The Problem of the Technical Internship System: Death and Labor Shadows in the 2010s

The Problem of the Technical Internship System: Death and Labor Shadows in the 2010s

The fact that 174 foreign technical intern trainees died in the nine years from 2010 to 2018 had a major impact on Japanese society. The causes of death included brain disease, heart disease, death from overwork, and suicide, all of which were attributed to long working hours and poor work environments. The technical internship system was established in 1993 to "transfer technology to developing countries," but in reality it has turned into a way to secure low-wage labor, and human rights abuses of foreign workers have become the norm. 2010s saw a serious labor shortage due to the stagnation after the Lehman Shock and reconstruction demand after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and reliance on interns in the construction, agricultural, and nursing care fields increased. The dependence on trainees increased in the construction, agriculture, and nursing care fields. In 2017, the Law for Appropriate Implementation of Technical Intern Training for Foreigners was enacted, and a sy
stem of permission from supervisory organizations and third-party audits were introduced, but improvements in the field have been slow, and by 2018 the number of missing trainees exceeded 9,000. In 2018, the number of missing trainees exceeded 9,000. The system sparked debate in the Diet, and Japanese society was at a crossroads as to whether to continue technical internship training or switch to a new system that would accept foreigners as workers head-on.