Vietnamese trainee worker in Japan recalls violence, struggle to switch jobs
(Mainichi Japan)
HIROSHIMA -- When the deep red torii gate towering over the ocean at Hiroshima Prefecture's famed Itsukushima Shrine was being restored, Nguyen was among those at work.
It's been four years since 42-year-old Nguyen (not his real name) came to Japan from Vietnam as a technical trainee. Like many of his compatriots, Nguyen continues to work in this foreign country despite painful experiences under the trainee system that he can't bear to tell his family back home.
After waking at 5:30 a.m., Nguyen dons his helmet and safety harness. Day in and day out, he works until dusk building scaffolds at sky-high construction sites. At Itsukushima Shrine in the city of Hatsukaichi, he worked in the open ocean and was required to take great care not to damage the government-designated cultural property and UNESCO world heritage site.
Nguyen endures the hard work in order to send money to his wife, children and parents back home. In Vietnam, he would earn no more than 40,000 yen (about $265) per month for factory work. Now, he sends home 100,000 yen (approx. $665) monthly.
Nguyen said that while he misses his family, they'd only encounter money troubles if he returned. While he never goes without calling them twice a week, there's a painful experience he's never even told them about.
It goes back to when Nguyen first arrived in Japan. He had hoped to land a factory job, but faced difficulty due to high competition and being in his late 30s. After being hired by a construction firm in the west Japan city of Okayama, Nguyen tried his best despite a lack of fluency in the Japanese language. Although he could remember words used on the job, he didn't understand complex instructions. He worked by watching others, but after continuing to make errors, his Japanese co-workers began to bully him.
The bullying escalated. A video was shot of Nguyen being made to ride on a truck's loading platform while being beaten with sticks by multiple people. In at least one other incident, Nguyen suffered chipped teeth after objects were dropped onto his face and broken ribs after being kicked by one or more co-workers wearing safety boots.
Nyugen was about to consult the supervising organization which acts as arbiter between trainees and their worksites, but was stopped by a fellow Vietnamese worker who told him they would not offer an empathetic response.
However, as the violence went on, Nguyen emailed photos of his injuries to the organization in June 2021 along with a request to change employers. Their response was, "We will warn the employer about violence, but changing jobs will be difficult."
The abuse continued. However, change finally came in October of that year. Through an acquaintance, he came under the protection of a workers' union in the city of Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture. The following January, they held a press conference and publicly released videos that became widely shared within the blink of an eye.
A month later, administrative penalties forbade his employer in Okayama from taking on technical trainees. The firm also had its license granted by the supervisory organization revoked.
Nguyen was finally able to transfer to a new job in April 2022, after the union was flooded with offers from companies wanting to take him in. This past month, he switched his residence status from technical trainee to specified skilled worker. Bit by bit, his emotional scars have healed while working for his present employer.
Technical trainees and specified skilled workers
As the Japanese government aims to update the technical trainee system, the issue of changing employers is in the spotlight. With the high hurdles to doing so, over 9,000 trainees simply absconded in 2022 alone.
"Technical trainee" and "specified skilled worker" are two residence categories for foreigners in Japan. The technical trainee program was established in 1993 to confer skills to foreign workers from developing countries, allowing maximum stays of five years. The specified skilled worker program was created in 2019 for foreign workers to fill critical labor shortages in certain industries. As of the end of June 2023, there were around 360,000 trainees and some 173,000 specified skilled workers in Japan. A government panel of experts this April called for unifying their administration under a revised system.
(Japanese original by Haruna Okuyama, Lifestyle, Science & Environment News Department)
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