may not have been true, so much for trying to hear both sides of the story, just jump to conclusions when your own race is perceived to be insulted).

At any rate, that was just one example of how one incident can be used to inflame a lot of anger and passions.

This may or may not be one of those cases, who knows.
Omicron

So it means that if you said something to a person and he got offended (not your intention), youll Just tell that person “get over it?” or as an educated person, you’ll rephrase and apologize?

http://tepido.org LB

Not going to speak for James, but for myself, as an educated person, I would first listen to what the other person had to say. If that person had a rational, logical point of view where I could say “gee, I never thought of it that way. That’s not at all what I meant but I can see where you are coming from” then I would rephrase.

However if the other person’s argument was “How DARE you call someone who cannot read or write illiterate!!!” and that person absolutely refused to accept the fact that “cannot read or write” is the very definition of “illiterate” and insisted that I was somehow being discriminatory, or using “hateful language” as one poster above put it, for pointing that illiterate people were “illiterate”, well in that case I would have to conclude the other person was not actually an educated person at all, didn’t have a legitimate grievance, and was merely looking for an excuse to be “offended”.

Having reached that conclusion, I would then tell the other person to go pound sand, as I’m not going to apologize or rephrase for the sake of an idiot seeking to fill their daily quota of imagined slights and insults.

But that’s just me.

Mike S

I think those nurses are champions ! I take my hat off to them. It is not surprising they cannot pass the test, hell I would expect very few people could in 6 months master japanese to a level they could pass a test full of medical terminology ! The 1 or 2 who passed deserve a fucking medal !!

Honestly I would like to see how well some of the Japanese experts here would do on the test. Japan is in a situation where they have a massive shortage of nurses, so they can either change their strategy and make it easier for the nurses to stay, or they can send them home and keep having a shortage of nurses. If the nurses can’t stay I’m sure some other countries which also have a shortage of nurses would take them.

These nurses are likely busy all day doing unpleasant tasks a lot of people here would turn their noses up at, I think it would be really tough to master Japanese at the same time ! Personally I think a better long term approach is for the documentation and equipment in the hospitals / rest homes to be in Japanese and english. As the transition is made over time, when the japanese demographic time bomb explodes the environment will be ready for foreign medical workers.
Omicron

Rubbing salt into the wound
Jason

According to the article the majority of these workers are caregivers. They are the ones cleaning and feeding the elderly of Japan. They make low wages (about 1000 yen/hr) and are often mistreated by their Japanese co-workers.

Hats off to the Filipino workers who come here and do their best before the Jgov sends them home. I hope more will pass the test next time!

Ganda_echay

@ jason Exactly… and they were professional people… It’s iether a certified nurse or a 4 or 5 year degree holder with caregiver certificate can only work as a caregiver in japan.

Japan Revises Tests to Help Illiterate Nurses

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