Actually, Japan doesn't begin anything. Japan has been doing this for years. The major shift in the last couple of years was introduction of new unskilled visas

Actually, Japan doesn't begin anything. Japan has been doing this for years. The major shift in the last couple of years was introduction of new unskilled visas. I don't follow that too closely but IIRC what Japan introduced first was a guest worker visa for entry level positions such as convenience store workers. These workers would receive Japanese language training in their home countries and then come to work in Japan for 2 years, or something like that. I think this was the pilot program. Must've gone well since later on Japan relaxed the requirements for unskilled workers in general. Meanwhile Japan made it easier for skilled workers to get a PR. I think on "engineer" (there's nuance to what it means and how it works) one would require 10 years to get PR. Then HSFP (see my other comments) was introduced which I believe lowered that to 5 years, initially. Then HSFP was amended to to 1 and 3 years depending on Type 1 (more points on the scale) and Type 2. This happened while back. Year or two ago. The most recent change is new visas for unskilled workers with a path to PR. Again, all of this has been going on for years. Nothing began just now :)