Japanese doctor slams foreign vocational trainee system

Yamamura sensei - good for you! The exploitation of these "trainees" is terrible. His last sentence is spot on. If Japan needs workers and it is decided to bring in foreign labor then do it properly. Pay these workers and treat these workers the same as Japanese workers. I have heard some terrible stories from people who have been exploited by this system.

My native land (the U.S.) exploits workers similarly - we do not call the exploited workers in the U.S. "trainees" we call them "undocumented".

I think both of these practices need to end.

So basically, Japan needs more workers, and the only good source is from overseas. But they don't want to pay full salaries or wages, and they don't want this to pave a way for immigration. So the "vocational trainee system" was created.

Where the laws protecting foreigners from exploitation? Injuries at factories in Japan are common, they are not adequately investigated nor is responsibility taken. My advice to anyone thinking of taking a factory job in Japan is........don't!

So basically, Japan needs more workers, and the only good source is from overseas. But they don't want to pay full salaries or wages, and they don't want this to pave a way for immigration. So the "vocational trainee system" was created.

So? Just about everyone here already knows this. However this is probably one of the first times that a professional, a JAPANESE doctor no less, is standing up and doing something about it. He deserves a ton of credit for creating this and hopefully plenty will see it.

The same thing is happening with "nurse" trainees from the PI and other poorer SE Asian countries as well!

@Yubaru - I agree with you. He deserves tons of credit for doing this. Speaking out like this publicly is not an easy thing for a Japanese person to do.

Humans exploiting other humans knows no geographical boundaries and has been going on for a very long time. You think we would have gotten beyond that at some point but I do not think there is anywhere in the world that actually has.

It's not just foreign workers. Just about every trainee is treated as a slave, especially in the medical industry. My step-daughter is in her first year of nursing after finishing university and she is doing 14-16 hour shifts and getting one or two days a month and, if she dared to complain she would be fired. It's slavery!

So basically, Japan needs more workers,

Not really. Since the shift to shareholder capitalism, aka "market reform," Japanese corporations are under pressure to report profits. The easiest way to achieve that is to enslave foreigners. Those shareholders need to be paid!

These programs assume that the trainee will return to their country of origin right? Are any of them allowed to stay if they find employment?

Dr Yamamura is perfectly correct. Kudos to him for being one of the few to speak out.

Yamamura is a hero in my opinion. Bringing this scandalous program to an international spotlight takes a lot of guts. I hope he does not suffer professionally or otherwise.

He has publicly shamed the Japanese government after all...

Thank you Yamamura Sensei. You are a fine upstanding man. It takes a lot of effort to do this.

This trainee system has to be brought to light. Both in Japan and in the international community. The powers that be, and that includes the corrupt LDP, have to be named and shamed. As others have pointed out, this is tantamount to slavery. what is really distressing is that it is being committed in a country which purports to have human rights.

The trainee system is similar to bonded labour as the "trainees" get into debt to come to Japan and must stay with the same employer whilst they are here. I think if someone is just working on a production line in a factory, where the "training" consists of a couple of hours on the first day, the length of stay should be limited to a few months at most. Only companies which offer regular training, i.e. teaching new skills to their staff or perhaps sending them to local colleges one day a week, should be allowed to employ these trainees. However, it's clear that the government has no will or intention to stop the abuses of the system and there will be no changes. Profits first, human rights last.

We already treat own own workforce poorly, why would anyone expect any different?

Many people have to work for peanuts, standing at attention, saying something over and over...list goes on. How some manage is beyond me.

Good on Junpei. He is a buddy of mine and he has been a frequent and vocal activist in for foreign people being abused or killed by government sponsored programs and government agencies.

He has vocally protested against the coverup immigration pulled on an asylum seeker who was denied treatment while having a heart attack and who subsequently died.

I'm not surprised.

I've worked for Japanese before,and I don't wish to do so again. Little Napoleons.

Build Japanese factories in these countries where they have some protection. Build robots here to fill the shortfall. Don't have olympics if there is no workers.

Yamamura san, a BIG thank YOU! For doing this!

I wish more in Japan would do so, this on-going slave problem needed to ended, what 10-20yrs ago.... but has continued in-abated!

Japan is going to be in REAL trouble when the poor of the world STOP taking the bait here!

This problem for Japan is two-fold, it is due to Japanese NOT wanting to do this kind of work for CRAPPY wages & the demographic time bomb that has already gone off about 30yrs ago, that is the vast decline in the number of newborns which Japan has done NOTHING but pay a bit of lip service too.

This isn't going to end well here & we all are going to get to watch it continue sadly.

Hey Japan: The road to hell is paved with trying to have your cake and eat it.

Scrap the system immediately and replace it with fixed-period but renewable working visas offering the full protection of Japanese labour laws. And target it to certain sectors where people are needed.

This is the same as the refugee system. There is such a demand for construction workers they hire anyone.

Good on this man for bucking the system! It's a well-known fact that Japan engages in labor trafficking and is still one of the world's biggest human rights' abusers in that area, and the "work vocational" program is one of the government's approval tools of it.

Although were in the 21st Century, Japan seems still to be 17th century on some issues.

Japanese Abe Government divert their eyes from Japan versions slavery.

I teach a volunteer eikaiwa class of elderly seniors. Awesome class. There is an older man who is hyper educated and speaks about half a dozen languages. I really look up to this guy and really respect his knowledge and opinions. He was just telling me the other day how Japan has never had slaves. That may very well HAVE been true, but sadly in 2017 slavery is very much alive in Japan under the pseudonym of "vocational trainee system."

Kudos to Yamamura sensei.

Hats off to Dr Yamamura for speaking out what everyone knows but won't say.