It appears that Japan is going to require or is considering requiring applicants for some specific type of working residence status to have passed JLPT level N2.
This has numerous foreigners up in arms and vociferous about this move. How dare Japan discriminate against foreigners, some are saying. Some of these people are in Japan already and might not have checked their foreigner entitlement at the door when they entered; other wannabe disgruntled foreigners on the outside looking in, hoping to make it to Japan so they can pursue the sushi dream or ramen ecstasy that will bring them.
It appears that the visa status in question is Engineer/Humanities/ International Services (EHI), and that it has been abused by people who acquired that status, but took jobs that did not fall under (but were “below,” the platitude of 職業に貴賤はない aside) the permitted categories.
That abuse aside, if you’re going to work in a company in Japan and have a real job, which is just about a given if you want the government to allow you to live here, do you expect that it is acceptable to be illiterate, deaf, and dumb in Japanese? Foreign companies that operate in English aside, Japanese companies are made up of mostly Japanese people who—surprise!—communicate in Japanese and are not required to be able to interact with a non-Japanese in a foreign language.
These entitled foreigners need to get real, and discard their entitlement. The people complaining are not likely the usual Nishi-Azabu tribe, who work in foreign companies and have a crew of expensive English-speaking subordinates or a company-hired interpreter following them around all day. Rather, they are more likely foreigners who dearly want to live in Japan, but don’t want to “be” in Japan. If they succeed at getting the vaunted EHI visa, they will probably get their wish, at which point they can start complaining about being harassed by the police or refused entry to a bar.
