Currently, Foreigners usually have to stay in Japan for over ten years before they can be granted permanent residency, but under a new revision to the Immigration Law, highly-skilled immigrants will be eligible after just three years.
Before you post in the comments about your “mad Street Fighter skills” we should be clear – the revision, which passed yesterday, is aimed at attracting IT workers, engineers, company managers, medical technicians, scientists and researchers. Not Pokémon masters and manga experts.
“Turn the Pokeplane around, guys, they don’t mean us”
Successful permanent residency applicants will be able to bring their spouses, parents and housekeepers to Japan with them and the immigration procedure for foreign tourists will also be simplified under the revised law.
As “sarcasm” and “the ability to maintain a blog with semi-competence” doesn’t seem to be on the list of acceptable skills, we here at Tokyo Desu will have to apply under our extensive research experience.
Tokyo Desu 
What about teachers? I’m currently trying to get into a university that offers teaching english as a second language in foreign countries for a major, so does this law apply to that as well or just the advanced sciences?
The title here is misleading: Unless all the English language reporting I’ve read on this has been mistaken, “immigration restrictions” have not been eased. The existing points-based program remains exactly as it was; only the permanent residency potential for people who would’ve qualified for it anyway is affected.