Japan hopes more Filipino nurses will pass its 2013 licensure exam

The Japanese government is hopeful that more Filipino nurses will pass next year’s National Licensure Exam for Nurses after it made the grueling exam “friendlier” to foreign applicants.

Nobuyuki Yumi, director of the Employment Security Bureau of the Economic Partnership Agreement Office announced this during the 33rd NSK-CAJ Fellowship Program in Tokyo last Oct. 3.

According to Yumi, insufficient knowledge of Nihongo has remained the largest stumbling block to Filipino nurses, who wish to work in Japan under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

“For foreign applicants, Japanese language is the greatest barrier (but this year) national exams will become friendlier,” Yumi told reporters from ASEAN nations.

Yumi clarified that there are no problems as regard to the Filipino nurses’ skills or competency.

The dilemma, however, lies on the fact that only few Japanese hospitals accept foreign nurses. And most of them prefer Kangoshi passers and those “with higher proficiency” in Nihongo.

The acceptance of Filipinos nurses in Japan started in 2009. Under the agreement, Filipinos must take the national exams to become qualified to stay and work in Japan “for as long as they wish.”

Since 2010, the Japanese government has been easing its Kangoshi (or the national examinations) to accommodate more foreign health workers, specifically from Indonesia and the Philippines.

But based on the figures provided by Yumi, it showed that less and less Filipinos are being accepted: From 93 in 2009 to only 28 in 2012.

“The (Japanese) government acknowledged that (the exam) is difficult. So we changed the difficult words (to make it easier for the applicants),” he said.

Yumi added that aside from providing necessary assistance to the applicants, their government will also “continue to review” their system.

Filipino nurses aspiring to work in Japan must have at least three years of working experience. After which, the nurse can go to the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency to apply for the JPEPA scheme.

POEA, according to Yumi, will be responsible for the “matching” system of the nurse and its Japanese employer.

JPEPA nurse passers will undergo six- month pre- departure language training and another six-month post departure training. Upon reaching Japan, the nurses will also have to undergo training while working in medical facilities.

Each applicant is allowed to take the national nursing examination up to three times.