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Gov't bans construction firm from accepting foreign trainees after assault case

31 Comments

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31 Comments
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Wow, pretty good to see. That firm will have to find its slave labor from among local Japanese now.

24 ( +34 / -10 )

foreign trainee program should be completely closed until there are actual labour laws, with anonymous reporting mechanisms, and non telegraphed beforehand onsite reviews. If a nation can't even stop crazy overtime hours why ever believe a trainee program?

26 ( +34 / -8 )

@st2k,

Couldn't agree more.

8 ( +16 / -8 )

The agency is studying whether to file a criminal complaint against the Japanese coworkers and to take any action against the intermediate body, also based in Okayama.

That study should take all of 5 seconds, just do it.

16 ( +22 / -6 )

sf2k is completely right!

And this is just the pick of iceberg as since many years, NPO and many foreigners are complaining about work conditions, fees by foreign agencies selling to those people fake dreams!

8 ( +16 / -8 )

Violence is not okay. But paying 'foreign trainees' below poverty wages and treating them as slave labor is no problem

11 ( +15 / -4 )

So, it’s the trainees that get punished by not being able to get a job. Way to go Japan!

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

Wow, they really threw the book at them!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Okayama. Mmh... I mean I am one of very few people in the country who still owns very extensive B-Lists. If you know what I mean... Eta

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

All recent decisions lead to accepting less foreigners on the japanese soil (pandemic, trainees abuse) whereas the most direct solution would be to clean up the internal mess.

Sakoku's nostalgics i guess

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Poor guy.

Create Six Construction Company, Okayama abused him for two years.

I hope their customers boycott them in a show of support for the man.

Just awful.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

""Japan established the technical internship program in 1993, aiming to transfer skills to developing countries. But it has been criticized for creating a hotbed of exploitation and accused of providing a cover for companies to import cheap labor from other Asian countries.""

Thank you JT for pointing that out, MODERN SALVERY, and that is exactly what it is, it's not about training, because the training could take place at the homeland of these workers, they are far more skilled than their trainers in most cases, extremely talented and skilled, they just need a job to feed their families and that is all.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

The agency is studying whether to file a criminal complaint against the Japanese coworkers and to take any action against the intermediate body, also based in Okayama.

What's there to study? It was a clear violation of the law and those involved in the abuse of the man should be persecuted and punished.

The man, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters last month in Tokyo that he felt unable to report his abuse to police for fear of retaliation.

And there's the rub - labor laws for these foreign trainees are so pathetic and practically nonexistent that they'd rather endure the abuse than to report it. This really needs to change.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

"So, it’s the trainees that get punished by not being able to get a job. Way to go Japan!"

Au contraire!

They should remain in Vietnam, far richer and more developed than Japan.

Alternatively, go to China, India, or S Korea.

All 4 are far richer, more developed, and fairer than Japan.

As per JT "experts".

-9 ( +5 / -14 )

Despite the telling video evidence and the known identity of the perpetrators of the assaults, this explains while the story has yet to make it to the “Crime” section:

“The [Ministry of Justice’ Immigration Services] agency is studying whether to file a criminal complaint against the Japanese coworkers and to take any action against the intermediate body [Six Create], also based in Okayama.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

But paying 'foreign trainees' below poverty wages and treating them as slave labor is no problem

he knows he is not being trained. In rural Vietnam, a days salary is about ¥280. Here he can earn ¥8000 for a ten hour shift. After paying off the snakeheads, he will return home like a millionaire.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Well, I'm pretty sure you know, but I've heard countless stories of how a Japanese national commits a crime against a foreign national -either within Japan or abroad- and Japan is by default inclined to cover up for them. In their minds, Japan is still the nation "chosen by the gods", therefore superior perhaps? Obviously not everyone, but there are very many of them that still think like that. Certainly the bigwigs in the governments and the police.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Also...bullying? I call it "Japan's national sport". Grown men breaking the bones of a poor man escaping from unthinkable poverty in Vietnam and then going back to their families in the evening content that they punished the dirty gaijin right "for not speaking Japanese properly". As if they needed an excuse to show their cowardice.

What strikes me is that the man preferred to have broken bones and terror at work every day than go back to Vietnam. I've seen Vietnam and I've caught a tiny glimpse of what that man escaped from.

Effectively, what the company just did, instead of making strict anti-bullying rules, was remove the foreigners from the picture, which is EXACTLY what the bullies wanted. No dirty gaijin among them. Clap clap, Japan.

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

Nothing will happen, look at how many times bullying has been reported at schools and the work place and there was no corrective action. Bullying is a way of life it starts in the schools all the way to the corporate board rooms.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Rather shameful and not good news for correcting ethnocentric attitudes that still prevail in modern Japan! However, it appears the reputation of what we see today only echos pre-WW2 attitudes toward other Asians.

Education and assimilation go hand and hand. There needs to be a change in attitudes for Japan to survive the challenges of this multicultural century. Prejudices begin at the family level and expand to society in general

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

The Japanese agency overseeing these foreign workers in Japan should be held accountable for failing to protect these workers and monitor abuses by participating employers. Criminal complaints must also be filed

against the perpetrators and victims must be compensated by the abusing employers. The relationship between employers and agency personnel is highly suspect.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

It's good to see this, a step in the right direction. Has the perpetrator of the assault been arrested? Has the customary "out of court" compensation payment to the victim been offered? Is the public prosecutor's office investigating? Japan still has a long way to go when it comes to han rights and equality.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The agency is studying whether to file a criminal complaint against the Japanese coworkers

What’s there to study?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The agency is studying whether to file a criminal complaint against the Japanese coworkers and to take any action against the intermediate body, also based in Okayama.

The Immigration Agency in Japan falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of (so-called) justice. Need we say more.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japan needs to stop sheltering it's bullies, and name and shame them instead. Bullying is clearly the dark, hidden face of Japanese culture. Shine a light on the bullies. Purify the scum people, and practices, that allow these terrible crimes to happen.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Yes. Don't come to Japan. Rather than keep insisting on Japanese bullies or elitism, you folks , go home and tell your fellow country men what Japan is.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

David Brent: "Wow, pretty good to see. That firm will have to find its slave labor from among local Japanese now."

Except they won't -- they just won't report whom they hire. Most don't, when it comes to the labor trafficking program. So, they won't be allowed to LEGALLY hire foreign employees, that's all. Hasn't stopped all the other gangs -- errr, companies from hiring illegally and then abusing their employees knowing full well the employee is unlikely to report anything.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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