NEWSWORTHY
Vietnam-born rights advocate Bungo Okabe steps in to stifle abuse of technical trainees in Japan
When it came to light in March that a Vietnamese man in Japan's foreign trainee program was duped into performing radioactive decontamination work in areas devastated by the 2011 nuclear disaster, Bungo Okabe, 36, was the first to offer help in seeking justice. Okabe, a ...
The impact of accepting unskilled foreign labor
The new visa system will lack durability unless the needs of employers, local communities and foreigners are balanced.
Underwear maker Wacoal probing labor conditions faced by foreign trainees
Major lingerie and underwear maker Wacoal Holdings Corp. has launched surveys at outsourcing plants within Japan to make sure foreign trainees there are not subjected to unlawful labor practices, company officials said Monday. The rare probe was launched earlier this year into conditions at 40 ...
Clear strategy needed for inviting foreign labor
Japan's gradual approach to welcoming unskilled labor from abroad helps ensure the maintenance of social harmony.
With more low-skilled workers coming in from overseas, Japan must improve their work and living conditions.
Foreign interns face specter of abuse at labor-hungry Kumamoto quake sites
Kumamoto has seen so many foreign laborers lately that it is raising suspicions Japan’s internship recruits are again being exploited as cheap labor.
At least four contractors used foreign trainees for decontamination work related to the Fukushima disaster, the Justice Ministry determines after a 182-company internship probe.
Japan population declines at fastest pace yet, with only Tokyo seeing significant growth
While the country's rapidly graying demographics again headlined the internal affairs ministry's latest census, the annual report also highlighted the fact that only the Tokyo area is seeing significant population growth, due primarily to an influx of younger people. At the same time, a larger ...
Nissan probe finds misuse of foreign trainees at plants in Japan
An internal probe by Nissan Motor Co. has discovered misconduct at its plants over the employment of foreign trainees, including forcing them to perform jobs not sanctioned under a government program, a company official said Wednesday. The internal probe found that 45 interns from Indonesia ...
Diet group drafts bill that aims to promote Japanese language learning at home and abroad
A bipartisan group of lawmakers unveils a draft version of what might become Japan’s first-ever law defining the government’s responsibility to systematically promote Japanese language education.
Japan's first foreign nursing care trainees to arrive in June
Japan will receive its first two foreign trainees in the field of nursing care as early as next month after a supervising body approved training plans for them, the group accepting the two Chinese women said Wednesday. Their planned arrival comes after a law took ...
