November 30, 1999 
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| November 30, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Japan Japan ready to open up to Asia MANILA - The Japanese government has expressed its willingness to open up to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the rest of Asia. The pronouncement is contained in a 42-page official position paper, ''Report of the Mission for Revitalization of Asian Economy'', released during preparatory meetings for the ''Asean+3'' summit in Manila. ''We will not be able to build a true partnership with Asian countries unless we open Japan, and we must understand that opening Japan will also produce results that are desirable and beneficial for Japan itself,'' the position paper said. The paper stressed that: ''The time has come to seriously consider actively bringing in human resources from abroad to supply the people who will provide medical and nursing care and fill other needs as our society ages.'' It admitted that these people were currently lacking in Japan and that it would not be possible for Japan to fill the gap domestically. ''Effective use of human resources in this area would be extremely significant for the strengthening of our economic ties with Asian countries.'' In order to support close interaction, Japan committed to improving its existing systems for accepting foreign students so that it would be able to admit larger numbers to its universities. To make things easier for Asian students, Japan's educational institutions aim to hurdle language barriers by rethinking the use of the English language in the education system. Japan also committed itself to helping other Asians learn Japanese by establishing Japanese-language education centers overseas. (Asia Pulse/PNA) | |||||||||
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