EDITORIAL: Foreign interns, trainees

The foreign trainee and technical internship program was established to help workers from developing nations learn on-the-job skills at Japanese companies and other workplaces. The stated goal is to provide participants with three years of vocational experience before they return to their home countries.

Last week, the labor standards inspection office in Ibaraki Prefecture recognized that the June 2008 death of a 31-year-old Chinese man in Japan on that program was due to karoshi, or death from overwork.

This case exposed the deceitful nature of a system promoted as making "international contributions."

The trainee in question arrived in Japan in December 2005, and had been employed at a metal processing company in Ibaraki. In the three months prior to his death, he logged between 93 and 109 hours of overtime each month, the office reported. His death is viewed as the tip of the iceberg. There are some 200,000 Chinese and other foreign trainees and interns in Japan. According to the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization, which helps to transfer Japanese skills to developing countries through the training program, 35 guest workers on the program died during fiscal 2008. Of that number, 16 are believed to have succumbed to cerebral and coronary ailments caused by working long hours. In fiscal 2009, there were 27 deaths.

Contrary to what the program is intended to do, there are steady reports of trainees and interns being forced to perform grueling work at low wages. Many fail to receive overtime pay or have money skimmed from their promised earnings.

Moreover, the sharp drop in work volume at businesses reeling from the recession caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in fall 2008 has led to a rash of dismissals midway through employment terms. With no references provided to look for new jobs, many trainees have reluctantly given up and returned home.

Worked to the point of death, then fired when no longer needed. Such outrageous throwaway hiring practices cannot be tolerated. The government is aware of the issues involved. Relevant legislation has been revised. Besides moving up the application of labor-related laws and regulations so that trainees are protected from their first year in Japan instead of from the second year previously, the accountability and potential penalties for domestic hosting bodies have been bolstered. This is a step in the right direction, but it falls far short of resolving the core problems.

Japan limits its acceptance of foreign workers to those in specialized fields. The majority of businesses that host such trainees and interns, however, are small manufacturers, seafood processors, farmers and operators of similar ilk. The stream of foreign nationals has been used to plug the vacancies in unskilled jobs that Japanese have come to shun. In the shadow of Japan's aging population and declining birthrate, some businesses that would have failed without this overseas labor source manage to thrive on the basis of unskilled foreign labor.

First, the facts must be clarified. Then, the system needs to be revamped from the ground up. Disguising this as a program of training and internships, when in reality the aim is to furnish labor, must come to an end.

Likewise, once accepted into the program, foreign workers should not be terminated at the convenience of employers. The system must be firmly positioned within the fabric of Japanese society. There are many challenges to be addressed. These include supplying the foundation, safety nets and other aspects of livelihood, education, welfare and other basic needs.

Shifting the nomenclature to "interns" or other labels to cover the reality that these people were really being put to work might have done out of consideration for public wariness over the influx of so many foreign workers. But the continued use of a specious-sounding name cannot hide the reality that many more foreign nationals are working in this country. On the contrary, it will sap attention from the existing realities, pushing to the backburner a crucial debate that must be waged throughout Japanese society at large.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 14