Japanese investor to open driving school in Bangladesh for recruitment to Japan
New Japan–Bangladesh partnership signals shift in Asia’s labor mobility as Tokyo seeks workers abroad amid domestic shortages
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Japan is deepening its labor partnership with Bangladesh, as one of its most prominent entrepreneurs, Miki Watanabe, moves to establish a large-scale driving and vocational training school near Dhaka to supply skilled workers to Japan’s growing transport and service sectors.
The initiative, led by the Watami Group founder and member of Japan’s upper house, reflects Tokyo’s accelerating efforts to fill manpower gaps caused by a rapidly ageing population.
Watanabe’s plan aligns with Japan’s recent agreements with Bangladesh to recruit up to 100,000 workers over the next five years — part of a broader regional strategy to diversify labor sources beyond Southeast Asia.
According to The Daily Star, the proposal emerged during Watanabe’s meeting with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka, where officials discussed infrastructure, training, and language requirements for prospective recruits.
The driving school is expected to be set up on the outskirts of the capital, with initial capacity to train thousands of drivers annually.
Japan has already identified sectors such as caregiving, construction, agriculture, and logistics as priority areas for overseas recruitment. Watanabe, who previously founded a language and skills academy in Monohordi, said his existing program has helped more than 3,000 Bangladeshis prepare for employment in Japan, with dozens already placed.
Analysts say the partnership underscores Bangladesh’s potential to become a regional labor-export hub. Its government has increasingly sought to shift from low-skilled migration toward professional and semi-skilled categories, offering higher wages and better working conditions abroad.
For Japan, the collaboration also carries strategic weight. With domestic labor participation shrinking, Tokyo has been expanding its “Specified Skilled Worker” visa pathway and deepening bilateral training programs across Asia to maintain industrial output and public services.
Watanabe’s earlier philanthropic work in Bangladesh — including a school in Narayanganj inspired by Yunus’s social-business philosophy — adds a layer of continuity to this evolving relationship between grassroots development and skilled migration.
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