What's It Like To Be A Foreign Worker in Japan? | CNA Correspondent

0:01 [Music] Japan used to be proud of its status as a homogenous Society but the country is now at a stage where it has to open this store wide to foreigners to sustain its economic growth Japan has to accept more migrant workers but is Japan ready for the new reality in this edition of CNA correspondent I will meet with business owners and migrant workers to find [Music]

0:52 out videos of a Vietnamese worker in the western Japanese city of okama being abused sparked outrage one of the videos show the Vietnamese worker as being attacked physically and in another video he was seen as being repeatedly kicked and pushed around he was allegedly bullied by his Japanese co-workers for his poor command of the Japanese language the incident once again turned the spotlight on Japan's treatment of Migrant workers Japanese are more used to the presence of foreigners among them now compared to say 30 years ago there are more than 2.8 million foreigners in

1:39 Japan as of June 2021 compared to the 1990s the figure has doubled as to the size of foreign labor force in Japan it's shown a steep rise of over three times in the past decade Vietnamese made up 26% of Japan's 1.7 million foreign world workers as of October 2021 most of them came to Japan under the technical intern training program including the Vietnamese worker in okama City who allegedly suffered serious injuries after being abused by his Japanese co-workers since the abuse came to light the treatment of technical trainees became a sensitive topic among

2:25 employers it took many phone calls and persuasion before a company finally agreed to let me meet their Vietnamese technical trainees Vietnamese workers Chang and wh are hard at work at this construction site in the residential area of shisa City they are Plastering wallpaper for Clinic supervised by Japanese Craftsman Tako OTA Chan the older of the two Vietnamese told me he's been with the company for

3:10 the last five years CH and we came to Japan through the technical traine program which was introduced in Japan in 1993 trainees are not required to be fluent in the Japanese language the program's initial aim was to bring in interns for developing countries mostly from South East Asia while here they would learn new skills and when they returned to their countries they're expected to transfer the skills they acquire to other fellow countrymen but that concept is hardly alive anymore critics say technical trainees

3:56 have become a cheap source of manual labor for Farms factories and other businesses in Japan and human rights groups accuse the Japanese government of turning a blind eye to it Kake who hired Johan and we says being able to hire forigners is a big help he said the trainees are treated as equals of his other employees in all his company hires nine Vietnamese technical trainees

4:58 for [Music] from what the young Vietnamese told me it's not hard to see why it's difficult to hire locals [Music] the hard work paid off their skill has been affirmed by the senior workers and

5:44 are now seen as precious Workforce for a company in a sector that's constantly facing labor shortages but the senior Carpenters are aware this is unlikely to happen the Vietnamese are likely to eventually leave Japan at least that's what Chan told me he wants to start his own business technical trainees typically pay a fee to Asians back home for their internships for the Vietnamese it's up to 1 million yen about $7,000 US some become indepted even before they steep

6:30 foot in Japan for Indonesians the average fee they pay is smaller at about $2,000 us once in Japan trainees are not allowed to leave for 3 years previously they were also not allowed to change jobs during the 3 years conditions critics see as a violation of Human Rights

7:16 [Music] [Music] for not all internships end in tragedy for some it leads to a path of new [Music] possibilities

8:02 [Music] shoka prefecture is home to many Japanese multinational company such as Suzuki motors Yamaha Motors and musical instrument maker Kawaii to sustain its economic Vitality the prefectural government has been working closely with local schools and companies to attract more foreign Talent Cur to Electric based and shisa provides Factory automation solutions to its client president Nobu yukin's grandfather founded a company in 1959 in recent years Mr Nishi has been trying to hire more foreigners to support the company's expansion beyond

8:47 the eight existing overseas branches that it has one of them is 31-year-old kadek yud Pasada who hails from the Indonesian Ian island of Sumatra I am handling a project in Tokyo basically oh I see did you learn this here or did you learn this at school I learned it here so yeah previously I never did this kind of project and yeah I learn it here because the software that I use also is new for me Pasada is not the only Indonesian working at this company fellow Ian Tuan saki Works in another office as a

9:34 salesperson a client recently requested prize quotations for a certain product and Saki has just received the quotes from his suppliers with fluent Japanese he discussed the acceptable price range with a supervisor it's been a year and a half since he joined kyod to he's here with his family and they are still adapting to life in Japan actually they don't speak Japanese at all when they first came here but luckily I got support from company also from the local government uh the local government give me advice and also give me some uh recommendation for uh what you call this uh in the uh education Council for company president

10:21 Nishi the purpose of having foreign workers is not only to ease labor shortages it's a part of a strategy to create create an international environment so that his Japanese employees can be exposed to different customs and cultures this as he expects to sell to more overseas customers

11:13 and the process works two ways it's 5:20 p.m. and business hours officially end at kotu as for Japanese custom employees are responsible for keeping the office clean prasada and his colleagues sweep the space around their desks before they head home Pasada first came to Japan as a technical trainee that's how most Indonesians come to Japan to work he spent 3 years with a manufacturer making Automotive spare parts in Ishikawa prefecture in 2012 after completing his three years as trainee prasada returned to Indonesia and worked in the IT industry he later

11:59 decided he wanted to return to Japan but not as a trainee anymore in December 2021 he was hired by Cody to Electric he now has his own space a small apartment provided by the company unlike the time when he was a technical trainee where he had to share rooms uh it's a small apartment but I tried to make it comtable for me so I put some of my stuff that I like yeah so you are Jackie Chan fan yeah basically I'm Jackie Chan fan and yeah and you're a anime fan anime fans yeah especially one piece I asked him to share his experience working as a technical trainee in Japan and why he decided to

12:46 come back to Japan I think I still don't know how to work as a sary man in Japan so suddenly I want to learn more how to work as an employee in Japan so I come back to Japan he told me about his future plans you know I really want to have something in Japan not only working but I also want to have family

13:31 here for many Japanese employers of foreign workers how to incentivize their new workers to stay with them for the long term proves to be challenging located in shisa prefecture at the foot of Mount Fuji Mishima is a city rich in nature but short on workers okay Masashi runs and information technology company in Mishima to overcome a labor shortage he has in recent years built a multinational Workforce nestled in a quiet neighborhood a few kilometers from the city center the company has employees from across Asia and half of them are

14:18 not Japanese at his office the staff came from Vietnam China and India he said more people from other countries are expected to join it's a big shift from a few years ago but with the new employees came new problems recently a Vietnamese employee he treasured [Music] left the incident shook him like many Japanese business owners Mr mayab Bashi believes in lifetime employment once they were on board he prepared to stick with his workers good times and

15:05 bad and he expected the same from his workers when he realized foreigners don't operate the way Japanese do he initiated a new policy he has plans to expand his business to the more rural parts of Japan he wants some of his foreign staff to relocate and continue to work for him but worries that he could lose them to larger companies are always on his [Music]

15:57 mind [Music] it's less than a month since GW y was assigned to this Nursing Home in Yokohama which has 67 and elderly residents ni arrived in Japan from Vietnam in April it's 2 years later than she planned as borders were closed due to the covid-19 pandemic she's one of eight Vietnamese

16:44 technical trainees hired by Soo care one of Japan's largest elderly care companies with 23,000 employees as she is new here ni has been doing basic tasks such as serving drinks to senior residents to keep them hydrated she also keeps her eyes on elderly who are [Music] immobile Japan's population age 65 and over currently stands at just over 36 million accounting for 28.9% of the total population the Elderly Care industry in Japan is suffering from a severe shortage of care workers according to the health labor and Welfare Ministry there are over

17:30 15,000 private Elderly Care Homes in Japan and the number is still growing in 2020 the industry lacked 130,000 care workers if this trend continues by 2025 the Gap will grow to 320,000 to ease the labor crunch Care Homes have increasingly turned to foreign workers although they can only hire them as technical train as they are not certified caregivers to earn the status of a certified caregiver when she is off duty n joins her other colleagues to attend training courses provided by the

18:18 company trainer Lee Mayan is from China she explained to the young trainees that the average Japanese bathe not only to keep clean but also to relax trainees are told to bear that cultural aspect in mind when they help the elderly bathe bathing supports advanced level caregiving ni and her colleagues may need a year to master the techniques but so far her performance has been [Music] satisfactory

19:06 NE came to Japan with experience working as a nurse back home but she is not yet fluent in Japanese as technical traines are not required to be fluent in the language I caught up with her again after her training session [Music] while they are open to bringing in more foreign workers Japan's elderly care companies have also been using technology to address care worker

19:52 shortages is one of them presid pres of s care is personally Keen to advance his tool Mr washimi had firsthand experience with caregiving at nursing homes once he took care of a woman with terminal cancer with technology in place he wants to free up staff to do what only humans can

20:38 do th to interact and spend time with the senior residents this includes the foreign workers and together he wants to change the image the general public has about Elderly Care as harsh dirty and underpaid during the months I worked on this story many Japanese business owners told me they want to hire more foreigners but at the same time they are nervous about

21:23 it the abuse of the Vietnamese technical trainee that was shown at the beginning of the show as I was told was one of the worst cases the union who assisted Vietnamese workers in Japan said it wasn't something that happens often still such cases are one too many for Japan to be the top choice for foreigners to work and live in its people must learn to be more accommodating to those who cannot speak Japanese and are of different cultures and values as this demographic Time Bomb keeps ticking there's no other [Music]

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