"Japan's Foreign Worker Restrictions Backfire on Domestic Food Service Industry"

Suspension of New Visa Issuance Triggers Labor Shortage in Food Service Industry

The central area of Ginza (Ginza) in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Bloomberg News).

The Japanese government is facing criticism that its policy of restricting the issuance of residency qualifications (visas) for foreigners is, in fact, leading to labor shortages and rising costs in the domestic food service industry.

On June 20, the Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) Shimbun reported that the Japanese government’s quota system for the "Specified Skilled Worker" visa is causing such side effects.

Previously, in 2019, the Japanese government introduced the Specified Skilled Worker visas to address labor shortages. The system consists of Type 1, which allows employment for up to five years, and Type 2, which allows indefinite employment with family accompaniment. Type 1 has mainly been issued to workers in the food service industry.

However, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi began setting caps on the number of people accepted for each field under the Specified Skilled Worker visa. The quota for Type 1 was set at 50,000, and as of this past April, when it was close to being reached, new applications were suspended.

According to the Nikkei, in the two months since then, job postings seeking holders of this visa in the job market increased by 2.1 times. Due to the labor shortage, the average annual salary offered to holders of this visa in the food service industry also rose by 160,000 yen (about 1.51 million won) over two months, reaching 3.34 million yen (about 31.68 million won).

The Nikkei pointed out that core personnel under the specified system, who are responsible for essential work such as ordering ingredients and workforce management, receive lower salaries than Japanese workers, yet play indispensable roles in the food service industry. The analysis is that the government’s policy has resulted in the industry suffering from both labor shortages and increased labor costs.

Going forward, as the quota system is applied to other sectors that rely heavily on foreign labor, such as construction and elderly care, it is expected that new applications for the Specified Skilled Worker visa will also be suspended in those industries.

Furthermore, the Takaichi cabinet is tightening visa issuance standards not only for employment but also for startups. The capital requirement for foreign entrepreneurs has also been raised from 5 million yen (about 47 million won) to 30 million yen.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.