As Japan enacts law opening door wider to foreign labor, experts warn of challenges with integration
Experts say new government policies to facilitate the integration of foreign workers into Japanese society will be necessary if the new visa system is to succeed.
Fewer foreigners than expected coming to Japan to work as caregiver trainees, data shows
A year after it started, smaller numbers of foreign workers than expected have arrived to join a trainee program for nursing care services.
Supporters of foreign workers call for equal pay and permanent residence in Japan
Activists on Wednesday called for the creation of a permanent resident visa for blue-collar foreign workers and equal pay as their Japanese co-workers as the country aims to bring in more laborers from overseas. In a statement released at a gathering held at the Diet, ...
Any practices where abuse of foreign workers is suspected should be eliminated.
Vietnam-born rights advocate Bungo Okabe steps in to stifle abuse of technical trainees in Japan
When it came to light in March that a Vietnamese man in Japan's foreign trainee program was duped into performing radioactive decontamination work in areas devastated by the 2011 nuclear disaster, Bungo Okabe, 36, was the first to offer help in seeking justice. Okabe, a ...
The impact of accepting unskilled foreign labor
The new visa system will lack durability unless the needs of employers, local communities and foreigners are balanced.
Chinese trainee wins compensation from Japanese farm after overtime pay amounted to ¥400 per hour
In another incident of abuse involving the government’s foreign trainee program, often accused of being a cover for cheap labor, a Chinese trainee is awarded ¥1.99 million in unpaid wages owed by a farmer.
Underwear maker Wacoal probing labor conditions faced by foreign trainees
Major lingerie and underwear maker Wacoal Holdings Corp. has launched surveys at outsourcing plants within Japan to make sure foreign trainees there are not subjected to unlawful labor practices, company officials said Monday. The rare probe was launched earlier this year into conditions at 40 ...
Clear strategy needed for inviting foreign labor
Japan's gradual approach to welcoming unskilled labor from abroad helps ensure the maintenance of social harmony.
With more low-skilled workers coming in from overseas, Japan must improve their work and living conditions.
Foreign interns face specter of abuse at labor-hungry Kumamoto quake sites
Kumamoto has seen so many foreign laborers lately that it is raising suspicions Japan’s internship recruits are again being exploited as cheap labor.
