So are they looking for just laborers or high skilled workers as well? It shouldn't be too hard to find educated people who are willing to learn Japanese to get a well paying job.
1. They don't need just (not even mostly) the high-skilled labor - unless they want to send their old to Philippines to die. What they really need are the not-too-skilled laborers.
2. Actually, there several serious drawbacks to Japan as a destination for high-skilled labor w/ other options (remember, that other countries in the region, such as Australia, are also in this market):
A. Few educated women could be pursuaded to go long-term, given the traditional role of women in this society. Actually, a lot of foreign-educated Japanese women, if they even try, discover that they are unable to survive back home (I know some cases personally). This also means, that educated males better be either single, or married to uneducated (or Japanese) women: otherwise, I'd rate the odds of prompt divorce pretty high.
B. Japanese society is extremely racist and xenophobic towards anyone non-Japanese (from what I hear, it's a lot - orders of magnitude - worse than anywhere in the US). An educated migrant should either be willing to stay within the expat community, or should have a very thick skin. He (there won't be many "she's") should also be very clear, that he is only temporarily in Japan: chances of living one's entire life on satisfactory conditions are miniscule.
