Liberal Japan

This is part III of an outline for chapter 10 of Japan and Global Migration, published 2000 by Routledge. Part I is here. Part II is here. The title for the chapter is “Labor law, civil law, immigration law and the reality of migrants and their children.” The author is Katsuko Terasawa a practicing lawyer in Osaka. These notes cover 227 to 230, and are mostly about trainees

1. The purpose of the trainee program is to teach industrial techniques or skills at private corporations.

2. The standards of such training programs are established by the Ministry of Justice.

3. The original purpose of the program was to promote cooperation with developing countries.

4. Quote: “In reality, however, many foreign workers have been employed under the guise of trainees in order to compensate for the labor shortage. In spite of the standards established by the Ministry of Justice under Immigration Law Article 7-1-2 (Ministry of Justice Regulations no. 16, 24 May 1990), many companies force trainees to work as unskilled laborers under the pretext of being in training. In one case it was found that so called trainees were forced to weed the gardens. In another case, trainees were forced to be lavatory attendants.”

5. According to official standards on the job training should not exceed over two-thirds of the total training hours. However, a survey done in 1989 by the Ministry of Justice found that 57.7 percent of the companies required that trainees do actual work 100% of the time. There was no educational component. [Author sites Kanto Bengoshikai rengoukai (ed) 1990 “Kenshuu Jisshi Kigyou ni Kansuru Jittai Chousa Kekka” (Results of a the Survey of the Actual Conditions of Trainees in Private Enterprises), in Gaikokujin no Shuro to Jinken (Foreigners’ Working Conditions and Human Rights), Tokyo: Kanto Bengoshikai Rengoukai: 32-33.]

6. According author, citing above survey, 70% of trainees are required to do overtime training. This is basically just overtime work. Some companies force trainees to work ten hours a day and holidays.

7. Quote: “As they are not classified as workers they are not eligible for wages nor are they protected by the labor standards laws. Trainees are eligible to receive a training allowance of up to ¥100,000 (US$1,000) per month. Before 1992, the amount was ¥60,000 to ¥80,000. Employers seem to interpret this as a maximum compensation rather than a guideline for fair remuneration. According to the 1989 Ministry of Justice Survey, almost all trainees received ¥40,000 to ¥50,000 even if they worked overtime. The survey reported one case where trainees received ¥50,000 per month while Japanese workers performing the same jobs for the same number of hours received ¥280,000, more than five times the trainees’ wage.”

8. Quote: “According to a 1992 Prime Minister’s Office survey, trainees received from ¥30,000 to ¥180,000 per month.”[Source: Soumuchou Gyousei Kansatsukyoku (ed.) (1992 [1989])”Gaikokujin wo Meguru Gyousei no Genjo to Kadai” (The Present Condition and Problems of Adminstrative Measures on Foreigners), Tokyo: Oukurashou Insatsukyoku Hakkou. 103, 118]

9. Author sites a case where it was discovered that trainees were workers and immigration refused to extend their visas. Some of the trainees were deported without ever having received any training.

10. Trainees are generally not covered under existing labor laws and this is a big problem. However, in some cases if the trainee is deemed by the Labour Ministry as an actual worker, he may receive some protection, including Workers Accident Compensation Insurance. However, I’m sure this will also be problematic because the person in question would not be able to extend their training visa afterwards.

11. According to “the fifth provision of the ministerial ordinance of the Immigration Law (regulation no. 16.)”, companies must provide the trainee with accommodations of some kind. They are expected to be trained at factories near by. “In fact, however, some companies use the trainee system as a cover to access cheap unskilled labor, require trainees to work an eight hour day plus overtime and provide no educational training. The monthly wage paid to these trainees by companies found to engage in such practices ranged from a mere ¥30,000 to ¥50,000, perhaps one-sixth of the normal wage. The companies have designed various schemes to conceal this and have prevented the trainees from contacting the outer world. In extreme cases the employers confined the trainees within company grounds. Such trainees have been unable to obtain necessary information or express their opinions. Japanese volunteers have had difficult making contact with trainees confined in this way.”

12. “From April 1991 to March 1992, the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau granted 90 percent of the 3,000 trainee applications received. however, according to the officials of the bureau, the suspect that roughly two-thirds of these 3,000 entered Japan with the intent to work. Yet with only three officials in charge of trainees, it is difficult to investigate their real conditions.”

13. Author gives example of 27 Filipinos who came to Japan as trainees. Worked twelve hours per day as key punchers with no holidays. The were paid ¥63,000 per month. They managed to fight their employers and get overtime pay. However, labor brokers in Philippines threatened them and said they’d keep them from ever being employed in the Philippines. (Where they had to return to as they could not obtain trainee status anymore.)

14. Author mentions a new system called trainee-in-practice, in which first six months are to be training including language teaching. After this the trainee is eligible to work for a year and half. At the time of the essay, there was not much information regarding the success of this program.

15. However, in regards to the trainee-in-practice system, the author gives a short case study in how bad things can go under such a program. The case study involves 11 Philippine nurses, who were ordered to do menial chores and illegal medical practices. They were threatened with monetary punishment if they did not pass certain certification programs. This was despite that they had passed Philippine certifications programs that were more difficult.

16. “As mentioned above, many trainees were forced to work without wages for over ten or twelve hours a day but they were not protected by the labor laws. Trainees should not be treated as alternatives to foreign workers to resolve the labor shortage. Formally, of course, the government position is the same. Trainees should be accepted only when the trainee would benefit from learning specific industrial skills and techniques in Japan. When a Japanese citizen is employed, he receives on-the-job-training, over the course of which he is paid wages and is protected by the labor laws. Why should a foreign trainee be treated any differently?”

17. “In January 1992, A Prime Ministers’s Office survey recommended that trainees conditions be improved [source cited]. After April 1993, the trainee-in-practice system was introduced and the Immigration Office was supposed to become strict in dispensing trainee visas. The trainee-in-practice system was to eventually replace the trainee system. Even in the trainee-in-practice system, trainees are not considered as workers and are discriminated against in treatment. Neither trainees nor trainees-in-practice should be treated as alternatives to unskilled foreign workers. The Labor Ministry should supervise both of them.”