Japan is keen to receive around 10,000 Vietnamese workers every year, said the Japanese International Training Cooperation Organisation (JITCO).

After the disastrous earthquake and tsunami in 2011 ravaged the country, Japan has faced a shortage of workers, especially in the agriculture and seafood processing sectors. The numbers of workers in both sectors have fallen dramatically due to the repatriation of a large number of Filipino and Chinese workers, the JITCO has said.

Vietnam ’s workers are highly appropriate for working in Japan ’s agricultural and seafood-processing sectors and the JITCO wants Vietnamese recruitment agencies to increase the number of workers they send to Japan to work in these sectors this year.

Nguyen Gia Liem, head of Vietnam ’s Labour Management Board, said the average salary for workers on Japanese farms or in seafood factories is now between 1,000-1,500 USD per month.

Agencies in Vietnam say that the work requirements demanded by Japan are relatively easy as Japanese employers want their workers to have a secondary education, good health, no previous criminal convictions and encounter no immigration problems when leaving Vietnam or entering Japan. - VNA