Akhir 28, 1432 H/April 2, 2011, SPA -- Hong Kong has seen a sharp rise in the number of Japanese professionals applying to work in the city following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, dpa quoted a government official as saying Saturday. Immigration director Chan Kwok-ki said his department had processed 270 applications from Japanese people seeking to move to Hong Kong between March 17 and 30, well above normal levels. Many of the applicants were top managers in multinational companies whose expertise would help Hong Kong's economy, Chan said in a commentary carried on a Hong Kong government website. Chan said, because of the influx, the city's immigration department had set up a team to process applications from Japanese professionals in two days instead of the usual four to six weeks. Hong Kong, a densely populated former British colony with 7 million residents, currently has a Japanese expatriate population of around 14,000.
