TOKYO, Oct 05 (Japan Times) - Nearly half of Japanese companies are interested in hiring foreign nationals, according to a survey by information technology services firm Zenken.

In the survey, 45.5% of responding companies said they are interested in employing foreign nationals, while 35% said they are not.

Conducted between Aug. 19 and 21, the survey received valid responses from 200 companies — 42.5% employed fewer than 500 people, 15.5% had under 1,000 employees and 42% had over 1,000.

Of the companies interested in foreign workers, 68.1% cited their main reason to be a desire to secure talented employees.

Among other reasons, business operations that require foreign language skills were cited by 46.2% of respondents, and labor shortages by 42.9%. Around 30% said they want to strengthen their overseas connections or launch new businesses. ...continue reading