JAKARTA -  Siti Maesaroh, 24, who speaks Japanese and bows, presents a tray with a mug and two bowls to a classmate who is acting elderly before inquiring if he needs chopsticks and a spoon to eat with.

The role play serves as an example of the type of training given by vocational schools throughout Indonesia to students looking to fill job openings in Japan.

With 28% of the population over the age of 65, Japan has one of the world's fastest-ageing populations, according to UN statistics.

As the nation's population of working age shrank, the birth rate in Japan fell below 800,000 for the first time last year, according to official statistics.

According to Maesaroh, a student at the Onodera User Run School in Jakarta, Indonesia, "I think the reason Japan chose us is that Indonesian youth are very capable of caring for the elderly."

The school, which debuted in 2022, additionally offers Japanese language training for those who wish to sign up for a government program in Japan that seeks to employ foreigners with specialized skills for jobs in industries like caregiving.

Hiroki Sasaki, the labor attaché at the Japanese embassy in Jakarta, claims that only 130,000 of the 340,000 positions for specially skilled workers in Japan have been filled.

He claimed that, as a result, the need for an international labor force is growing.

As of December 2022, the special skilled worker program in Japan employed more than 16,000 Indonesians, the second-highest contingent after Vietnam.

With 280 million people, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. The principal of the school, Kamila Mansjur, claimed that sending workers to Japan to take care of the elderly benefited both nations.

Every year, the population of Indonesia grows by about three million people. However, we face a unique problem here due to a lack of jobs, she said.