Japan To Increase Chef Salaries On Diplomatic Missions

The Japanese Embassy in Qatar. (Source: Japanese Embassy in Qatar)

JAKARTA - The Japanese government plans to improve welfare for chefs on foreign diplomatic missions, as the increasingly fierce competition for talent goes hand in hand with the growing popularity of the country's culinary worldwide.

More than 6 million yen (Rp674,369,400) will be paid annually to chefs under the new scheme scheduled to start in January, up from the current average of around 4 to 4.5 million yen, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Many of them work as chefs who live in official premises at diplomatic offices. However, they will be allowed to choose chartered accommodation at the expense that will be borne by the government, the ministry said.

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said chefs on overseas missions played an "important role" in hosting foreign honorary guests, and recruiting good staff was "increasingly difficult."

"We hope the chefs, as 'food diplomats,' to promote Japanese food more proactively," Foreign Minister Iwaya said when announcing the new system, according to Kyodo News May 25.

Every representative office abroad must have a cook, while a busy representative office, including the Japanese Embassy in the United States and China, has two cooks. Currently, about a dozen of the approximately 230 missions have vacancies, according to the ministry.

The cooks will be contracted for two years and can be extended for one year. Currently, the length of their contracts tends to be open as they are linked to the provisions of their higher-ranking colleagues such as ambassadors and consultant generals.

The new system is expected to allow cooks to "image their career path more easily," said Foreign Minister Iwaya.

Other increases include adding funds to the cooks' salaries so that they can use the funds to take their partners to the countries they work for, the ministry said.