Japan to Foster Asian Maritime Instructors

Tokyo, Aug. 27 (Jiji Press)--Japan's transport ministry plans to invite maritime school instructors from other Asian countries to train them, officials said Thursday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism plans
to accept 70 to 80 such instructors over the next five years.
They will be given lessons on how to better train crew while
studying at the Maritime Technical College in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture,
western Japan, or the National Institute for Sea Training in Yokohama,
southwest of Tokyo, for months.
Most of the instructors will likely come from the Philippines as
Filipinos make up the bulk of foreign ship crew members employed in Japan.
According to the ministry, more than 40 pct of the world's ship
crew members are Asians. Countries which depend heavily on foreigners as a
source of crew for oceangoing shipping, such as Japan and European
countries, are racing to attract them.
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