
Experts on a government panel gather to discuss the foreign technical trainee program at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo on Monday.
15:02 JST, April 10, 2023
Tokyo, April 10 (Jiji Press)—A Japanese government panel of experts tasked with reviewing the country’s program to accept foreign technical trainees on Monday called for the abolition of the program and the launch of a new program that puts emphasis on securing manpower.
In a draft of an interim report on its discussions, the panel also called on the government to include a system for skill development in the new program to promote mid- to long-term employment.
The government introduced the current program in 1993, aiming to make international contributions by allowing foreigners to gain skills and knowledge in Japan as trainees and use them for economic development in their home countries.
In reality, however, the program has been largely used as a means to cover labor shortages in provincial areas and at small and midsize companies.
The program also has many problems such as unpaid wages, long work hours and other human rights violations. In response to a series of cases in which trainees ran away from workplaces due to harsh working environments, the panel started discussing ways to review the program in December last year.
Regarding the current program, the draft said that there is “a gap between its purpose and reality.”
The government “should abolish the current program and consider establishing a new program aimed at securing and nurturing human resources,” the panel said in the draft.
The panel also proposed creating a system to nurture and assess Japanese language and technical skills of foreign trainees under the new program in order to encourage them to work in Japan for a longer period of time.
In addition, the panel called for allowing foreign trainees staying in Japan under the new program to smoothly acquire special resident status given to foreign workers with specified skills.
The panel urged the government to consider easing restrictions on changes of trainees’ workplaces and tightening requirements on organizations in charge of mediating trainees’ internships and supervising companies and others accepting trainees as part of efforts to exclude malicious organizations.
The panel will discuss details of the new program and whether revisions of related laws would be needed.
"Politics" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
Japan to Offer U.S. Proposals for Cooperation on Rare Earths, Semiconductors; Potential Measures Could Help Counter China, Correct Trade Deficit
-
Japan Govt to Create Guidelines for Data Leak Prevention at Research Institutes; AI R&D, Risk Management to Be Balanced
-
Eto Dismissed as Japan’s Agricultural Minister; Chosen Successor Koizumi Vows to Tackle High Rice Prices (UPDATE 2)
-
Japan Coast Guard Begins Employment Scheme for Retiring MSDF Personnel; Aims for 15 Recruits in FY25
-
U.S. Senator and Ex-Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty: Economic Security, National Security Are Tied
JN ACCESS RANKING
-
Toyoda to Become Automobile Business Association of Japan Chairman; to Help Guide U.S. Tariff-Affected Industriessns
-
Visitors to Japan Hit Single-Month Record High in April
-
Japanese Researchers Develop ‘Transparent Paper’ as Alternative to Plastics; New Material Is Biodegradable, Can Be Produced with Low Carbon Emissions
-
Japan’s Core Inflation Hits More than 2-year High, Could Force Year-End BOJ Hike
-
Aichi Rice Production Under Siege from Warming Climate; Record Heat Stunts Crop Growth, Causes Greater Pest Activity