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Vietnamese trainee in Japan sent home after asking for paid leave

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The whole foreign trainee program is nothing but legalized slave labor and the poor participants are treated accordingly. The demands are simple; "Shut up and work" and so long as they adhere to this rule they are golden, but step out of line ever so slightly and you're on your way back to the motherland without recourse and don't bother complaining to the Japanese authorities.

34 ( +36 / -2 )

Absolutely ridiculous!

Shame on the company.

21 ( +24 / -3 )

Name the company please. Only way corporate Japan changes is with bad press.

20 ( +22 / -2 )

For crying out loud Japan, END this program of SLAVERY!!  Japan isn't training anybody for anything! 

And this early morning raid, basically kidnapping, is beyond disgusting.

I ask once again, Japan can you please simply ENFORCE labour laws?? No need to answer, we all know you cant & WONT!

18 ( +20 / -2 )

What was the problem? Was it just that he asked for time off or because he wanted to get paid for it as well? The article states he made too many requests, but he only made one request. This is slavery, but it is not much different to how Japanese trainees get treated by companies.

17 ( +18 / -1 )

Vietnamese is right now the largest group of criminals in Japan

No, Japanese are the largest group of criminals in Japan by a long shot. No one else even comes close.

15 ( +16 / -1 )

Asking for paid leave to get married?? What the hell is he thinking?

14 ( +17 / -3 )

Earlier apologists said, “at least they are learning Japanese business methods.” Hahahahaha So when he starts his own business in Japan he knows he can deport his employees/slaves whenever they ask for anything? Great lesson!

This Japanese government program is SOOOOO good for the lessor beings on this planet.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

No it doesn’t.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

My God. The corporate kenpeitai caught in the act

13 ( +15 / -2 )

The cooperative, which was overseeing the man's participation in the program, and the seafood processing firm both declined to comment on the grounds that they were in negotiations with his support group, the Zentouitsu Workers Union.

I see. Get him out of the country first then the criminals can say whatever they want

13 ( +13 / -0 )

But isn't Japan a first-world, developed nation where workers have rights? Wow.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

No. 1 reason why I don't want to work for a Japanese company. You would think the trainie would know if he was entitled to paid leave as that would be hashed out in his contract but I'm guessing he didn't get one.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

The town office Kamogawa City that this "organization" is located in has a facebook page.. The Boso Promotion Cooperative which is sending workers to other prefectures, ( how does that promote Chiba?) has a closed facebook page. Odd that four workers turned up at 5am as the company is listed as having just three employees. Something fishy here, sorry.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

tinawatanabe: "He may have tried to get fake-married and run. Vietnamese is right now the largest group of criminals in Japan surpassing Koreans 2nd and Chinese 3rd."

No, the highest rate of crime in Japan is committed by Japanese, exponentially.

"zichi, that's because NPA counts long time residents as Japanese."

Hogwash as usual, tina. Show us your stats. I can tell you that none of us who have been here for a very long time, despite having permanent visas, are ever counted as Japanese. But hey, do YOU consider us Japanese, tina? In any case, as I said, it is well known Japan is leading not only in crime in Japan, but is also one of the biggest labor traffickers and human traffickers for the sex industry in the world.

From organizations who watch such things: "The majority of identified trafficking victims are foreign women who migrate to Japan with hopes of working and sending remittances to their families back home. Upon arrival however, they are subjected to debt bondage and forced prostitution. Debts of up to $50,000 are imposed on the women and they are subjected to physical and psychological violence and coercion."

And...

"Other than women trafficked into the sex industry, labor exploitation of both men and women has been widely reported by activists and NGOs. Abuses of the “Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program (the “foreign trainee program”) included fraudulent terms of employment, debt bondage, restrictions on movement, and withholding of salary payments. Although most companies employ the foreign trainees appropriately, 1,209 violations of labor laws were identified in 2006. With increased attention on the exploitation of these trainees, the government made some efforts to address oversight of the program with a list of regulations, but there were no criminal penalties enforced on companies who violated them. NGOs point out that a major problem is the lack of enforcement of labor laws."

https://www.globalministries.org/human_trafficking_and_the_sex_trade

That's but once source, tina, that proves what everyone is saying. There are many others. Now, where are your sources with the groups of foreign crime rates ranked, and where the NPA considers long-term residents Japanese? We all know you won't provide any proof to back up your claims, because you can't.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

@Heckleberry Japan is a third-world country with fist-world economic.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

This is Abe's pride and joy, this program, and it is a well known fact the program is a front for labor trafficking and modern-day slavery, something Japan is unable to stop coercing people into.

I mean imagine! After slaving away and probably working insane overtime for lower pay, and being in debt to come over here to begin with, you have the gall to ask for a little time off to get married! How dare he!

Good old Japan.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

The Japanese government launched the program for foreign workers in 1993 with the aim of passing on technical skills to other countries; no, under the guise of passing on technical skills.

I sometimes meet Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai trainees at a local supermarket. Most of them work in fishing industry. I wonder if they work for the Boso Promotion Cooperative.

I wonder if Tina Watanabe is aware that Vietnamese trainees have be sent to Fukushima to clean up radioactive waste without being informed of the dangers. I doubt it.

The trainee programme is an excuse for slave labour.

We read he was asking for paid leave, but we are not told if this was paid leave to which he was entitled. We are not even told if he was paid up to date. In fact we are not told who paid for his flight either. I suspect he did, the cost being deducted for pay he was owed.

Why was he forced to leave his room at 5 a.m? To instill fear in other trainees. 5 a.m. seems so unreasonable I can't help wondering how many whole fingers the four men had.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

The word "yasumi" is not part of the 3K words associated with training

6 ( +6 / -0 )

LudditeToday 11:29 am JST

"Welcome to Japan."

LOL, Welcome to Japan. We hope you enjoyed your stay and don't come back.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

He may have tried to get fake-married and run. Vietnamese is right now the largest group of criminals in Japan surpassing Koreans 2nd and Chinese 3rd.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/07/08/issues/police-foreign-crime-wave-falsehoods-fuel-racism/#.WsnzlZe-lPY

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Back on topic please.

Welcome to Japan.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Not directly related, but many J-companies don't let you take any time off until you've been there for 6 months or more. In my case I was coming almost straight from USA and had some things to do that could only be done on weekdays, yet I couldn't get a paid day or even half-day off.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Not directly related, but many J-companies don't let you take any time off until you've been there for 6 months or more.

I'm not sure that is the full story. Paid leave (有給) doesn't kick in until the six month mark, so a person doesn't technically have any vacation until they have been there six months.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Seemes like misunderstanding between different cultures. (Maybe the man knows about the contract but was being stubborn because in his culture its always permissable and a holy cause to get off for marriage). Obviously management mishandling here and Jp inc needs global HR course. 5am is very bad scheme disrespectful/ inhumane (btw bec to catch a cheapest plane?).

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Its difficult / I refuse

irs unreasonable / No way

Traditional / Racist

Estate planning / tax evasion

trainee program / forced labor

5 ( +6 / -1 )

This program his a black eye for Japan and a sad reminder of how they view fellow Asians

5 ( +6 / -1 )

This is the O...Mo...Te...Nashi. Due to omotenashi “kokoro” Japanese are able to be considerate of each other.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The cooperative, which was overseeing the man's participation in the program

There is no way a cooperative from Boso, about an hour out of Tokyo to the south east by express train, is "overseeing" anything 30 mins west of Tokyo. They are merely acting as a front to supply one indentured labourer to whoever wants one. The actual working conditions and so-called training will not be monitored at all.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I think you will discover from the NPA the largest group of criminals in Japan are the Japanese! Even by percentage of numbers of people, Japanese crimes are more than twice the level of crimes by non Japanese.

Oh facts. Why bring up such things? Tina Watanabe gave us alternative, made-up facts, as well as hinting that the Vietnamese worker was about to commit "marriage and run" - presumably the company employees who raided his apartment and forced him to leave were selflessly upholding Japanese standards on marriage. After all, how could a Japanese woman marry a Vietnamese? She must be victim to a scam.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

His should go to an international court and get most publicity.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

We don't know the entire story.

1st, does learning about seafood processing really take more than a week? I suppose every type of product would have different requirements, so perhaps I'm oversimplifying the knowledge needed.

At my first real job, I wouldn't have been fired for requesting paid time off, but I would have been told NO. Certainly wouldn't have had someone from the company show up 5am to help me leave the country. Even when working overseas, I couldn't imagine that happening.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Apparently working in seafood processing amounts to passing on technical skills to other countries.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

He may have tried to get fake-married and run. Vietnamese is right now the largest group of criminals in Japan surpassing Koreans 2nd and Chinese 3rd.

Setting the bogus assumptions of his intentions aside, I initially gave you the benefit of the doubt when I first read your comment. I was thinking that you maybe were referring to crimes committed by foreigners only. But then,

that's because NPA counts long time residents as Japanese.

so you really think that most crimes committed in Japan, across the board, are ethnically non-Japanese, huh?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Judging the facts as presented in this article, this was shameful behavior on the part of the people responsible for sending him back to Vietnam. If this is how people in the country legally are treated, the stories about slave laborers during the war become more believable.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

as a massive amount of seafood, both caught and processed comes from Vietnam, why do they need training? unless...

2 ( +8 / -6 )

This event usually occurs, mainly because he does not understand the problem.

In Japan, it is divided into several types of labor contracts. In the type of employment contract, only full-time employees have the right to leave. This ability is heard from somewhere, because the company can have many Vietnamese, and some have official staff. The contractor also has a practitioner, so he thinks he has the right.

I am Vietnamese and I understand this and I am not happy about the Vietnamese in Japan because the Vietnamese often hurt each other.

sorry for my english.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Makoto Shimizu - Just curious What leads you to say "Japan has so good reputation...." ?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Really sad to read this. Japan has so good reputation but bad news like this, of mistreatment of a foreign worker does show that unfortunately there is bad people there, exploiting aliens, bringing up the slavery time. Great to know that free press in Japan defends Human Rights.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

zichi, that's because NPA counts long time residents as Japanese.

-15 ( +0 / -15 )

He may have tried to get fake-married and run. Vietnamese is right now the largest group of criminals in Japan surpassing Koreans 2nd and Chinese 3rd.

-18 ( +1 / -19 )

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