Looks like the government in Japan is considering the idea of making it easier to get work visas or get them extended based on your JLPT scores.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/n...129a2.html

So if you didn't have a good reason to take the JLPT before, maybe this will help.

The BBC also reported this, here,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7189277.stm

They kind of give the impression that you would have to have learned Japanese before getting a visa which I think is kind of tough. I wouldn't have been able to come to Japan when I did if this rule was in place, even though I wanted to study the language because I hadn't taken a proficiency test.

Does anyone know if this kind of rule is common or is it another one of Japans strange anti-terrorism ideas...?

Cheers

Debito has a couple of posts on the flip side:

http://www.debito.org/index.php

There seem to be two sides, one about making visas easier, and one about kicking people out if they don't have language skills.

Most developed countries make it easier for people with advanced degrees/special skills, but don't have a langauge requirement for a visa (since often those people are usu. working in English). The US has no rule about it, though I'm sure our fearmongers would love to get one. I guess this one, we'll have to wait & see.

The proposed policy in rich_f's article seems to apply to a very small group of people. How many among us are skilled workers (e.g. engineers), with 5-9 years of work experience, proficiency in Japanese, and no college degree?

And Japan's measures to combat terrorism are getting more and more ridiculous. Language testing to prevent terrorism?!? wtf.

If the JLPT test results do become something that improves your chances of staying here, they will have to run the test more than just the once a year that they do now. They will have to run it three or so times a year.
But the article from the link only mentioned skilled engineers etc. I guess that most people here that are in japan are teachers of some sort, so I think they are talking about a completely different visa group.

Quote:Last year an opinion poll carried out for the government found that more than half the foreigners who live in areas where they mix with Japanese people would like more opportunities to interact with them.

But only one in 10 of the Japanese living in the same areas wanted to talk to someone from abroad.

Man, that is sad.

radical_tyro Wrote:

Quote:Last year an opinion poll carried out for the government found that more than half the foreigners who live in areas where they mix with Japanese people would like more opportunities to interact with them.

But only one in 10 of the Japanese living in the same areas wanted to talk to someone from abroad.

Man, that is sad.

Somewhat understandable, though. Foreigners living in Japan obviously have a desire to know other cultures. The same can't be said for the ojisan who's been living in the same inaka as his great grandfather and has never ventured outside of his own village. I imagine (hope?) the numbers would be different among younger generations in urban areas.

We also don't know if the sample was random, how the questionnaire was worded, etc., so such numbers always need to be interpreted with a bit of care.

radical_tyro Wrote:

Quote:Last year an opinion poll carried out for the government found that more than half the foreigners who live in areas where they mix with Japanese people would like more opportunities to interact with them.

But only one in 10 of the Japanese living in the same areas wanted to talk to someone from abroad.

Man, that is sad.

It says that foreigners make up 2% of the population so that still gives a ratio of 4.9:1 for people that want to speak to us.

There are times when I don't get Japan, and then there are times when I *really* don't get Japan. This is one of those times. >_>

Although, I did find that on my travels I ran into a lot of nice people, who made me feel better about being there than the other 90% who wanted to run away screaming when I was crammed in a train or bus with them. I had a lot of fun talking in half-English-half-Japanese to a couple at a laundromat in Hiroshima. Really nice folks. I met some other nice people in Nagoya, and some in Oku-Matsushima when I climbed up Otakamori to see the islands of Matsushima a little better. And I met more nice people when I went hiking in Togakushi in Nagano prefecture.

I do have a theory about the 90% who run screaming into the night. In Japan, they study English in middle school and high school because they have to. Not because they want to. Then the years pass by, and they never use it. All of a sudden, one of those foreigners shows up, and we all know those blasted foreigners all speak English, so they get blathered at in English most likely, and all they want to do is run far away. Over time, it becomes an aversion to anyone who looks like they could speak English.

In Jr. High and High School, I had to take 5-6 years of French, and after that, I just never used it. So right now, if a French person came up to me and started talking to me in French, I would probably get the same feeling in the pit of my stomach that most Japanese get when a foreigner approaches them. You know, that "Oh God, I don't know a word of what he's saying, and I can't remember the words to tell him" feeling.

The other 10% are probably just bored or looking for thrills.

JimmySeal Wrote:And Japan's measures to combat terrorism are getting more and more ridiculous. Language testing to prevent terrorism?!? wtf.

Why the disappointment? This way we'll have more cultured and language proficient terrorists. Trying to raise the literacy level wherever they can, those cunning Japanese educationalists.

synewave Wrote:

radical_tyro Wrote:

Quote:Last year an opinion poll carried out for the government found that more than half the foreigners who live in areas where they mix with Japanese people would like more opportunities to interact with them.

But only one in 10 of the Japanese living in the same areas wanted to talk to someone from abroad.

Man, that is sad.

It says that foreigners make up 2% of the population so that still gives a ratio of 4.9:1 for people that want to speak to us.

Hey good point. That's not so sad after all.

i never had the urge to run away if i met a foreinger who tried speaking to me in a language i did not understand, either abroad or in mine own country.

I don't think I would try to run away, but speaking in a foreign language is really exhausting. In my country of birth, I studied in a school where we were required to speak english in the hallways and cafeteria, but when a foreigner visited our church, my friends and I were pointing fingers on who will talk to them.

Now that I speak three languages, I would say that if I'm tired, I'd rather avoid all conversations except in my mother tongue.

As an engineering student that sat the JLPT2 last year this seems like good news. I'm planning on looking for work there after graduation so the lower the visa restrictions the better.