Japan's ageing population lures foreign migrants
Many years back, I went to Bali as part of the Philippine media team that covered the ASEAN Economic Summit there. One of the agenda in that summit was an agreement that would allow ASEAN citizens, particularly professionals and other skilled workers to work in any of the ASEAN-member countries within the region. In the same summit, Japan had even agreed in principle to allow foreign workers from ASEAN to fill up its impending labor shortage. The willingness of Japan to soften its hardline stance to allow foreign workers to come in was a welcome move on the part of the ASEAN member countries. Perhaps, it was Japan's role to share in the ASEAN's program of strenthening its trades in goods and services within the region itself. The Philippines, for one, is expected to benefit from this latest development. In fact, President Arroyo already went to work it out with the Japanese government on the possibility of fulfilling its previous commitment that would pave the way for Filipino ...