To pile on the above charts, we're experiencing a mini-brain drain in Japan now: anyone with the language skills and tolerance for risk is at least looking at jobs in the US. New grads in particular are skipping the traditional domestic shukatsu / job hunting process and going straight to American job fairs. Last November, the
Boston Career Forum - the
world's largest Japanese-English bilingual job fair - saw record-breaking attendance. Kids fly from Tokyo to Boston en mass for this. I ran a booth, it was incredible.
Japan is losing the exact kids it desperately needs, because why put up with Japanese working conditions for Japanese salaries when in the US you could work substantially fewer hours with less stress, no after-work work obligations, a much higher salary, and now a 1.6x multiplier on that salary because of the strong dollar? It's an easy decision for many.