http:\/\/search.japantimes.co.jp\/mail\/nn20061230a1.html<\/a><\/p>\nTwo temporary job-placement agencies in Gifu Prefecture hired 12
\nchildren of Brazilian immigrants of Japanese origin to work in
\nfactories in violation of labor laws, officials of the labor
\nministry’s Gifu bureau said Friday.<\/p>\n
The discovery highlights a serious problem: An increasing number of
\nimmigrants in Japan are sending their kids to work, rather than
\nschool, due to language problems and economic hardship.<\/p>\n
The local labor standards inspection office has already told the two
\nfirms to stop hiring children and the 12 are no longer working,
\nofficials at the Gifu Prefecture Labor Bureau said.<\/p>\n
The two firms hired 12 boys and girls aged 13 to 15 beginning about
\nFebruary, with the lowest paid receiving 850 yen per hour. The
\nplacement companies sent them to factories operated by several Gifu
\ncompanies, including manufacturers, the officials said.<\/p>\n
The Labor Standards Law bans the hiring of anyone under age 16.<\/p>\n
Acting on a tip, the Gifu labor standards inspection office visited
\nthe firms in November and determined that they had hired the
\nchildren, officials said.<\/p>\n
They were supposed to be enrolled in junior high school but were not
\nattending. They told the officials they wanted to supplement their
\nfamilies’ income rather than go to school because their classes,
\nwhich are taught in Japanese, are difficult to understand and boring.<\/p>\n
The firms involved said they knew the ages of the children but hired
\nthem at the request of their parents, who were struggling to make a
\nliving.<\/p>\n
In 1990, Japan began accepting immigrant workers of Japanese descent,
\nmostly Brazilians, whose numbers had swelled to around 350,000 by the
\nend of 2005. Many work in factories in central Japan.
\n=================================
\nARTICLE ENDS<\/p>\n
Comments from Matt:<\/b><\/p>\n
1. The article states this is an increasing problem, but states no
\nstatistics. Wonder how they know this is an increasing problem?<\/i><\/p>\n
2. Interesting how the reporter places the brunt of the crime on the
\nparents’ shoulders. “The firms involved said they knew the ages of
\nthe children but hired them at the request of their parents.” Come
\nagain?
\nENDS\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japan Times\/Kyodo reports that two temporary job-placement agencies in Gifu Prefecture hired 12 children of Brazilian immigrants of Japanese origin to work in factories in violation of labor laws. The discovery highlights a serious problem: An increasing number of immigrants in Japan are sending their kids to work, rather than school, due to language problems and economic hardship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-labor-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","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=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}