Japan’s corporates seek foreign workers

Insight: A new survey by the Nikkei shows that 98% of Japan’s business leaders want more foreign workers and 99% plan to hire actively from overseas in the next three years. The 140-plus surveyed CEOs say they need new skills in a whole range of areas, from marketing and planning to engineering and AI development. Japan’s declining labor force is one reason for this, but more broadly, Japanese companies are coming to realize they are simply not “diverse” enough — in the sense of having people with the right specialisms, experience and, frankly, creativity.  

Impact: While the US is clamping down on issuing visas to foreign workers, Japan is cracking open its door a little further. Immigration has become a key political issue and while the headlines are dominated by overtourism concerns, the Nikkei survey shows that Japan’s corporate sector recognizes a real need for new skills and ideas it cannot find domestically. To put it in context, only 3% (3.77 million) of the current population are foreigners and even the most ardent CEOs see that rising to only 5-10% over time. Still, the direction is the right one and Japan has a lot to offer overseas professionals — safety, great food, history, culture, and relatively low living costs — particularly those that may no longer feel welcome elsewhere. 

That’s how much VC funding in Southeast Asia declined in the second half of 2024. This might look like a modest dip on paper, but it tells a bigger story. The region has regressed to pre-unicorn era levels of funding: both deal volume and capital deployed are now comparable to 2016, when Grab had just hit a billion-dollar valuation and Gojek was still private. In contrast, VC funding in India surged by 62%, while Latin America climbed by 59%. Amid sluggish exits and limited M&A pathways, Southeast Asia risks losing ground to faster-moving emerging markets.

Insight: K-pods have slipped into Southeast Asia’s youth culture — only these vapes are laced with anesthetics that can turn a puff into paralysis, becoming the latest fast-rising public health crisis across the region. The culprit? Etomidate, a surgical sedative now repurposed as a street drug and inhaled through vapes. Once confined to East Asia, etomidate-laced vapes are spreading across Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The effects are disturbing, with users twitching, staggering, or convulsing on the floor. In Singapore, one in three vapes tested now contains etomidate, with fatal incidents linked to erratic driving and falls. Despite bans, enforcement has struggled to keep pace with online sales through TikTok, Telegram, and other peer-to-peer messaging and e-commerce platforms. 

Impact: The rise of so-called “zombie vapes” exposes how synthetic drug syndicates exploit youth culture and digital platforms to embed new substances into everyday habits. Southeast Asian states are scrambling to respond. Singapore has criminalized etomidate and shut down thousands of online listings, while Thailand and Malaysia have moved toward nationwide bans. But syndicates are adapting, using shell companies, schoolyard dealers, and cross-promotion with other illicit markets. Beneath the public health crisis lies a deeper social challenge. Addiction counselors point out that many young users turn to k-pods not just for the high, but as an escape from stress, trauma, or economic precarity. Without addressing these root causes, bans alone may do little more than push users toward the next synthetic substitute. 

Insight: Japan’s Asahi Group suffered a broad-based ransomware attack this week that halted production at all 30-odd of its domestic production sites. The beer and whisky maker has been forced to halt orders and deliveries as it investigates the severity of the problem. To date, it has been unable to announce when it will be able to resume production. A May 2025 survey by Teikoku Databank suggests that one third of Japanese companies have experienced a cyber-attack.   

Impact: Digitalization makes you efficient until it makes you helpless. As factories get more connected and smarter, one well-coordinated attack can take down an entire production system or value chain. Yet today’s industry assumes that all will be well, and their networked factories won’t fail. Apart from updating hardware and software, educating staff and getting professional advice on cyber matters, companies should also give some thought to their response as and when a crisis does hit. Having a playbook and a team in place and going through annual training and updates sound like basic steps – but it is worrying how many companies do not take them.  

The race for tech sovereignty — the ability of nations to produce, control, and protect their own technology and digital systems — is shaping industrial strategy across the globe. Our new piece of research under FGS Global Radar, The Global Technology Race: Public Attitudes on Tech Sovereignty, finds high support for sovereignty across the UK, US, France, Germany, and Italy. Yet in Asia, the picture is more nuanced -- and pragmatic.  

In Japan, for example, people back sovereignty but remain open to relying on foreign technology. This suggests the public cares about security and resilience, but not at the cost of cutting off international collaboration. What really hits home with ordinary Japanese – and people generally -- is linking sovereignty to jobs, economic security and personal data protection. 

This is mirrored across Asia: there is a public appetite for stronger domestic capabilities, but not at the expense of global partnerships or frontline services. For policymakers and businesses, the challenge is to make sovereignty tangible — by tying it to jobs, resilience, and data protection — while navigating the region’s continued reliance on international technology supply chains. 

You can download the report here.