Japan plans to make changes on immigratation limitations

[Audio]

Hitomi Tanaka is waiting for me.

 

[tonyget]

Under JAPANESE LAW, it is illegal and prohibited for private companies to confiscate passports of workers. Perhaps this is a practice in other countries, but in Japan, it is illegal to do this and is punishable with hefty fines and jail time. I've heard some horror stories of some people experiencing this in some countries in the Middle East, however.

"LAW" only matters if it's enforceable. By law, narcotic trade is illegal in Mexico, did u know that ?


'Black companies' exploiting foreign trainees ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

'Black companies' exploiting foreign trainees


“Sure, I’ll introduce you to as many of my trainees as you like!”

The factory owner was all enthusiasm when journalist Tomohiko Suzuki, on assignment for Sapio (September), contacted him. Suzuki was investigating the “black corporations” much in the news of late – companies that illegally underpay and overwork their employees in shockingly blatant defiance of the most elementary labor standards. Though Japanese workers reportedly suffer abundant abuse of this kind, especially vulnerable are the foreign “trainees,” some 50,000 of them as of 2011, who are in Japan supposedly to acquire skills they can take home to speed their own countries’ economic growth.

Yes, Suzuki’s contact agreed, the situation is awful – not, however, he insisted, at “his” establishment, a small clothing maker some three hours by car out of Osaka. (We’ll call him Kato for convenience.)

Kato is a former yakuza executive and proud of it. It taught him the importance of family ties, he said. “My trainees want to do lots of overtime but I say, ‘Don’t force yourselves.’ I give them one day off a month.”

One day off a month?

The three Chinese trainees Suzuki meets work at sewing machines and show no sign of discontent. Presumably the language barrier precludes in-depth questioning. The dorms look neat and clean.

“In the evening we go to a Chinese restaurant for a little party. Sometimes we go to an amusement park. The overtime I pay is strictly regulation. I have nothing to feel guilty about.”

Suzuki is not so sure. Kato, open as ever, lays out his payroll records. They show him paying on average 287 yen for overtime, far below the minimum wage of 652 to 850 yen an hour. Listen, he says when Suzuki questions him – “at some factories they work their employees from 8 in the morning until 6 the next morning, giving them all of two hours’ sleep. We’re better than that.”

That seems to be true, but it’s not saying much.

The program allows for a three-year stay in Japan. The first year is for classroom training and the following two, for those who pass the requisite exam, are for hands-on work experience. The abuses that have crept into a system designed for a humanitarian spreading of skills and wealth can be inferred from the pride Kato takes in the conditions – inadequate by any objective Japanese standard – at his operation. Suzuki says amendments in 2009 to laws governing the program in theory made the minimum wage applicable to the trainees but in fact changed little.

The fact seems to be that the weakest members of any labor force, Japanese or foreign, are easy for employers to exploit regardless of the law – the Japanese because they hesitate to quit, knowing how hard better jobs are to find in this still-struggling economy; and foreigners because, not knowing their way around the unfamiliar culture and often not speaking the language, they tend to be helpless against abuses that at worst include, besides hard work and low pay, insults, corporal punishment and the withholding of pay altogether.

 

[Aepsilons]

"LAW" only matters when enforced


'Black companies' exploiting foreign trainees ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

'Black companies' exploiting foreign trainees


“Sure, I’ll introduce you to as many of my trainees as you like!”

The factory owner was all enthusiasm when journalist Tomohiko Suzuki, on assignment for Sapio (September), contacted him. Suzuki was investigating the “black corporations” much in the news of late – companies that illegally underpay and overwork their employees in shockingly blatant defiance of the most elementary labor standards. Though Japanese workers reportedly suffer abundant abuse of this kind, especially vulnerable are the foreign “trainees,” some 50,000 of them as of 2011, who are in Japan supposedly to acquire skills they can take home to speed their own countries’ economic growth.

Yes, Suzuki’s contact agreed, the situation is awful – not, however, he insisted, at “his” establishment, a small clothing maker some three hours by car out of Osaka. (We’ll call him Kato for convenience.)

Kato is a former yakuza executive and proud of it. It taught him the importance of family ties, he said. “My trainees want to do lots of overtime but I say, ‘Don’t force yourselves.’ I give them one day off a month.”

One day off a month?

The three Chinese trainees Suzuki meets work at sewing machines and show no sign of discontent. Presumably the language barrier precludes in-depth questioning. The dorms look neat and clean.

“In the evening we go to a Chinese restaurant for a little party. Sometimes we go to an amusement park. The overtime I pay is strictly regulation. I have nothing to feel guilty about.”

Suzuki is not so sure. Kato, open as ever, lays out his payroll records. They show him paying on average 287 yen for overtime, far below the minimum wage of 652 to 850 yen an hour. Listen, he says when Suzuki questions him – “at some factories they work their employees from 8 in the morning until 6 the next morning, giving them all of two hours’ sleep. We’re better than that.”

That seems to be true, but it’s not saying much.

The program allows for a three-year stay in Japan. The first year is for classroom training and the following two, for those who pass the requisite exam, are for hands-on work experience. The abuses that have crept into a system designed for a humanitarian spreading of skills and wealth can be inferred from the pride Kato takes in the conditions – inadequate by any objective Japanese standard – at his operation. Suzuki says amendments in 2009 to laws governing the program in theory made the minimum wage applicable to the trainees but in fact changed little.

The fact seems to be that the weakest members of any labor force, Japanese or foreign, are easy for employers to exploit regardless of the law – the Japanese because they hesitate to quit, knowing how hard better jobs are to find in this still-struggling economy; and foreigners because, not knowing their way around the unfamiliar culture and often not speaking the language, they tend to be helpless against abuses that at worst include, besides hard work and low pay, insults, corporal punishment and the withholding of pay altogether.

While I agree that there are definite inconsistent practices in some organizations in industry. I like to see this from a utilitarian vantage point and believe that this is an opportunity for Government to reform some immigration policies.

I do concede to the fact that Japanese Government needs to draft and enact a comprehensive anti-trafficking law prohibiting all forms of trafficking consistent with the 2000 UN TIP Protocol; significantly increase efforts to investigate and prosecute forced labor cases and punish convicted traffickers with jail time.

Secondarily, Japanese Government needs to increase presence and agencies that support immigrant workers. More can be done, and by doing so, can qualitatively and quantitatively increase the number of immigrants into Japan and fill in the gaps. Immigrants should be encouraged to settle in Japan and to be given opportunity to become Japanese Nationals.

 

[mike2000]

well , Japan despite being resentlful/hostile of any other foreign race trying to be Japanese(even their neighbouring east Asian peers), Japan will have no choice other than to welcome these immigrants from these countries, if not im afraid Japan will slide even further/more rapidly in decline than it is already at the moment. They simply have no choice but to accept foreigners into their country and treat them as Japanese/make them work in a safe/secure environemnt whcih can make them stay/remain. This is the hard truth which Japan has to face, even though i know it will be a tough task, since Japanese are very conservative/protective of their own race. They dont even accept foreign born Japanese from other race in latin american countries like Brazil and Peru, much less other countries/race entirely. It will be hard for this to change and it might cause alot of trouble if it does, but the benefits far outweight the costs i suppose. so Japan will have to do it whether they like it or not.

 

[Aepsilons]

well , Japan despite being resentlful/hostile of any other foreign race trying to be Japanese(even their neighbouring east Asian peers), Japan will have no choice other than to welcome these immigrants from these countries, if not im afraid Japan will slide even further/more rapidly in decline than it is already at the moment. They simply have no choice but to accept foreigners into their country and treat them as Japanese/make them work in a safe/secure environemnt whcih can make them stay/remain. This is the hard truth which Japan has to face, even though i know it will be a tough task, since Japanese are very conservative/protective of their own race. They dont even accept foreign born Japanese from other race in latin american countries like Brazil and Peru, much less other countries/race entirely. It will be hard for this to change and it might cause alot of trouble if it does, but the benefits far outweight the costs i suppose. so Japan will have to do it whether they like it or not.

I agree with you, Mike. Increasing the immigration quota is needed. By 2025, we will be in need of over 1 Million Health Care Workers. This is an opportunity for Nurses, Physicians from China, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, et al. In fact, legislation should be passed to allow these foreign health care workers to be able to bring their immediate family members and settle Japan.

Something similar to what President George H. Bush Sr passed in the early 1990's.