A Vietnamese man who took part in a controversial government-run foreign trainees program in Japan believes much of the criticism leveled against it are borne out, judging by a survey he conducted of more than three dozen fellow workers.
The Technical Intern Training Program is billed as a way to transfer valuable skills to foreign laborers. But it has been widely panned as abusing a source of cheap labor for the benefit of Japanese farmers, manufacturers and others, without giving participants the benefit of rights conferred by law.
Last fall, 27-year-old Nguyen Huu Quy, who was at that time an exchange student at Kyoto-based Ryukoku University, asked for evaluations of the program from more than 100 of his compatriots who, like himself, had participated in the program. He received replies from 38, with some declining to participate because they feared retribution from their employers.