‘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.
A draft in his style, built from his published positions; not yet approved by him. ‘We’ in the text is BSSAJ's position.
The Technical Intern Training Program (TITP), running since 1993, was called ‘training’ but functioned as a labour scheme — and its sharpest criticisms were that workers could not change employers and carried heavy sending costs. On 14 June 2024 Japan's Diet abolished it and passed the ‘Ikusei Shuro’ (育成就労) law; promulgated on 21 June, it must take effect within three years, that is by 2027.
What changes under the new system
| Point | TITP (outgoing) | Ikusei Shuro (from 2027) |
|---|---|---|
| Stated purpose | Technology transfer (international cooperation) | Develop workers to SSW(i) level |
| Duration | Up to 5 years | In principle 3 years |
| Job change | Effectively prohibited | Allowed within the same field after 1–2 years, under conditions |
| Language | No requirement | A1/N5 at entry (or equivalent training); A2/N4 to move to SSW(i) |
| Fields | 90+ occupations | Aligned with the SSW fields |
| Sending costs | Borne by the worker | Employer share and disclosed rules |
What it means for Bangladesh
The largest work route to Japan has now become an explicit staircase: language → three years → SSW. Employers will choose the country that can supply A1/N5-level workers before departure, send them at transparent cost, and bring them to A2/N4 within three years. Our long experience says Bangladeshi candidates can learn the language — the problems are test seats, training quality and opaque costs.
- Language: JFT-Basic and JLPT N5 seats in Bangladesh must expand now; the language-test brief shows 20% of candidates already cannot sit.
- Fields: training aligned with the 16 SSW fields — Bangladesh's strongest prospects are in nursing care, construction, agriculture, food service and transport.
- Costs: bring sending fees under a published ceiling with mandatory receipts — otherwise, when workers use their new right to move, the blame will land on Bangladesh.
Recommendations
Who does what — specific actions for governments and stakeholders, each of them checkable.
- 01A national training map aligned with the Ikusei Shuro/SSW fields, under the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and BMET.
- 02Make JFT-Basic or JLPT N5 compulsory before departure, and make enough test seats available in Bangladesh.
- 03A published ceiling and receipt system for sending costs — the new law's core idea is to lift the cost burden off the worker.
- 04An official guide routing COE-refused students and N4 holders into Ikusei Shuro/SSW.
Sources
- Act amending the Immigration Control Act and the Technical Intern Training Act — passed 14 June 2024, promulgated 21 June 2024
- Immigration Services Agency of Japan (出入国在留管理庁) — 育成就労制度 explanatory materials, 2024–2025
- Nagamatsu Faruk — memorandum to the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Japan, May 2025The source document behind the first five publications on this site.
Cite as: Nagamatsu Faruk (2026). ‘Ikusei Shuro’ replaces TITP: what Bangladesh must have ready before 2027. https://nagamatsufaruk.com/en/research/ikusei-shuro-what-bangladesh-must-prepare