MANILA - The Japan Foundation, a government body which serves to promote Japanese culture, opened its annual preparatory language training program for Filipino nurses and caregivers Friday, with hundreds of candidates having signed up to participate.

Director of the Japan Foundation in Manila, Hiroaki Uesugi, told Kyodo News that 333 people, of which 39 are nurse candidates and 294 are certified care worker candidates, have been selected for the program, which will involve classes in training centers in Manila.

"We have six months training here of Japan language and after this program...they will go to Japan," Uesugi said, adding that those who pass the courses will go to Japan for another six months of training.

"After this training [of] six months in Japan, they will be dispatched to each of the working places, like hospitals and care giving stations," he added.

Upon finishing their stints in their respective health facilities, the candidates can opt to take the Japanese licensure exam for nurses and caregivers, which, if they successfully pass, would allow them to practice their profession permanently in Japan.

Aside from teaching the candidates the use of the Japanese written hiragana, katakana and kanji characters, Uesugi said the program also includes other lessons which will be useful for the candidates.

"We have classes not only for learning Japanese language, but also Japanese customs and manners, because they are going to work and live in Japan," Uesugi added, saying that these are also essentials in Japanese society.

The program, which is in its ninth year and runs under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, is carried out in cooperation with several institutions under the Philippine government, including the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Department of Labor and Employment.

==Kyodo