Looking at Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data on foreign workers entering Japan, the growth rate of Nepalese workers has been rising since around 2014.
With the April 2019 revision introducing Specified Skilled Worker status, the number of people in Nepal hoping to work in Japan has been increasing rapidly.

Movement restrictions on foreign workers due to COVID-19 have had a major impact on Japan’s labor shortages.
Against that backdrop, interest has grown in Nepalese international students already residing in Japan before the pandemic who hope to work in Japan after graduation, as a factor that can help ease Japan’s labor shortages.
According to a Japan Student Services Organization survey ranking international students by country, Nepalese students rank third after China and Vietnam.
Attention is focused on talent coming from Nepal under Specified Skilled Worker status, as well as on Nepalese nationals already in Japan who plan to change their status of residence from student to Specified Skilled Worker.

Points to Keep in Mind When Hiring Nepalese Workers

A challenge often raised by corporate HR when accepting foreign workers is low retention after joining.
Factors affecting foreign worker retention include communication issues and hiring criteria aligned with Japanese customs.
In addition to language support, internal training, and counseling—keys to improving retention—the following points, grounded in Nepalese characteristics, serve as a lubricant when employing Nepalese workers.

Katakana

Within Japanese, after kanji, katakana is especially difficult for foreigners.
Because Nepal’s education system uses an immersion approach, Nepalese people tend to be more accustomed to English than Japanese people, and katakana pronunciation is said to be hard to catch because it gets mixed up with English pronunciation.
Workplaces need to align on shared pronunciation for katakana terms.
Examples: Alzheimer, accountability, social worker, informed consent, air mattress, evidence, guide helper, care manager, and others.
Taking the nursing care industry as an example, many katakana terms are used.

A Multiethnic, Multireligious Country

Nepal is a multiethnic nation with more than 50 ethnic groups.
Within Nepal, communication between ethnic groups takes each group’s characteristics into account.
Culture, customs, and temperament also differ by ethnic group.

Nepalese Gestures

For Japanese people, nodding the head up and down means yes and shaking it side to side means no,
but for Nepalese people, yes is expressed by tilting the head sideways.
When Japanese-language communication is still limited, this can lead to misunderstandings, so be careful.

Time

Being loose with time is a characteristic of Asia more broadly, not only Nepal.
Concepts of time differ by culture. According to cultural anthropologist Edward Hall,
concepts of time fall into two broad categories:

< M-time / L-time >
◇ Characteristics of M-time (monochronic time)
Cultural spheres such as Japan, Germany, and the United States
・ Focusing on one thing at a time
・ Emphasizing planning with patterned behavior
・ Time is money

◇ Characteristics of P-type time (polychronic time)
Cultural spheres such as Vietnam, France, South America, Asia, and the Arab world
・ Trying to handle multiple things at once
・ Acting flexibly without being bound by schedules
・ Business as an extension of social interaction
・ Placing importance on human relationships

For Nepalese workers, who fall under P-time, it is desirable for employers to proceed with a policy of using M-time and P-time differently as appropriate.

For Career-Oriented Nepalese Workers

Among career-oriented Nepalese workers—often seen when international students take jobs in Japan—
early turnover tends to occur when a gap arises after hiring between the employer’s reasons for hiring and the worker’s future vision.
To improve retention at the company, communication about future vision is needed between the employer and the Nepalese worker.

When employing foreign workers from Nepal or other countries, it is necessary to accept cross-cultural differences positively
and to shift values with unique thinking.