技能実習制度、希望の光の背後に広がる暗闇　　　　　　　　気ままなリライト137

実習生で相次ぐ乳児遺棄　独り出産、強制帰国恐れ　支援団体「逮捕でなく保護を」 - 日本経済新聞

The spotlight on the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) has grown more intense, exposing its profound flaws through a series of heart-wrenching incidents that put pregnant trainees in dire ethical dilemmas. The program’s structural shortcomings and ethical lapses have been starkly revealed. Originally designed to promote international skill transfer from Japanese experts to trainees from developing nations, the program has strayed from its intended purpose. It is serving as a gateway to exploitative labor, cleverly disguised under the facade of global cooperation and skill enrichment.

Exclusive to Japan, the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) has inadvertently sown the seeds of modern slavery through its inherent structural flaws. Contrary to its lauded goals of fostering cross-border cultural exchange and skill development, the program is ironically serving as a conduit for exploiters, supplying cheap international labor to Japanese companies faced with high employee turnover due to the working conditions reminiscent of a sweatshop. The program’s network of intermediaries, including sending organizations in trainees' home countries and receiving organizations in Japan, is fostering ripe conditions for unethical manipulation. Lenient regulations and guidelines are favoring those intermediaries, allowing them to profit handsomely while placing the most vulnerable at great risk of falling into severe financial bondage.

The plight of many trainees in the TITP, who are migrant workers from developing countries, is closely resembling that of labor trafficking victims. Although the promise of a lucrative escape from poverty is too tempting to resist for many desperate workers from developing countries, the dream they chase is coming at a steep cost. Burdened with hefty recruitment fees from sending organizations, most trainees are assuming significant debt from the bank before starting work in Japan. For example, most Vietnamese trainees take on loans of 1.5 million yen, five times the average annual income in Vietnam, to participate in the program. This financial obligation is compelling them to accept and endure poor working conditions and discriminatory treatment.

The ambiguity in the legal status of trainees within the program has also paved the way for the unethical exploitation of their vulnerabilities. By Intentionally blurring the distinction between labor and training, the TITP leaves the legal status of trainees unclear. This lack of clarity strips them of protections normally guaranteed under Japanese labor laws, treating their labor as mere educational training. As a result, those workers are often denied the rights afforded to their Japanese counterparts, including fair wages, overtime compensation, child-rearing leave and the freedom to change jobs. The imbalance of legal protections skews contracts between sending and receiving organizations heavily in favor of employers.

The challenges facing female trainees are particularly severe due to the insufficient legal support systems available to them. When faced with the consequences of youthful sexual impulses, those women find themselves especially vulnerable, often compelled to prioritize their employment over their health and the well-being of their unborn children. They face implicit threats, such as the suggestion of a voluntary early return to their home countries while burdened with unpaid debts, which pressures them to conceal their pregnancies. This distressing situation is worsened by their limited awareness of their rights to legal representation in Japan, rendering them even more susceptible to exploitation and injustice.

The high-profile coverage on a series of heartbreaking incidents where trainee mothers felt pressured to hide the births of their children, raises critical questions about accountability. Should the blame rest solely on the accused trainee mother, who, out of ignorance and desperation, attempted to conceal her stillborn child without seeking help? Or does the great responsibility fall on the architects of the TITP, which has been fostering a dehumanizing environment? This program is structured to treat the natural consequences of love and personal relationships as liabilities rather than natural aspects of life, echoing the control seen in some Japan’s entertainment agencies over their young talents. Those agencies not only dictate their careers but also their personal lives, mirroring the oppressive mechanisms of the TITP. Both cases reveal deeply troubling systems that prioritize control and profit over individual well-being and rights, especially during the long durations, such as the up-to-five-year stays mandated by the TITP in Japan.

The sad truth is that for many socially disadvantaged migrant workers from developing countries, the TITP is still continuing to emerge as a beacon of hope amid the daunting challenges posed by the Japanese government’s focus on its industrial interests. While this beacon is shining brightly, offering promises of opportunity, it is also casting long shadows marked by the numerous sacrifices of those whose aspirations have remained tragically unfulfilled. Some migrants, succumbing to the severe pressures and grim realities of the TITP, are ending up traumatized in their pursuit of dreams in Japan. Others are demonstrating their remarkable resilience, overcoming those challenges and turning them into opportunities for financial success.