Research

Research and policy briefs

What was submitted to the Bangladesh Embassy and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and new papers written under the same discipline. Each carries its key figures, its takeaways, its recommendations and its sources — not opinion but argument; not argument but arithmetic.

From his own documents

Policy analysis13 May 2025

Students are the largest source of remittance from Japan: the 2022–2024 data

By Japan Ministry of Justice figures, 9,275 Bangladeshi students were admitted to Japan in three years. Even a conservative model of a student's monthly income and costs yields savings of about BDT 1.8 million a year — many times what a TITP or SSW worker sends. Yet the student pathway has no place in the government's manpower planning.

9,275 students in three years — the largest remittance source missing from official planning.
About BDT 1.8 million saved per student per year — ten times a work-visa holder (model).

9,275
students admitted, 2022–2024: 25.6%
visa refusal rate after COE: ৳1.8M
annual savings per student (model)

Action plan13 May 2025

55,000 students in five years: the 2026–2030 roadmap

Japan has raised its international-student target from 300,000 to 400,000. With AJLIB and BSSAJ, the plan grows intake 10% a year from 2026 across four semesters to a total of 55,000 — backed by a network of JASSO-approved schools, quality improvement, and an international education fair with the Embassy.

Japan's target rose from 300,000 to 400,000 — the window to grow Bangladesh's share is now.
200+ consultancies × 45 students × 4 semesters — from 9,000 a year to 13,231 by 2030.

55,000
students, 2026–2030: 10%
annual growth: 200+
student consultancies active in Bangladesh

Policy proposal13 May 2025

An SSW pathway for students refused a COE: 8,200+ skilled workers in five years

Each semester 15–20% of applicants are refused a Certificate of Eligibility; after a second refusal most give up. The proposal: route N4 certificate-holders to the Specified Skilled Worker visa and encourage the rest to complete N4. At 25% annual growth that is 8,206 workers in 2026–2030.

15–20% are refused a COE each semester; after a second refusal most are lost.
Those with N4 are ready SSW candidates — no new training needed.

15–20%
COE refusals per semester: 8,206
SSW workers, 2026–2030 (projection): 25%
assumed annual growth

Policy proposal13 May 2025

Language-test capacity and equal recognition of certificates

The JLPT is held twice a year with 6,000–7,000 seats that sell out in two or three days — 20% of students cannot sit at all. JFT-Basic seats vanish within hours. Japan recognises ten tests, yet in Bangladesh a visa is in practice hard to obtain on any certificate other than the JLPT — while elsewhere any one recognised certificate suffices.

JLPT twice a year, 6–7k seats gone in 2–3 days — 20% of candidates never sit.
Japan recognises ten tests; in Bangladesh only one works in practice — the disparity is the problem.

2×
JLPT sittings a year: 6–7k
seats per sitting: 20%
of students unable to sit

Letter to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs1 March 2026

Twenty-eight hours a week and the cost of living: a question of student sustainability

Foreign students in Japan may work 28 hours a week, but in urban areas rent, food, utilities, transport and insurance have risen beyond what lawful income can cover. BSSAJ's letter is not a demand for more work — it asks for policy-level dialogue in the name of dignity, legal compliance and a sustainable student life.

Lawful income from 28 hours no longer covers city rent, food and insurance — this is about survival.
The letter asks for no extra hours — it asks for policy dialogue in the name of dignity and compliance.

28h
legal weekly work limit: 3
issues raised

Draft papers prepared in his style

Built from public data and his published positions; marked as drafts until he approves them.

Policy paperDraft · under review29 August 2026

‘Ikusei Shuro’ replaces TITP: what Bangladesh must have ready before 2027

In June 2024 Japan's Diet abolished the thirty-year-old Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) and legislated ‘Ikusei Shuro’ (育成就労, Employment for Skill Development), to start by 2027. The new system must raise a worker to SSW(i) level within three years, allows job changes under conditions, and requires a minimum level of Japanese before departure. Bangladesh's training, language and sending arrangements need to be rebuilt around that template now.

TITP is ending; Ikusei Shuro is a preparation route into SSW — employment, not ‘training’.
Language before departure (A1/N5) and A2/N4 within three years — language is now the ticket.

2027
deadline for the new system to start: 3
years to reach SSW(i) level: A1 / N5
minimum Japanese before departure

Policy paperDraft · under review29 August 2026

The 820,000 SSW ceiling and sixteen fields: where Bangladesh stands

On 29 March 2024 Japan's Cabinet set the Specified Skilled Worker (SSW(i)) acceptance ceiling for FY2024–2028 at 820,000 — more than double the previous five-year figure of 345,150 — and added road transport, railways, forestry and timber, bringing the fields to sixteen. Bangladesh signed the SSW memorandum of cooperation back in 2019, yet its share remains small next to Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines or Myanmar. Both the causes and the remedies are measurable.

Demand has doubled; the question is supply — can Bangladesh deliver candidates who pass the tests?
SSW has two doors — language (JFT-Basic/N4) and the field skills test — and seats for both are scarce in Bangladesh.

820,000
SSW(i) ceiling, FY2024–2028: 16
fields (4 newly added): 2019
Bangladesh–Japan SSW memorandum

Policy paperDraft · under review29 August 2026

Japan's 400,000-student target and the new accredited-school law: what Bangladesh should do

In 2023 the Japanese government set a target of 400,000 international students by 2033; in May 2024 the number reached a record 336,708. At the same time, under the Act on the Accreditation of Japanese Language Education Institutions in force since 1 April 2024, only government-accredited (認定) schools will be able to enrol students on student visas by 2029. The opportunity for Bangladesh is large — on condition of school selection and student quality.

Japan is opening the door — 400,000 by 2033, and already at 337,000.
From 2029 unaccredited language schools cannot enrol students; today's school choice is tomorrow's visa success.

400,000
international-student target, 2033: 336,708
international students in Japan, May 2024: 2029
deadline after which only accredited schools may enrol

Policy paperDraft · under review29 August 2026

Ready before departure: a national pre-departure standard for Bangladeshi students

Most of the problems we see students face in Japan every day — language, part-time rules, housing, insurance, sending money, the law — can be taught before they leave. From BSSAJ's experience, JEJC's twelve post-arrival services and the Embassy seminars, this paper proposes a six-part pre-departure standard that the government could make compulsory for every student consultancy.

Most student crises in Japan come from missing information — and information is cheapest and most effective before departure.
Twenty-eight hours a week, legal remittance, insurance and rental contracts — leave without these four and both visa and future are at risk.

6
parts of the standard: 28h
weekly work limit — the standard's central lesson: 12
JEJC post-arrival services the standard draws on