{"id":12861,"date":"2015-10-11T10:32:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T20:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12861"},"modified":"2015-10-11T10:32:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T20:32:16","slug":"japan-times-japan-sanctioning-mass-slave-labor-by-duping-foreign-trainees-observers-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12861","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times: Japan sanctioning mass \u2018slave labor\u2019 by duping foreign trainees, observers say"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. This article is nearly a year old, but it is still worth a read, if only to remind everyone of how things have not changed in Japan’s exploitative visa regimes<\/a>. Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Japan sanctioning mass \u2018slave labor\u2019 by duping foreign trainees, observers say<\/strong>
\n By Harumi Ozawa, The Japan Times, November 23, 2014<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2014\/11\/23\/national\/japan-sanctioning-mass-slave-labor-via-foreign-trainee-program\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The first word En learned when he began working at a construction site in Japan after moving from China was \u201cbaka,\u201d Japanese for \u201cidiot.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 31-year-old farmer is one of 50,000 Chinese who signed up for a government-run program that promises foreigners the chance to earn money while acquiring valuable on-the-job training. Like many of his compatriots, he hoped to leave Japan with cash in his pocket and a new set of skills that would give him a better shot at work at home.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy Japanese colleagues would always say baka to me,\u201d said En, who spoke only on condition that his full name not be revealed. \u201cI am exhausted physically and mentally.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

His problem is not the bullying by Japanese colleagues, nor the two-hour commute each-way or the mind-numbing work that largely consists of breaking apart old buildings. It is the \u00a51 million he borrowed to take part in the Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program, ostensibly to cover traveling expenses and other \u201cfees\u201d charged by middlemen.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The loan has left him a virtual slave to Japan\u2019s labor-hungry construction industry. \u201cI cannot go back before I make enough money to repay the debt,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan is desperately short of workers to pay taxes to fund pensions and health care for its rapidly graying population, but it is almost constitutionally allergic to immigration. Less than 2 percent of the populace is classified as \u201cnon-Japanese\u201d by the government; by comparison, around 13 percent of British residents are foreign-born.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This results, critics say, in ranks of poorly protected employees brought in through a government-sanctioned back door that is ripe for abuse and exploitation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis trainee program is a system of slave labor. You cannot just quit and leave. It\u2019s a system of human trafficking, forced labor,\u201d said Ippei Torii, director of Solidarity Network With Migrants Japan, a nongovernmental group that supports foreign workers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Around a quarter of Japan\u2019s population of 127 million is 65 or older, and this proportion is expected to jump to 40 percent in the coming decades. The heavily indebted government, which owes creditors more than twice what the economy generates annually, is scrambling to find the money to cover the welfare and health costs associated with the burgeoning ranks of the elderly even as the taxpayer base shrinks.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s average birthrate of around 1.4 children per woman, far below the level necessary to replenish the national workforce, is ratcheting up the pressure.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In most developed nations, this kind of shortfall is plugged by immigration, but Japan allows no unskilled workers into the country amid fears by some they would threaten the nation\u2019s culture of consensus, an argument others view as mere cover for xenophobia.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But in 1993, as the economy was on the way down from its bubbly 1980s zenith, the government began the foreign trainee program, which allows tens of thousands of workers, mostly from China, Vietnam and Indonesia, to come to Japan and supply labor for industries including textiles, construction, farming and manufacturing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The program, however, has not been without its critics. Japan\u2019s top ally, the U.S., has even singled it out, with the State Department\u2019s annual Trafficking in Persons Report for years slamming the program\u2019s \u201cdeceptive recruitment practices.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe (Japanese) government did not prosecute or convict forced labor perpetrators despite allegations of labor trafficking in the TTIP,\u201d it said this year, using the program\u2019s acronym.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Past allegations include unpaid overtime work, karoshi (death from overwork), and all kinds of harassment, including company managers restricting the use of toilets or demanding sexual services.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The government rejects claims the program is abusive, yet acknowledges there have been some upstream problems. \u201cIt is true that some involved in the system have exploited it, but the government has acted against that,\u201d an immigration official said. \u201cIt is not a system of slave labor.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The official insisted it was not in authorities\u2019 power to control the behavior of middlemen but insisted they were not allowed to charge deposit fees. \u201cIt is also banned for employers to take away trainees\u2019 passports,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled a plan to expand the program that would allow foreign trainees to stay in Japan for five years instead of three, and says such labor will increasingly be needed, particularly in the construction boom ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Abe is also aware that the nation\u2019s health care sector must increasingly look abroad to fill the shortage of workers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been said that we will need 1 million caregivers for the elderly by 2025, which would be impossible to handle only with the Japanese population,\u201d said Tatsumi Kenmochi, a manager at a care home near Tokyo that employs Indonesian nurses.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Kenmochi, foreign staff are a precious commodity and the sector must do as much as it can to make them feel welcome. \u201cIt must be hard to leave home and work overseas,\u201d he said. \u201cWe make sure that they don\u2019t get homesick, listening to them and sometimes going out to have a warm bowl of noodles with them.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Torii of Solidarity Network With Migrants Japan said this is just the kind of attitude Japan needs to learn: \u201cThe issue is not whether we accept immigrants or not. They are already here, playing a vital role in our society.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan Times: The [Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program], however, has not been without its critics. Japan\u2019s top ally, the U.S., has even singled it out, with the State Department\u2019s annual Trafficking in Persons Report for years slamming the program\u2019s \u201cdeceptive recruitment practices.\u201d \u201cThe (Japanese) government did not prosecute or convict forced labor perpetrators despite allegations of labor trafficking in the TTIP,\u201d it said this year, using the program\u2019s acronym.<\/p>\n

Past allegations include unpaid overtime work, karoshi (death from overwork), and all kinds of harassment, including company managers restricting the use of toilets or demanding sexual services. The government rejects claims the program is abusive, yet acknowledges there have been some upstream problems. \u201cIt is true that some involved in the system have exploited it, but the government has acted against that,\u201d an immigration official said. \u201cIt is not a system of slave labor.\u201d The official insisted it was not in authorities\u2019 power to control the behavior of middlemen but insisted they were not allowed to charge deposit fees. \u201cIt is also banned for employers to take away trainees\u2019 passports,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled a plan to expand the program that would allow foreign trainees to stay in Japan for five years instead of three, and says such labor will increasingly be needed, particularly in the construction boom ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Abe is also aware that the nation\u2019s health care sector must increasingly look abroad to fill the shortage of workers. \u201cIt has been said that we will need 1 million caregivers for the elderly by 2025, which would be impossible to handle only with the Japanese population,\u201d said Tatsumi Kenmochi, a manager at a care home near Tokyo that employs Indonesian nurses. For Kenmochi, foreign staff are a precious commodity and the sector must do as much as it can to make them feel welcome. \u201cIt must be hard to leave home and work overseas,\u201d he said. \u201cWe make sure that they don\u2019t get homesick, listening to them and sometimes going out to have a warm bowl of noodles with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torii of Solidarity Network With Migrants Japan said this is just the kind of attitude Japan needs to learn: \u201cThe issue is not whether we accept immigrants or not. They are already here, playing a vital role in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,50,5,12,4,16,41,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-business-practices","category-gaiatsu","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-japanese-government","category-labor-issues","category-pension-system","category-unsustainable-japanese-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}