After a hard day's work at a blast furnace in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, Vietnamese trainees cheered as they watched a recent World Cup soccer match on TV.
A cooperative association in Kawaguchi supporting overseas trainees and technical interns had installed the TV in their dormitory in time for the finals cohosted by Japan and South Korea.
By day, the trainees man blast furnaces and cupolas in Kawaguchi, a city of 470,000 once known as "cupola town" and a symbol of Japan's economic recovery after the devastation of World War II.