Japan Police Helping People Quit Illegal Part-Time Jobs

Jiji Press

17:18 JST, November 17, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Japanese police are boosting support for people who have applied for “dark” part-time jobs but wish to quit them.

Such illegal jobs have been often linked to robberies that have frequently taken place mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area recently.

Applicants for dark part-time jobs send pictures of their identification documents to recruiters and end up unable to quit for fears of possible retaliatory actions against themselves and their families.

Japanese police took protective steps for 46 such applicants, more than half of them being young people, from Oct. 18 to Nov. 7, according to the National Police Agency.

Protective steps include introducing safe places to live in, beefing up patrols and providing relocation subsidies. The police also have a system to secure the safety of such people immediately in case of emergency if they are registered in advance.

A man in his 40s who applied on X for a dark part-time job promising unusually high pay, sent his personal information such as a phone number and a photo of a driver’s license to a recruiter.

After he stopped contacting in order to avoid committing a crime, he received a threatening mobile phone message.

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department told the man to leave his house for safety. No retaliatory action against the man has been confirmed, according to the MPD.

A senior MPD official said, “We want people to consult us right away if they apply (for dark part-time jobs), without being afraid of intimidation.”