Japan’s First Free Public-Sector Seafarer Placement Service
Overview
As one measure to address the shortage of seafarers, a legal amendment has enabled local governments to provide free seafarer employment placement services. The Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism received notices from Sasebo City, Toba City, and Nagasaki Prefecture that they would be the first in Japan to launch the service. The service accepts job vacancy and job-seeking applications and facilitates employment, operating fairly and impartially without receiving money, goods, or other benefits.
Key points
- Sasebo City, Toba City, and Nagasaki Prefecture notified the government that they would launch Japan’s first such service.
- A legal amendment made it possible for local governments to provide free seafarer employment placement services.
- The service accepts job vacancy and job-seeking applications and facilitates seafarer employment.
Overview
As one measure to address the shortage of seafarers, amendments to the Seafarers Act and related laws last year enabled local governments to provide seafarer employment placement services. Services will soon begin in multiple local governments.
Sasebo City, Toba City, and Nagasaki Prefecture notified the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism that they would launch free seafarer employment placement services. The press release includes an attached list of the local governments that will provide the services.
Impact
Addressing the shortage of seafarers is cited as the context for local governments providing the service.
Details
The Seafarers Employment Security Act generally prohibits seafarer employment placement services. The Act Partially Amending the Seafarers Act and Related Laws (2025, Act No. 32) amended the law to allow local governments to provide these services free of charge.
A seafarer employment placement service accepts job vacancy and job-seeking applications and acts as a business to arrange employment relationships between employers and job seekers. “Free” means that it is not operated for profit and receives no fees for actual placement costs, rewards, or other monetary, material, or property benefits in connection with the placement. It is conducted on a fair and impartial basis and purely as a public service. In principle, only the government and local governments may provide it.