TOKYO -- The lower house of the Japanese parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that, if passed, will allow the country to formally accept foreign blue-collar workers and give them a pathway to permanent residency, an initiative some see as a step toward becoming a nation that welcomes immigrants.
In recent years, Japan has already seen a sharp increase in the number of foreign workers, ranging from professionals to unskilled ethnic Japanese mostly from Brazil. Here are five key points of the new legislation.
