The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 18 | Issue 18 | Number 11 | Article ID 5478 | Sep 15, 2020

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Vietnamese Technical Trainees in Japan Voice ConcernsAmidst COVID-19

Bao Quyen Tran

Abstract: The Technical Intern TrainingProgram (TITP) – a short-term labor rotationsystem that originated in 1993 – brings youngand middle-aged workers from developingcountries to Japan with a stated objective totransfer Japanese vocational skills andtechniques to these workers. However, theprogram faced criticism for doing little morethan covering the chronic labor shortage inunskilled blue-collar jobs that are regardedunfavorably by many Japanese in recent years.This paper highlights the heightenedvulnerability of the technical intern trainees ascheap and disposable sources of labor,especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.Based on digital communications with 16Vietnamese technical trainees and an analysisof the content on media platforms since theoutbreak of the pandemic, the paper extendsmy previous work on the challenges faced bytechnical intern trainees, analyzing thehandling of Japanese governments and theaccepting companies. The article alsointroduces the roles of support groups in Japandevoted to protecting vulnerable technicalintern trainees. At a moment when theJapanese government is reforming andpromoting the TITP, this analysis of Vietnamesetechnical trainees during the COVID-19 crisis isparticularly timely.

Keywords: COVID-19, vulnerable populations,technical intern trainees, Technical InternTraining Program, Vietnamese migrant workers

Introduction

On May 1, 2020, the Asahi Shimbun reportedthe case of a struggling Vietnamese technicalintern trainee who had lost his job and wasseeking refuge at a temple in Nagoya. InJanuary, after dismissal from a solar-panelmanufacturing company in Matsusaka City inMie Prefecture, he could not find another joband quickly ran out of money (Ko, 2020). Thesituation is shared by many foreign laborers onshort-term contracts since the arrival ofCOVID-19, but particularly for technical interntrainees, it is just the tip of the iceberg.

On July 8, 2020, the Vietnamese Consulate inFukuoka officially announced that 47Vietnamese trainees tested positive forCovid-19 in Nagasu, Kumamoto. The contractedindividuals are among the 245 Vietnamesetechnical intern trainees hired to work atAriake shipyard. The cluster of infectionsforced the company to close its shipyard toimplement safety measures (“47 Vietnamesetrainees,” 2020). So far, this has been the onlypublic recognition of any infection among thetrainees.

What remained unexplained in both articleswas the very limited options afforded to thetechnical intern trainee by virtue of theircontract status that often put them at risk.Even though he was in a governmentalprogram, he was easily fired when the Japaneseemployers decided he was too expensive to

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keep during this time of economic stress. Muchlike other technical intern trainees, he hadaccumulated no savings while working inJapan. In addition to a meager salary, generally900 yen per hour (156,900 yen per month pre-tax on average), which some 60% of hiringcompanies do not even pay (Nikkei 2019), mosttrainees have to remit money every month torepay the debt incurred to the recruitmentbroker in their home country in order to securea spot in the Technical Intern Training Program( T I T P ) . T r a i n e e s c a n n o t a p p l y f o runemployment insurance due to thecomplicated requirements and procedures. If atrainee flees the program, like 9,052 othertrainees who fled to escape unfavorableworking conditions and abusive employers(Ministry of Justice, 2019), he might secure abetter-paying job. But he would lose legalprotections. Furthermore, for the manytrainees whose passports have beenconfiscated illegally by hiring companies inorder to keep the trainees working at thesejobs, they cannot go home even if flights wereavailable. And almost everyone would facedifficulties affording plane tickets due tolimited savings.

This essay focuses on how the COVID-19pandemic is affecting the lives of Vietnamesetrainees who came to Japan under theTechnical Intern Training Program (hereinafterreferred to as TITP), or in Japanese, 外国人技能実習制 (gaikokujin jisshusei). The Japanesegovernment has coordinated the TITP since1993 to bring young and middle-aged workersfrom developing countries to Japan. Thisgrowing segment of foreign low-skilled workershas been brought in largely to help cover thechronic labor shortage in unskilled blue-collarjobs that are unattractive to many Japanese.The present study is the first to interviewtechnical intern trainees while they are still inJapan, rather than after return to their homecountry. The perspectives of current trainees inJapan are crucial for providing up-to-dateaccounts of the TITP, while the trainees are still

in the program. This research strategy hasallowed the author to capture the real-timereactions of technical intern trainees since thestart of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Even before the outbreak of the epidemic, theTITP had faced crit icism for being anexploitative program. As the COVID-19epidemic continues to wreak havoc on Japanesesociety and economy, this research will be ableto highlight how COVID-19 has amplified thestruggles of foreign trainees.1 This paperpresents the results of both direct digitalcommunications with 16 Vietnamese technicaltrainees, and a summary of the availableinformation found on social media platforms.The author analyzes the impact of COVID-19while drawing attention to the vulnerablepopulation of trainees caught by circumstancesof the pandemic, policy restrictions, andnegative attitudes toward foreign workers inJapan.

An overview of foreigners’ emigration toJapan

Japan has recently witnessed a significantinflux of foreign citizens entering the country.According to a status report by the Ministry ofJustice (MOJ), by the end of 2019, the numberof “Technical Intern Trainee” visas for allcountries was 410,972, an increase of 25.2%over the preceding year (MOJ, 2020). Technicalintern trainees comprised 14% of the totalnumber of foreign residents in Japan (MOJ,2020). Figure 1 presents a breakdown of thetechnical intern trainees by nationality (MOJ,2020).

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Figure 1: Composition of technicaltrainees (by nationality) 2011-2020. Datafrom the Ministry of Justice (MOJ, 2020)

Since 2013, Vietnam has been the fastest-growing country in terms of sending trainees toJapan. With a total of 218,727 people by theend of 2019 (MOJ, 2020), Vietnamese technicalintern trainees account for more than 51% ofthe total number of TITP trainees. Vietnamesetrainees are mainly hired in 3 industries:construct ion (23 .3%) , food-re latedmanufacturing (20.6%), and machinery andmetal (18.6%). The other industries areagricultures (7.7%), textile (6.2%), fisheries(0.5%), and others (2.1%) (OTIT, 2019).

The TITP was created in 1993 to train youngand middle-aged people from developingcountries as interns in Japan. The program iscurrently supervised by the Organization forTechnical Intern Training (OTIT), which wasestablished in January 2017 and operates underthe Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare(MHLW). The main objective, as stated in the“ O p e r a t i o n s M a n u a l f o r S e n d i n gOrganizations” by the Japan InternationalTechnical? Corporation Organization (JITCO) –the former authorizing foundation of theprogram – is:

… to contribute to the fostering of talentedindividuals who can play leading roles in

the development of their countries’industries and economies by acceptingyoung and middle-aged workers fromdeveloping countries as interns atindustr ies in Japan and therebytransferring technical skills, technology,and knowledge (hereinafter, the “skills”)developed and cultivated in Japan to therespective industries in the technicalintern trainees’ home countries… (JITCO,2007, p. 3)

As of April 2016, the labor market for technicaltrainees included 133 specific duties in 74 jobcategories across different industries includingagriculture, fisheries, construction, foodmanufacturing, textiles, machinery, metalindustries, and others (MOJ, 2017). Forexample, trainees in machinery and metalindustries cover tasks related to casting,forging, machining, and metal press. TheOperations Manual compiled by JITCO statesthat the more advanced skills that technicalintern trainees acquire must not be gained justthrough repetitive tasks. Under the newImmigration Control Act, technical interntrainees may extend their stay for up to fiveyears, provided they pass the National TradeSkills Test and meet the requirements of theRegional Immigration Bureau. After theintended period of training in Japan, technicalintern trainees are expected to return to theirhome country and utilize the skills theyobtained. In a 2018 survey of 19,468 traineeswho had finished the program, 98.2% ofrespondents reported finding the skillsacquired from the technical intern training tobe "useful." Among these, 75.3% of therespondents answered that they specificallyfound "technical skills acquired" to be useful,followed by "experience living in Japan"(68.5%) and "Japanese language skillsupgraded" (68.3%) (OTIT, 2019).

However, the findings from the author’s in-depth interviews with 23 current technicalintern trainees differ significantly from the

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survey data results, so much so as to call intoquestion the conclusions of the OTIT report andthe efficacy of the program as a whole. First,even though the interviewed trainees found theskills acquired useful, they also expresseddoubt and uncertainty about both their post-TITP career plans and the likelihood of theirbeing able to utilize the skills and knowledgethey acquired in Japan upon return to theirhome country. In other words, the link betweenthe job training conducted in Japan and thepotential career plan afterwards is vague.Based on their own experiences and knowledgeof others who had been in the program, fewsaw any future occupational advantage fromthe technical skills acquired in Japan. Second,while the survey data listed the “usefulness ofthe living experience in Japan,” it offered noexplanation regarding what this meant. Theauthor noted that while technical interntrainees spoke positively about the opportunityto experience Japanese culture and society,they also stated that living in Japan was not asrewarding as they had thought it would be.Many experienced minimal professionaldevelopment, poor treatment at the hands ofJapanese employers, and social exclusion.Third, the survey data is correct to claim thatthe TITP provided upgraded Japanese languageknowledge. However, the author found thattechnical intern trainees usually only developedJapanese language skills required for the mostrudimentary situations and tasks. The simpleand repetitive nature of the jobs rendered itunnecessary to acquire more advancedlanguage proficiency and precluded the sort oflanguage development that would allow themto function effectively in a Japanese workplace.The contrasting data suggests that the TITPbarely fulfills its stated objective of makinginternational contributions of personneltraining, a fact that the report obscures. Infact, as others have pointed out in the past,even after current reforms, the acceptance offoreign low-skilled workers in Japan only helpsJapan to cover the chronic labor shortage inblue-collar jobs that Japanese people

themselves decline to perform. While this haslong been true, the current pandemic hasbrought this fact into more explicit focus.

Stakeholders involved in the TITP

Various stakeholders inside and outside Japanare engaged in the TITP. The process startedwith o f f ic ia l cooperat ion under the“Memorandum of Cooperation” (MOC) betweenthe governments of Japan and the countrysending participants. Apart from Vietnam, theMinistry of Japan has a MOC with 13 otherAsian countries, including Cambodia, India, thePhilippines, Laos, Mongolia, Bangladesh, SriLanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, Uzbekistan,Pakistan, Thailand, and Indonesia (MLHW,2020).

Technical trainees are first connected toJapanese corporations through the brokersystem and sending organizations in Vietnam,and then a supervising organization in Japan.The sending organization first filters candidatesto match the job postings. The recruitedtrainees then sign a contract with the Japanesecompany and complete a visa application. Oncethe trainees arrive in Japan, under themanagement of the supervising organization,they then start working at the host companies(accepting companies) with which they havealready signed contracts. Figure 2 shows theweb of connections and the roles of eachstakeholder.

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Figure 2: Roles of each stakeholder inthe TITP and the relationships betweenthem. Data adapted from the Ministry ofJustice (MOJ, 2017)

Difficulties as technical trainees in Japan

Research on technical trainees \ has primarilyfocused on the workers’ experiences in Japan, asituation plagued by a lack of rights andprotections. Lee (2011, p. 122) pointed out thatas “trainees” they are not “not protected by thelabor laws regulating ‘workers.’” Generally,temporary labor migrant workers have limitedrights and “are often construed by employersand governments of receiving countries ascheap, flexible, and disposable labor” (Belanger& Tran, 2013, p. 7). In 2018, the OTIT reported4,707 cases of accepting companies violatingtechnical intern trainees’ rights (OTIT, 2018).These instances of misconduct include illegaltraining implementation, an underpreparedtraining system, the lack of a benefits system,the lack of books and document provisions, thesubmission of false documents to legalauthorities, and lack of protection of technicaltrainees. My current research reveals thatmany of these problems persist.

Financial Problems

First, migrant rights can be threatened by

networks of intermediaries and recruitmentagencies before they even arrive in Japan.Given their roles as intermediaries betweenemployers and job seekers, brokers can exploitcandidates by overcharging them for theirservices when people are seeking migrationopportunities (Belanger & Wang, 2011, p. 39).These excess charges often include recruitmentfees, pre-departure training fees, and depositfees as a way to prevent trainees from “runningaway.” For this reason, Vietnamese technicaltrainees going to Japan have to secure loansfrom various sources; in most cases, they evenhave to mortgage their assets. Having to pay anexorbitant pre-departure fee is common inmany Asian countries. Still, migrant workersheaded for Japan usually pay the highest feescompared to those headed to other Asiancountries (Belanger & Tran, 2013, p. 13), withfees ranging between 5,000-9,000 US dollars.The technical trainees are still willing to spendthis amount for a chance to gain a ticket towhat they believe will be the “privilege” ofworking abroad, especially in Japan.

Second, the literature emphasizes theinadequate salaries as one serious difficultythat causes trainees to leave their companiesand seek higher wages through illegal work.The lack of overtime opportunities, andsometimes low pay for overtime work, makes itharder for trainees to repay their debts. Sincethe trainees are not allowed to work overtimeby law, they have become accustomed toworking overtime for low wages for fear ofviolating the terms of the program (Belanger,Ueno, Hong & Ochiai, 2011, p. 46). In 2019, theJapan Times reported the results of aninvestigation of Japanese enterprises that hiretechnical intern trainees (Magdalena, 2019March 29). Out of 759 cases of suspectedabuse, 231 interns failed to receive overtimewages for overtime work, and 58 others werepaid below the legal minimum.

Furthermore, the author’s research isconsistent with previous research that shows

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Vietnamese technical intern trainees’responsibility to send money to their homecountry. The amount of remittance typicallyranges from 80,000-100,000 yen per month andis used to repay the debt incurred from theirpre-departure fees, and to financially supporttheir family. On average, a trainee would earnaround 130,000-150,000 yen (approximately1,300-1,500 US dollars) per month after taxesand rent. Given their high remittancepayments, many technical intern traineesbarely manage to pay for food and dailynecessities with their salaries. G.H., a maletrainee at a machinery company, recounted hisstruggle with balancing the monthly wage of120,000-130,000 yen:

It is a bit different from what I imagined.When I signed the contract, the salaryshown was higher than what I am gettingnow. The gap, of course, depends on theamount of overtime work, etc. I can onlysave if I set a strict budget on livingexpenses.

Surprisingly, the current amount of remittancehas not changed much compared to previousstudies. Research conducted in 2010 found thatIndonesian technical intern trainees also sentaround 80,000-120,000 yen home every month(Nawawi, 2010) but most of that money willusually be used to repay debts accumulatedbefore leaving. Considering the lack oftransferable skills that are attained, mosttechnical intern trainees’ primary goal is tomake money, a goal that is hardly achievablewith the current situation.

Non-financial Difficulties

The research also highlights the non-financialdifficulties that the trainees face. Belanger,Ueno, Hong & Ochiai (2011, p. 44) point outthat the TITP system lacks opportunity forlabor mobility, since trainees are legally tied totheir first employer. Companies often threatens

workers with deportation if they request totransfer to a different company. Second,trainees are often subject to abusive workingconditions. Belanger & Tran (2013, p. 14)reported that technical trainees are most likelyto endure verbal abuse, followed by physicalabuse, from Japanese employers. Additionally,some trainees have reported being put understrict surveillance from their company.Belanger, Ueno, Hong & Ochiai (2011, p. 47)highlighted extreme cases of passportconfiscation, or harsh punishments for minoroffenses such as “forbidding trainees fromhaving contact with the outside world,” “notallowing workers to go shopping or meet withfriends,” and “sending back workers becausethey let friends stay over,” among others.

Unfortunately, these practices seem to becontinuing. A 24-year-old Vietnamese technicaltrainee testified at a press conference onMarch 14, 2018 that he had been assignedradioactive clean-up work in Fukushima. TheJapan Times reported that under the contractsigned with the Iwate Construction Company,the trainee was to learn skills related toconstruction machinery, demolition, and civilengineering. However, the trainees ended upbeing assigned decontamination tasks in theresidential areas around the Fukushima Daiichinuclear plant, the site of a 2011 earthquake,tsunami and nuclear meltdown (Suk, 2018 Oct19).

The author’s research on Vietnamese technicalintern trainees substantiates the previousfindings regarding violations, while furtherhighlighting the trainee’s Japanese languageinsufficiency as a factor in non-financialhardship. Having limited or no Japaneselanguage skills with which to communicate,technical intern trainees run a heightened riskof labor abuse. This also prevents them fromseeking help from legal entities if theyexperience such abuse. Additionally, poorlanguage ability often results in traineesmaking mistakes, which in turn creates

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increased tension between Japanese staff andtrainees. (The trainees study Japaneselanguage before arriving in Japan but the typeof language education does not prepare themto communicate with their Japanese bosses orco-workers.)

Despite revisions to the TITP program in 2010and 2017, these problems have persisted. In2010, the program was revised under the newImmigration Control and Refugee RecognitionAct to officially establish a “technical interntraining” visa and recognize technical interntrainees as eligible “workers.” In recognition ofthe continued problems, in 2017, a reformedTechnical Intern Training Act created stricterregulations regarding the licensing system ofsending agencies, supervising companies, andaccepting companies, the mechanism forreports and penalties against violations, andcreated a legal entity in the Organization forTechnical Intern Training (OTIT) formanagement and on-site inspections of theprogram.

Revision of the law related to TITP inresponse to COVID-19

In response to increasing difficulties faced bytechnical intern trainees as a consequence ofCOVID-19, the Immigration Services Agency ofJapan has temporarily revised the program withthe following main changes:

Technical trainees with expired visastatus who are unable to return to theirhome country will be eligible to changethe status of residence to “DesignatedActivities.” This 6-month visa permitstechnical trainees to continue working atthe same organization as before ifallowed to do so (MOJ, 2020). Technical trainees who have lost theirjobs can change to a new employerthrough “a matching of the Japanesegovernment with a recruitment agency.”

The new system makes possiblereassigning unemployed technicaltrainees to other enterprises that arecurrently understaffed. Jobless technicaltrainees may work in various industriesfor a period of one year (MOJ, 2020).

Apart from the legal changes, technical interntrainees who are registered in the BasicResident Register as of April 27, 2020 are alsoeligible for Japan’s COVID-19 100,000-yenpayment. However, strict rules regulating thesepayments also mean that trainees whose visasexpired before April 27 are excluded from thecash relief plan (Toshiki, 2020).

Media representation of Technical InternTrainees under Covid-19

The mainstream media has run increasednumbers of stories concerning technical interntrainees since the beginning stages of theCOVID-19 pandemic. Major newspapersfocused heavily on three specific issues thatemerged due to COVID-19. First, foreigntechnical trainees are especially prone to beinglaid off. Second, limitations imposed byimmigration regulations frequently make itimpossible for trainees with expired visas toreturn home. These first two issues primarilyarose within generally sympathetic treatmentof the difficult situations encountered by thetrainees during the shared hardship ofCOVID-19. The third issue is different and morecommon. It examines the technical interntrainees as a primary source of labor, whoseabsence is creating labor shortages forJapanese companies. Strict border controlshave prevented accepting companies fromsecuring the necessary workforce of potentialtechnical intern trainees who had previouslysigned an employment contract and had anintended date of arrival in Japan.

The majority of articles report simply on laborshortages, lament that “…industries such as

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agriculture and nursing care face laborshortages as new technical intern traineescannot travel to Japan” (“Unemployed foreigntech,” 2020). The Japan Times and TheMainichi examined the issue of labor supplywhile focusing on the situations of specificJapanese industries due to the expansion ofCOVID-19 and the late arrival of expectedtechnical intern trainees. The Japan Timesstressed the economic importance of thetrainees by giving an example of local lettucefarmers in Nagano prefecture. “Manpower isneeded during the lettuce harvest seasonstarting in mid-May,” said a prefectural officialin charge of farming promotion. Withoutsufficient workers, “farmers will end updisposing of their products.” (“Japanesebusinesses hit,” 2020). The portrayal of newsmedia clearly shows that the TITP acts as astate-sponsored source of labor for small andmid-size Japanese enterprises. Both of theseexamples document the labor situation fromthe point of view of the accepting companies,substantiating the view that the acceptance offoreign low-ski l led workers in Japansignificantly reduces the chronic laborshortage.

On the other hand, The Nikkei Asian Reviewhas often run stories sympathetic to thevulnerability of technical intern trainees wholost their jobs. For example, one story reportsthat “in a growing number of cases, employerssqueezed by the COVID-19 outbreak have takenadvantage of trainees' poor Japanese-languageskills and lack of legal knowledge to force themto end their contracts” (Matsui & Asakura,2020). Similarly, Reuters also recognized that“foreign workers are particularly vulnerable,with a weaker support network and languagebarriers that prevent them from seekinggovernment help.” (Murakami, 2020). TheAsahi Shimbun also showed strong support forthe technical trainees, stating that “theydeserve to receive policy support [for switchingjobs]” (Murakami, 2020).

Additionally, the Nikkei and Asahi voicedskepticism about the new policy allowingtechnical trainees to switch jobs. While theNikkei expressed doubts, saying that “[as] thismeasure requires both the trainee and theoriginal employer to be involved in the jobsearch, it remains unclear whether the systemwill work” (Matsui & Asakura, 2020), the Asahicalled for stricter regulations from theJapanese government by offering suggestionslike this:

Only employers who have not committedany related violation in the past andpledge to abide by the rules should beeligible for the government's emergencyjob-placement service. It should beensured that all these procedures andprinciples for the service will be observed.(“Editorial: Allowing jobless foreign,”2020)

Doubts about the feasibility of the revisedpolicy raised in the two newspapers underlinedhow the TITP’s current system has allowedstakeholders (Japanese accepting companies,supervising companies, etc.) to violate therights of technical intern trainees repeatedlyand often without consequence. In general, thefindings in Japanese news articles correlatethose of previous academic research. Japaneseemployers are remarkably dependent onforeign technical intern trainees, whileregarding the trainees themselves as cheap anddisposable, leading to their being the first to beterminated due to this ‘COVID-19 recession’.

This study primarily drew on data from onlineinterviews with technical intern trainees andcontent found on SNS such as Facebook. Dueto social distancing protocols, the author wasunable to conduct face-to-face interviews withtechnical intern trainees and organizers ofsupport groups.2

Primary Findings

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Increasing anxiety over health

Despite being alerted to the increasing numberof infections in Japan, most trainees still haveto continue with work as usual.

As I have to travel to different locations, Iam terrified of getting affected. But I haveno choice but to go to work. I startedwearing masks for my own safety.

-- A male trainee from a homeinterior installation company

Even though I worry about possibleinfection, I still have to finish my work.We, trainees, are not even allowed to havedays-off. There’s nothing we can do aboutit.

-- A male trainee from a water-proofing company

Because of increased risk of COVID-19infection, the amount of support from thecompanies affects the trainees’ ability to work.Some employers implemented protectionmeasures, while others did not.

My company provides alcohol-based handsanitizers and masks for employers. Weare also asked to take our temperaturebefore going to work. As I heard that mycurrent area is also high in terms ofinfection cases, I feel more protectedthanks to the company’s measures.

-- A female trainee from anindustrial packaging company

I still have to commute to work by trainevery day. Even during the pandemic, thetrain stations are still crowded as usual.My company d id not g ive me anyprotection mask, either. It’s scary.

- - A m a l e t r a i n e e f r o m aconstruction company

I have to buy my own masks. This coronasituation is freaking me out. I don’t knowwhere to seek help if I get infected.

- - A m a l e t r a i n e e f r o m aconstruction company

A striking finding emerging from thesenarratives is that even though all respondentsvoiced anxiety over being exposed to infection,none really expressed anger at the failure ofthe companies to protect them. The trainees’resilience in the face of high-risk work, and thecompany’s frequent neglect of safety measures,implies the importance for trainees of keepingtheir job and their fatalistic attitudes towardpersonal risk. That the trainees had no otherchoice but to persevere with daily tasksconnects with the next theme of financial risk.

Increased financial risk

In general, trainees in all industries sufferedfrom reduced working hours and a lack ofovertime work during the pandemic. As themajority of trainees are paid hourly, the suddenreduction in workload had a considerableimpact on their wages.

My job is significantly affected byCOVID-19. I had been getting a lot of daysoff even before Golden Week. At my place,there is no money pay if you do not work.This month I am only working severaldays. I guess that can only cover the houserent.

-- A male trainee from a metaland machinery company

Those trainees in agriculture have been leastaffected. The following account is from atrainee whose visa expired in April, but wasable to secure her current job after visarenewal:

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My visa expired last month, and I wassupposed to go home. But the companyextended my visa for three months. We arestill able to work as usual. It’s lucky for usto work in a food company.

- - A female tra inee from aseaweed processing company

However, not all trainees with expired visascan continue their employment in the sameway. A male trainee from a machinery andmetal company obtained a 3-month extensionbut was unable to secure employment due to asharp decline in orders. He stated:

I am really frustrated. I have beenspending almost my entire salary, but I’mstill unable to go back to Vietnam. Andpeople with expired visa status like me arenot eligible for the 100,000-yen grant.

- - A m a l e t r a i n e e f r o m amachinery and metal company

As reported in the Japanese press, there arealso trainees with growing stress regardingfinancial stability due to their delayed return toJapan.

I [was] supposed to return to Japan foranother 2 years starting in April, but I amstill stuck in Vietnam due to flightcancellations. It’s good to be with myfamily a little bit longer, but I will not beable to earn a living if the current situationpersists.

- - A m a l e t r a i n e e f r o m amachinery and metal company

The above quotations illustrate the financialstruggles which have been exacerbated by theoutbreak of COVID-19. Intern trainees whowere already pressured financially now find iteven harder to make ends meet in Japan. Thesame applies to technical trainees who arecaught in the middle of flight cancellations due

to heightened border control.

Lack of information

Technical trainees also generally lack access toofficial information regarding COVID-19 due tothe language barrier. The Japanese governmenthas attempted to publish announcements andestablish consultation hotlines that supporttrainees’ mother tongues, but not all technicalintern trainees can reach the support systems,since they must also grapple with the lack ofavailable operators and complicated searchprocedures. As a result, technical interntrainees have been using shared SNS platformsto try to gain information and express theirconcerns.

One common concern was that trainees werereceiving no official announcements from theiremployers regarding the government’s 100,000grant payment:

I am really confused about this system.Some of my fr iends sa id that thesupervising company and acceptingcompany would support us with the grantapplication. On the other hand, some saidthat we have to wait for the documentsand fill them out on our own.

-- A female trainee (unknownindustry)

The uncertainty over whether the companywould grant partial salary payment during abusiness shutdown is another concern fortechnical trainees who are temporarily out ofwork.

I have never heard anything about thepartial salary payment system. Before, ifwe got a week off on the New Yearholidays, the company would give us 3paid days off. I am not sure how they willpay us. I assume that we will receive

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money only if we work. I am frustratedseeing my salary slip.

- - A m a l e t r a i n e e f r o m aconstruction company

One trainee voiced this opinion regardingJapan’s preventive measures:

All I can see, and I guess other Vietnamesel iving in Japan as well , is Japan’sindifference, coldness, stagnation, andhelplessness in dealing with this coronasituation. We feel worried and infuriatedwith the current situation here. Apart fromimplementing social distancing, we canonly count on luck.

- - A m a l e t r a i n e e f r o m aconstruction company

The technical intern trainees’ attempts torequest assistance on social media platformsdemonstrates their vulnerability and weaksupport networks. The supervising companiesand accepting companies, which are supposedto be responsible for the trainees, pay little orno attention to the anxieties of their employees.

Desire to go back

Many of the technical trainees currentlyworking expressed a desire to travel backhome.

I desperately want to go back to Vietnam. Icannot believe in the Japanese governmentand the people anymore. My company isstill working as usual as if nothing hashappened. They regard this severepandemic as a harmless flu.

- - A m a l e t r a i n e e f r o m aconstruction company

Nevertheless, as the COVID-19 pandemicspread, stricter regulations on immigration

were imposed to slow the spread of infection.In the case of Vietnam, major airline carriersstopped their services near the end of March2020, shattering the trainees’ hopes to return.

Our group scheduled our first return flighton March 30 th . S ince then , oursupervising company has tried to rebookour tickets six times, but could not. Peoplewho are not in the same situation as uswould never fully understand. I hope thatoutsiders would not give any furtherpersonal comments on Facebook regardingthis situation. That only makes us feelmore depressed.

-- A male trainee from a metaland machinery company

As per the employment contract, trainees whofinished their employment term were supposedto be eligible for return plane tickets funded bytheir accepting companies. However, when allairlines suspended their commercial flights, theonly hope for technical intern trainees to returnhome was to register for special flightscoordinated by the Vietnamese government.The objective was to repatriate Vietnamesecitizens who were in critical condition butunable to return. Apart from technical interntrainees, the sick, pregnant women, and somestudents who had expired visas wereprioritized. Given the considerable gapbetween the demand for return tickets and thelimited flight schedule (only 1-2 flights permonth), technical intern trainees had slimhopes of making it onto a flight, and many hadto pay their own way on international flightthemselves.

Reaching out to support groups

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Vietnamese trainees asking for help infront of Vietnamese embassy in Tokyo,Japan.Source: Nghiep Doan Bao Chi Vietnam

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, varioussupport groups and organizations hadadvocated for foreign technical intern traineesin Japan because of the already inadequatesupport provided by the Japanese government.Especially due to COVID-19, global supportgroups such as the “Clean Cloth” labor unionexpressed concerns over the COVID-19outbreak and the “severe health risks to themigrant workers” and called for revisions to theTITP (Clean Cloth, 2020). Meanwhile,individuals like Zhen Kai, who runs a shelter fortechnical intern trainees fleeing Japaneseenterprises, continue to assist foreign traineesin battling labor violations and human-rightsabuses.

Additionally, several grassroots groups withinJapan realized that foreign citizens strugglingfinancially in Japan have found themselves inneed due to income loss. One response to thisis the charity called “A Rice Bowl of Love”(Chén gạo tình thương /一杯の愛のお米プロジェクト). In early April, a group of VietnameseChristian priests and sisters decided to raisefunds to send out aid packages to strugglingVietnamese community in Japan. Father Nha, a

priest at St Ignatius Church in Yotsuya inTokyo, explained the goals:

On the very first days of April, after theJapanese governments announced theemergency in several cities, I startedwondering, “What wi l l happen toVietnamese youths living in Japan that donot have enough money for food.” I worryabout them because Vietnamese technicalintern trainees send the majority of theirmonthly salary back home. They probablydo not have enough savings.

Father Nha reached out to other Vietnamesepriests and sisters to support his project. Thedetails were announced on Facebook on April9, 2020, and since then, the organizers havesent over 2,600 bundles of food items (rice,seasonings, packaged food, etc.) and masks tostruggling Vietnamese. Father Nha added that“we hope to be able to send a message to theVietnamese community that they are not alonein Japan.”

Regarding the Japanese government’s grantpayment policy towards foreign people inJapan, Father Nha commented:

I have not seen any discriminatorytreatment toward foreign citizens. As longas foreign citizens legally reside in Japan,they will be able to receive the same grant.Nevertheless, the amount of grants is stillrelatively limited compared to the generalexpectation. We are hoping to see moreaid policies to cover rent, tuit ionreduction, etc.

In short, while waiting for the Japanesegovernment to find solutions that benefit allinvolved stakeholders, such groups haveprovided support that technical intern traineesdesperately need.

Conclusion

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Amidst the outbreak of COVID-19, the Japanesegovernment has made numerous attempts toprovide financial, employment, and healthsupport to foreign technical trainees. However,these measures have not reached all thetrainees. There is a visible gap between theJapanese government’s ideal policy and thereality of that policy, threatening the livelihoodof technical intern trainees. The reality is thatthe accepting and supervising companies arestill the main stakeholders, and they bear theprimary responsibility for the technical traineeinterns since they are the primary beneficiariesof the cheap labor. Most of these companieshave become reliant on foreign labor, yet intimes of economic difficulties, many turn ablind eye to these short-term contract laborers,laying them off first and not addressing theirincreasingly desperate situation. As a result,technical intern trainees, who are alreadyvulnerable and struggle with unstable financesand precarious jobs, are further exposed todanger during this global health crisis.

From the start of their application until theirtraining period in Japan ends, the trainees aresusceptible to deception and abuse. TheCOVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated theprecariousness of the technical intern trainees.As increasing numbers of aspiring traineesseek employment opportunities in Japan, theneed for more vigorous enforcement of theTITP deserves closer attention from Japanesepolicymakers.

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This article is a part of The Special Issue: Vulnerable Populations Under COVID-19 inJapan. See the Table of Contents here.

Please also read our previous special Pandemic Asia on the impacts of COVID-19 in thelarger Asia-Pacific region, edited by Jeff Kingston, delivered in Part 1 and 2.

Bảo Quyên Trần graduated from Sophia University in Fall 2020 with a Master degree inJapanese Studies. Her research interest lies in the changing patterns of inbound migration incontemporary Japanese society. For her M.A. dissertation, she focuseds on the TechnicalIntern Training program, examining its actual role and challenges through a study of currentVietnamese technical intern trainees.

Notes1 The author has been researching the status of TITP trainees, especially Vietnamesetechnical intern trainees in Japan, for two years as part of the requirements for the M.A.degree in Japanese Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo.2 The data presented in this paper was drawn from individual chat messages with 16 technicalintern trainees (14 males, 2 females) from Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba prefecture, and Vietnam.The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese, presented here with English translations bythe author. The interviewees all possess legal training on visa status and are between theages of 20 and 30. They have been working or are expected to work in agricultural,machinery and metal, industrial packaging, or construction sectors. The study does notidentify individual names to protect their identities.