Abstract: Actively attracting highlevel foreign talents is an important national strategy of Japan. In 2012, Japan officially introduced the pointsbased system for highlyskilled professionals，which is of great significance to Japans economic industries and technological innovation. An investigation of the background, institutional framework and four revision processes of the pointsbased system for highlyskilled professionals revealed that the system serves Japans national strategic goals and is constantly adjusted according to the actual situation. The revision ideas are mainly reflected in three aspects: reducing the conditions for giving points, increasing the project points, and strengthening the preferential treatment measures. From the increasing number of highlyskilled professionals in Japan in the past 10 years, it can be seen that the revisions have been very effective. The pointsbased system for highlyskilled professionals complements Japans overseas student policy, exitentry administration policy and immigration policy, providing an institutional guarantee for Japan to attract and retain talents. Since China had already put forward the strategy of strengthening the country with talents, we should pay close attention to and learn from Japans talent introduction measures.

Key words: Japan, foreign talents, Japan points-based system for highly-skilled professionals