On February 5, the Japanese government finalized the draft of a new ‘foreign trainee employment’ program to replace the Technical Intern Training Program as a revised system for accepting foreign workers. The new program would be applied to the same industrial sectors that are covered by the ‘specified skilled workers program.’ Foreign trainees can stay with the initial employer up to three years in the revised program, however, they would be allowed to change their jobs, provided that they satisfy a certain condition, while job changing has been prohibited in principle under the current program. Besides, the new program clarifies the system to offer stepwise career progression from Technical Intern to Specified Skilled Worker I and from Specified Skilled Worker I to Specified Skilled Worker II. In other words, it would aim to help trainees to become skilled workers and pave the way for obtaining permanent residency by enhancing their job skills and achieving a certain level of proficiency in the Japanese language.

In 1993, the Technical Intern Training Program was established as part of international contribution with the aim of developing “human resources who can play roles in the economic development of those developing regions.” However, in reality, the system functioned as a means of adjusting labor supply and demand for low-wage foreign workers. It remains fresh in our mind that the program has brought attention to a social issue involving disregard for the human rights of foreign workers, which is conspicuous in the intervention of rogue brokers, depressing working environments, and unfair employment conditions. In contrast, the new system clearly advocates its objectives to support the Japanese economy now facing a labor shortage. It is a step forward in the sense that the objectives of the program align with the current situation.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, approximately 2 million out of the 3.22 million foreign residents in Japan have a job in this country (as of October 2023). The number of employers is roughly 320,000 business operators. Of these, approximately 200,000, or 60%, are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with less than 30 employees. In short, as many as 410,000 technical interns are mostly employed by these SMEs and have become indispensable for Japan as the base workforce that supports the Japanese economy. On the other hand, the number of missing foreign trainees exceeds 9,000 (based on the 2022 data provided by the Immigration Services Agency.) This implies that problems related to their employment conditions, working status, and living environments remain unresolved at the level of the job site.

What is attributable to a particular intolerance towards foreign trainees? This sentiment may stem from prejudice against developing countries, apprehension towards foreign cultures, and concerns about the acceptance of immigrants on a regular basis. That aside, there are no good signs suggesting a reversal of the declining trend in Japan's shrinking population. Are we doing nothing but overlooking a shrinking Japan without raising any objections? The bottom line is the design of the future. Reform of the ‘employment ’-related system is an urgent issue. But at the same time, the future of Japanese society as a whole should be systematically designed. In any case, “cheap Japan” as it is now, will not be chosen by foreign workers as an ideal place to work. In fact, the transformation of Japan, shifting from a country attracting workers to make money to a country focused on tourism, is the most significant issue we must confront now.

This Week’s Focus, February 9

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President