Unlike the government, Japan's IT firms enthusiastically open doors to overseas tech workers

In hopes of luring skilled workers both at home and form abroad with a chance to reside in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, Line Corp., a popular messaging app service, opened a new development base in the heart of the city in June. The firm plans to raise the number of engineers to 3,000, from around 2,100, in the near future. At present, the Kyoto office has 19 engineers of which 10 are from overseas. While more tech staffers are needed, "we won't lower our hiring bar," said Ryohei Miyota, who oversees the hiring of engineers at Line's Kyoto branch. Still, Line has shown it is willing to be flexible with other conditions.