Panel proposes Japan scrap long-criticized foreign trainee program

As for the program's successor, you can bet the Japanese will try anything as long as they can avoid having an immigration program.

Well, students are allowed to go where they want in the country, have children, etc. without fear of being deported, as long as they follow the terms of their visa. It's completely different.

Complaining that the program was used for cheap labour? How about student visas where a lot of people come just to work in Japan? They literally just apply to language school and then after coming to Japan disappear or stop coming to classes.

How is that different from trainee program?

The interim report also calls for enabling workers to change their jobs within the same business category and transfer to different workplaces, which was not allowed in principle under the present system.

Finally some sense, to distance from modern slavery where slave only can have one master. People in the trainee program can not change their employer, so their employer can pay or give workload whatever they like among other abuse.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/16/national/vietnamese-trainees-overtime-pay/

A government panel on Friday proposed scrapping Japan's controversial 30-year-old trainee program for foreigners and creating a new system to address alleged unpaid wages and other human rights violations, its interim report showed.

Maybe address the endemic wage theft that goes unpunished for Japanese as well as foreigners?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/12/10/business/corporate-business/seven-eleven-japan-overtime-pay/

Of course it is even more egregious with foreigners who have less recourse.

Don't scrap it! Fix it! Remove all the prejudices and give the trainees basic human rights. Then, make offenses by employers punishable by large fines. The current status of the program is just short of forced labor once they sign the contract.

DisillusionedToday  09:35 am JST

Don't scrap it! Fix it! Remove all the prejudices and give the trainees basic human rights. Then, make offenses by employers punishable by large fines. The current status of the program is just short of forced labor once they sign the contract.

That's just too much common sense but it won't work in japan because guess who you are dealing with?

They are quite comfortable with the abuse from within said system. They much more prefer it.

Larr Flint - I don't understand why they would end this program.

Of course it wasn't perfect and there were the cases of abuse but overall a lot of young people came and learn something unique here in Japan.

They're not really doing away with bringing people here to work cheaply. They're basically changing the name and clarifying what these workers are really coming over here to do. Calling a spade a spade so to speak as is written from the article below:

The panel called for the new system to clearly state that it is intended to "secure" human resources, unlike the existing program, which says its purpose is to transfer knowledge and skills to developing countries.

I'm glad they're being more honest and transparent since many young southeast Asian men and women do want to come and experience working and living in Japan. Hopefully this new system will grant the workers a little bit more flexibility and make it less difficult to abuse them.

Biggest problem is salaries in Japan are crap.

Iam currently outside Japan in a developing country for business and living standards are way above Japan.When the local colleagues here invite me to go out with them,I give them excuses because I don't have enough disposable income.The pay I get from my Japanese company is just enough for cheap packed food.The locals here assume Japan is a high wage country because of the image portrayed but when I go out with them I'm embarrassed because I can't afford.They end up treating me out.

It was too late!

Basically this regulation should be there to protect vulnerable trainee workers, not to let trainer companies take advantage of them.

I hope the new regulation would be fair enough!

There is a point when something is so badly designed and corrupted that correcting it becomes much more complicated, time consuming and expensive than just making something new from scratch.

It took literally decades of problems for the government to fully recognize the program is a failure and causes more problems than what it solves, but at least it is being done now. Now remains to see how many decades it will take to actually stop the disaster and put forward something that is much more closely checked to prevent abuse and actually helps reaching the original purpose.

For starters, how about allowing Divorcee’s that never acquired Permanent Residency back into the country…that would help with the problem of not enough workers for all the jobs.

WORD travels FAR and WIDE these days, none of it GOOD in the case of this ongoing disaster!

multiple allegations of trainee harassment and abuse.

So, why aren’t the authorities involved in multiple allegations of law breaking?

Aren’t crimes being committed here?

My advice to foreigners coming to Japan is not to!

There won’t be any justice nor recompense for harassment and abuse meted out to you

kurisupisuToday  04:18 pm JST

multiple allegations of trainee harassment and abuse.

So, why aren’t the authorities involved in multiple allegations of law breaking?

Aren’t crimes being committed here?

My advice to foreigners coming to Japan is not to!

There won’t be any justice nor recompense for harassment and abuse meted out to you

I don't know what would make you feel comfortable by keeping posting like this. My advise is not to simplify your message by just one sentence, like " foreigners should not come here" . Every individuals have each different conditions when coming to Japan. Even if you specifically meant those under this notorious Japan's trainees program , there are those who actually are saying and appreciating THE TIME THEY SPENT or THE DAYS they are now spending in JAPAN, which merely are not being picked up by media.

I bet Japan is not the most ideal country to live your life. Not a few posters here always refer to the place like Canada, I personally lived in Canada for quite short while which was enough for me to decide this is not the place for me. Do you know why? Discrimination DOES EXIST over there.

Hey, every individuals have different conditions to pursue for their own lives. My advise for those who suggest " NOT TO COME HERE" is simply nothing but " SHUT UP and LEAVE"

According to your ilk. there seems so many other choices, BETTER CHOICES, on this planet EARTH, I wish to know which ones they are.. by the way.. regardless it is technically or legally feasible.

鎖国 is Japanese culture, like it or not… they never got past it