TOKYO -- The Japanese government is planning to allow overseas students at certain vocational schools here to seek employment in areas outside their focus of studies in an attempt to secure badly needed manpower.
Current Ministry of Justice guidelines say vocational school students must take jobs that have a considerable degree of relevance with their majors. The ministry will revise this as early as autumn so that students attending institutions certified by the education ministry will be treated like foreign graduates from Japanese universities and free to take a wider variety of jobs. About 300 out of 2,800 schools nationwide are expected to fall under this category.
