Japanese Firms Set up Vocational Schools in Asia, as Competition Grows with China and South Korea over Workers

By Takashi Itoda / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

20:00 JST, August 17, 2025

BANGKOK — Japanese businesses are increasingly moving to set up Japanese-style vocational schools in Asia in an effort to secure ready workers for their local factories.

In recent years, Chinese and South Korean companies have pushed more quickly into Southeast Asia. Amid growing competition with these firms for staff, Japanese companies are rushing to try to retain workers.

“I love the sounds of Japanese car engines. I’d like to work for a Japanese automaker and help out on development,” said a 16-year-old student learning car maintenance at Politeknik Mitra Industri, a vocational school in an industrial park in the suburbs of Jakarta.

The industrial park, which is run by Marubeni Corp. and other businesses, houses a total of 385 firms, including many Japanese companies, such as Honda Motor Co. and Denso Corp.

About 3,400 students attend the school, which was founded in 2012. The school offers eight courses, including on machinery, the electronics industry and accounting. Of those who graduated between 2015 and 2024, more than 70% got jobs at Japanese companies.

“We want to make a place where students can acquire advanced knowledge and technical skills, so that local youth can become the management for manufacturers,” said Yoshihiro Kobi, an executive at the foundation that manages the school and a former Marubeni employee. The foundation plans to open a technical university in September and offer enrollment to working adults.

In emerging countries, companies often need to teach new employees basic rules, such as that they must come to work by the start of working hours. Those who have received instruction are valuable resources for businesses, reducing the burdens of employee training.

In 2018, Toyota Tsusho Corp. opened an educational institution at an industrial park in India’s western state of Gujarat. Students learn manufacturing skills and business etiquette, among other subject matter, over three years. Of 61 graduates, 45 have taken jobs at the companies where they had hands-on training, some of which were Japanese firms.

In Thailand, a technical college, which was established in 2019 with the help of a yen-based loan from the Japanese government, has provided staff to Japanese companies doing business there.

In recent years, Chinese and South Korean businesses have increasingly moved to open plants in Southeast Asia. Some of these rival firms have poached staff from Japanese firms by offering attractive wages.

In a job preference survey by Persol Research and Consulting Co. in 2022, the share of those saying they wanted to work for a Japanese company fell in many Southeast Asian countries compared to a 2019 survey. The trend could be even more pronounced now.

“Japanese firms are slow to raise wages and give promotions, which raises the odds that highly motivated workers will leave,” said Ryotaro Inoue, a senior researcher at Persol. “To keep staff at Japanese firms, they will need to engage in education locally over the long term to help people feel attached to Japan. They should also make it clear that Japanese companies offer stable work style.”