As many as 138 Vietnamese nurses and caregivers have joined a two-month Japanese language training course that opened on June 9 at the Makuhari International Training Centre in Japan ’s western prefecture of Chiba , before starting their work in the country.

They are the first group to arrive in Japan as part of the Vietnam-Japan economic partnership agreements (EPA).

All of the attendees graduated from nursing schools in Vietnam . After their training course, 21 will work as nurses while the rest will become caregivers at various hospitals and healthcare centres in the country from August as interns.

In conjunction with a one-year language course, taken earlier back home, the latest round of training will enable the students to become confident speaking Japanese conversationally, with a knowledge of medical vocabulary.

The nurses will be allowed to work in Japan for three years, while the caregivers will have four years to fulfil all necessary tests at the national level.

They will also continue to pursue corresponding certificates in the country. Those who pass all the examinations can stay as long as they wish.

Japan has also welcomed nurses and caregivers from Indonesia since 2008 and from the Philippines since 2009 under the terms of EPAs./.