Deer-related injuries in Nara reach record number already this year – Nara
The number of people who were injured in deer-related incidents in Nara Park was 209 in the past month, already a record high. Nara prefectural authorities are urging people to be careful when feeding deer with rice crackers and other food so as not to provoke the animals.
Nara Park is home to wild deer that are national treasures of Japan, making it a popular tourist spot. However, according to Nara Prefecture, the number of people injured by being kicked or bitten by deer was 209 at the end of January, which surpasses 186, the number of people who were injured throughout the whole period of last year, Fuji TV reported. Five foreign tourists were among those injured. Of the number, eight people suffered serious injuries, including broken bones. Usually, the most injuries occur from September to November, during the mating season when the deer become more aggressive.
The park has set up an information centre that advises tourists in several languages on how to treat the deer. Patrols are also making the rounds around the park every day.
Number of foreign visitors to Japan rises 7.5% to 2.69 mil in January – Nationwide
The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan in January increased 7.5 percent from a year earlier to 2,689,400, an all-time high for the month, supported by the relaxation of visa rules for Chinese tourists, official data showed Wednesday. By country and region, visitors from South Korea were the most numerous at 779,400, down 3 percent from a year earlier, followed by those from China at 754,400, up 19.3 percent, Taiwan at 387,500, up 10.5 percent, and Hong Kong at 154,300, down 3.9 percent, according to the data released by the Japan Tourism Agency. Hiroshi Tabata, commissioner of the agency, said the impact of a series of natural disasters last year, including a deadly earthquake that hit the northernmost main island of Hokkaido in September, has been subsiding. Tabata, however, said the pace of growth has not returned to the levels seen in the first half of 2018, partly because visitors from South Korea and Hong Kong are not recovering.
In January, Japan relaxed visa requirements for Chinese citizens. In recent years, increasingly wealthy people from China are traveling independently to foreign countries and are now less likely to join tour groups. The number of visitors from a number of other countries rose in the reporting month. Travelers from Vietnam jumped 27.8 percent from a year ago to 35,400, while those from Australia, many of whom head to Japan’s mountains on skiing holidays, renewed a monthly record of 81,100, up 16.0 percent.
Japan to ease language requirements for foreign nursing care trainees – Nationwide
The Japanese government plans to ease language requirements for foreign technical interns to work in the nursing care business as part of efforts to bring in more laborers from abroad. Japan opened up its nursing care sector for foreigners who are willing to work as trainees from November 2017. But the number of such trainees has grown at a sluggish pace apparently due to the Japanese language proficiency requirements, which have been set higher than interns in other sectors.
Currently, the care workers are allowed to extend their stay on the condition that they pass a certain level of a Japanese language test a year after they arrive in Japan. If they fail, they have to return to their own country. But the government now plans to allow the workers to stay two additional years as long as they express their willingness to continuously study the language, according to government sources. The change in the system could go into effect possibly in March, they said.
The move comes as Japan struggles with a labour crunch in the face of an aging population and falling birthrate. From April, it will introduce a new visa system that would broaden the entry of foreign workers, including for the nursing care sector. Japan introduced the technical intern program for foreigners in 1993 with the aim of transferring skills to developing countries.
Having added the option of care workers to the intern program, the Japanese government has been expecting many applicants from countries such as Vietnam to engage in the job to assist the elderly in their daily activities, such as getting dressed or eating meals. But only about 250 were serving as care workers as of October last year.
Technical interns can stay up to five years. But the scheme has been criticized for providing cover for companies that want to import cheap labour. Those who have gone through the existing technical intern program for more than three years will be able to obtain a new visa status to be created from April, and the government expects many interns to apply for the visa.
