PETALING JAYA: Around the world, many people love Japan for its culture, food and history. As such, many would jump at the chance to live and work in Japan – making any official offer of a visa targeted at foreigners a choice opportunity.
With this said, it has been said online repeatedly over the years that the Japanese government is offering a “breeding visa programme” to foreigners in a bid to arrest its declining birth rate and slide towards an increasingly ageing population.
Is this true?
VERDICT:
FALSE:
With apologies to all the Japanophiles out there looking forward to such an opportunity, the “breeding visa” was in fact an 2018 April Fool’s prank by the Tokyo-based news site SoraNews24.
The portal was the first to claim the existence of such a visa, before later removing the article from the website and clarifying that there is no such programme in existence.
Unfortunately, the headline was catchy enough for people to create videos and memes about the programme almost every year – giving people false hope about the Land of the Rising Sun.
However, it was also reported in April this year that Japan has expanded its foreign worker visa programme to allow for extended stays of up to five years; the aim of this is to address the country’s worker shortage.
Hence, according to the Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry’s website (https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/
The visa is aimed to attract foreign entrepreneurs and innovators into the country to help with its economic growth and innovation.
Do take note, the demand for foreign workers is indeed a real thing – but not to help with the population.
That said, if you’re looking for a change of environment, perhaps Japan could be the next place for you to start your career and perhaps, settle down as well.
Sources:
https://www.news18.com/world/
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/
https://soranews24.com/2018/
