Japanese transportation industry is projected to face a shortage of approximately 278,000 drivers by 2028. As the country’s working-age population continues to decline and the aging of the frontline workforce grows increasingly severe, competition for human resources is no longer confined to companies within the same sector. It now extends across blue-collar occupations and even among neighboring countries, making the acceptance of foreign workers an urgent and unavoidable issue.

At the same time, however, Japan’s systems for receiving foreign workers remain far from sufficient. Attitudes such as “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” can still be heard at worksites, together with persistent misunderstanding and prejudice, all of which influence how prospective foreign workers perceive Japan and the anxieties they may feel about coming here.

Drawing on many years of reporting on the transportation industry and the working realities of drivers, as well as extensive experience teaching Japanese language and culture to international students and expatriates from a wide range of countries, this session will delve, together with participants, into the requirements for accepting foreign drivers in the industry and the challenges involved.