Japan’s government OKs new foreign trainee program to attract more workers as its population shrinks

The Japanese government adopted plans on Friday to scrap its current foreign trainee program, which has been criticized as a cover for importing cheap labor, and replace it with a system it says will actually teach skills and safeguard trainees' rights as Japan desperately seeks more foreign workers to supplement its aging and shrinking workforce. Under the new program approved on Friday at a meeting of related Cabinet ministers, people who arrive on a three-year trainee visa will be able to upgrade to a skilled worker category that would allow them to stay up to five years and possibly obtain permanent residency. Japan's population of 126 million is rapidly aging and shrinking, and many short-staffed industries, including services, manufacturing and construction, rely heavily on foreign trainees and language students.