Film spotlights Vietnamese temporary workers' plight in Japan

Sounds like a good film. It will not go down well with Japanese audiences though. We all saw how they reacted to the Nike commercial...

Guaranteed not to hear a peep about this film from any Japanese person I know but every day I have to listen to one of them telling me how wonderful "Demonslayer" is and that I should see it.

In certain cases, some Vietnamese technical trainees incur expenses of 1 million yen ($9,700) or more for fees including commissions for brokers before they arrive in Japan. Once on the ground, they have to work to pay off their debts before starting to earn money to save, supporters say.

Cheap labour from exploited individuals who do not enjoy the same rights as others in Japan. Disgraceful.

I don't think Vietnam or China needs any skills transferred from Japan, not alone ridiculous ones like "growing rice."

Well, who knows? Maybe the Chinese and Vietnamese aren't really familiar with rice-growing.

They all know the real reason they are in Japan, (cheap labor) and they all know that Cheap labor rates in Japan much, much better than those they could get in Vietnam. None are coerced. Not saying I agree with the system but thats the way its is.

I've seen a documentary on NHK about this issue. It seemed fairly balanced.

Nevertheless, I'm sure this film isn't going to go down well with the Japanese public. Even something as relatively mild as Shoplifters was controversial to many, including the PM.

Fujimoto san can't be a very popular director in Japan but good on him for doing something about something that needs done.

I don't need to watch the movie to learn about Japanese altruism though. In the 50ties-70ties Japan was amongst donor countries along with the 5 eyes for the Colombo Plan. Hundreds of thousands of doctors, engineers, lawyers etc. were trained, Japan accepted a mere 1,800 or so students, and many didn't graduate. The same story is reflected in funding, Japan contributed about 100 millions vs USA in the billions, in fact Japan's figures were very similar to New Zealand, and was widely thought of as a bit of a joke amongst the diplomatic community.

Fast forward to modern day, Russia and Ukraine also have similar trainee programs for Vietnamese, producing elite corporate leaders for contemporary Vietnam. Japan on the other hand has labour exploitation disguised as technical training.

Yes, the film is much needed but all it show is history repeating itself.