The Yomiuri Shimbun
Many foreigners who have set their hearts on coming to Japan and working as nurses and nursing care workers may be forced to abandon their dream due to the difficulties they face in reading kanji. This is most unfortunate. We think the government should quickly take steps to prevent this deplorable situation from occurring.
Hundreds of nurses and nursing care workers from Indonesia and the Philippines have come to Japan under bilateral economic partnership agreements. Many are now employed at health and medical facilities across the nation. Already, 880 have arrived to seek work, and up to 1,190 more are expected to come to Japan in fiscal 2010 starting in April.
To continue to work in Japan, the nurses and nursing care workers are required to pass Japan's national nurses examination within three to four years of their arrival.
Learning Japanese so they can pass the examination while they work is critical. However, the largest headache for many is trying to master kanji.
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Technical difficulties
Nearly all the exam questions include technical terms and difficult kanji that even most Japanese could not read at a glance. For example, the questions include kanji for "jokuso" (bedsore), "gyogai" (lying on one's back) and "doseki" (push or strain).
Reading and understanding such kanji is an incredibly tough nut to crack for people from cultures with no kanji background. All 104 foreign nurses who came to Japan in 2008 with aspirations of working failed the first national examination in February 2009.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has questioned the situation in which most foreign nurses and nursing care workers cannot pass the national examination merely because of poor kanji comprehension. He has mentioned that he supports a review of the examination system.
We agree with Okada. We think these nurses should be allowed to use dictionaries in the exam, or have furigana written above or next to the kanji in test questions.
The examination to be held in February 2011 will be some foreign nurses' final opportunity to remain in Japan. If the examination system is not reviewed by autumn, they could miss the chance to stay and work. The government needs to quickly take steps to review the current system.
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Opinions split
However, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the Japanese Nursing Association appear reluctant to change the exam. They believe the nurses should gain Japanese proficiency to the level where they can pass on patient details and work-related matters to coworkers.
The ministry and the association likely are cautious about possible repercussions of the growing acceptance of foreign workers on the nation's employment environment.
However, the point of the examination is to test whether people taking it have the knowledge necessary to work as nurses and nursing care workers. They are qualified nurses and nursing care workers in their home countries. Even if they cannot read mind-boggling kanji, it would not largely affect their day-to-day work routines.
Most of these foreign workers came to Japan with big hopes of working here. They are diligent and have earned a good reputation among patients.
The government should do more to prevent a situation in which nurses and nursing care workers are unable to conquer the national examination due to the "kanji hurdle," and are forced to return to their countries with heavy hearts.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 8, 2010)
(Jan. 8, 2010)
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