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 From afar, Japan seemed a model of prosperity and order. Japanese
government backing of the training program he would enter the
country under helped ease worries about going abroad. But when he
joined the ranks of 150,000 other interns from poor Asian countries
working in Japan, Wang was in for a series of shocks.
Promised a clothing factory job, the 25-year-old wound up at a huge
warehouse surrounded by rice paddies where he was told to fill boxes
with clothing, toys and other goods. Wang and other new arrivals
weren't given contracts by their Japanese boss and monthly wages
were withheld, except for overtime.
Anyone who didn't like the conditions could return to China, their
boss told them. But then Wang would have lost most of his deposit.
And how could he face his family, who were counting on sharing in
the $40,000 he hoped he would earn for three years work.
"We didn't have any choice but to stay," Wang said from his bunk in
a cramped house he shared with a dozen others in Kaizu, a small city
in central Gifu prefecture.
Wang's story is not unusual. Faced with a shrinking workforce and
tight restrictions on immigration, Japanese employers such as small
companies, farms and fisheries are plugging labor shortages by
relying on interns from China, Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia. The
training program is intended to help developing countries by
upgrading the technical expertise of their workers but critics say
it is abused by some employers who see it as a source of cheap
labor.
Employers committing violations such as failing to pay wages
numbered 197 last year, down more than half from 452 in 2008,
according to Japanese officials. Lawyers and labor activists say the
true number is many times higher and interns fear being sent home if
they speak up despite government attempts to prevent abuses.
In interviews with The Associated Press, eight current and former
interns described being cheated of wages, forced to work overtime,
having contracts withheld or being charged exorbitant rents for
cramped, poorly insulated housing. Some said they were prohibited
from owning cellphones. The internship system has been criticized by
the U.N. and the U.S. State Department, which in its annual
"Trafficking in Persons Report" said Japan is failing to stop cases
of forced labor.
"The program is portrayed as way to transfer technology, and that
Japan is doing a wonderful thing, but in reality many are working
like slaves," said Shoichi Ibusuki, a lawyer who has represented
several interns in court cases.
Some say the plight of the interns highlights the need for Japan to
rethink its deep-seated resistance to immigration, out of sheer
economic necessity. A government institute projects Japan's
workforce will plummet by nearly half to 44 million over the next 50
years as the population ages and birthrates remain low. At that
rate, many companies will run out of workers. Foreign workers and
first generation immigrants make up less than 2 percent of Japan's
workforce. In the United States, the percentage is 14.2 percent, and
in Germany it is 11.7 percent, according to U.N. figures.
Unions and others have called for the training program, established
in 1993, to be abolished and replaced with a formal system for
employment of foreign workers. That will better meet the demand for
low-skilled laborers as young Japanese flock to the cities and shun
work that is dirty, dangerous or difficult, they say.
"We need to stop the deception," said Ippei Torii, vice president of
ZWU All United Workers Union, which has battled on behalf of
interns. "If we need to bring in foreign workers, then we should
call them workers and treat them so."
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Hidenori Sakanaka, former chief of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau who
has become a champion for immigration, said Japan needs 10 million
immigrants over the next 50 years or its economy will collapse.
"That's really our only salvation," said Sakanaka, now head of a
think tank. "We should allow them to enter the country on the
assumption that they could become residents of Japan."
The chances of that happening are low. Immigration is perceived as a
threat to Japan's prized social harmony, and opponents paint
scenarios of rising crime and other problems.
About 20 years ago, Japan granted special visas to Latin Americans
of Japanese descent but many had difficult fitting in. After the
2008 global financial crisis they were offered money to return home.
The training program got public attention earlier this year after a
Chinese intern stabbed to death his boss and another Japanese
employee at a fishery in Hiroshima but its ongoing problems have not
been front page news.
The government strengthened laws covering the program in 2010,
including prohibiting trainees from paying deposits to labor
brokers. Japanese employers are expected to pay the third-party
agencies. A panel of experts and officials is reviewing the program
again to see if it needs further changes.
"There are some who go against the objectives of this program and
use it as a source of cheap labor," said Jun Nakamura, an
immigration bureau official. "We have tried to strengthen the legal
framework."
After not receiving their regular wages for 16 months, Wang and
about a dozen others at the distribution company in Gifu confronted
their boss, Akiyoshi Shibata, demanding their back pay. They said he
gave them a choice: return to China or drop their complaints,
apologize and stay on.
Wang and three others chose to go home. A few days later they were
taken to the airport, where Shibata paid them each 750,000 yen
($7,500), barely enough to cover the broker fee, according to Zhen
Kai, an official with the Gifu Ippan Labor Union who helped in
negotiations between the two sides.
In a phone interview, Shibata said he withheld 50,000 yen (about
$500) every month from each trainee's wages for the first year as a
security deposit due to problems in the past, including cases where
trainees ran away. He said he paid the remaining regular wages on
time and in the end paid them all they had earned.
After "all this trouble," Shibata said he has decided against using
foreign interns any more.
"I think it may be better to scrap the program since there's a risk
both sides will just be unhappy."
[Associated
Press; MALCOLM FOSTER]
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