Slavery for trainees in Japan

[Taro Toporific]

[Neo-Rio]

The treatment this woman received is only marginally worse than what most salarymen have to put up with.

While they have no curfew, they're usually working until 10pm anyway. To prevent salarymen trying to leave there are many tactics available. They pressured to do unpaid overtime until they don't have time to have a life outside work, so they come in to work to find something to do on weekends. Nor do they have time have time to go to interviews to change jobs, because their company won't let them take paid leave unless they have finished all their work (which is never, because they'll always find something for them). Even should they dare try to quit they are bullied and cajoled into working just "a little bit longer" because they haven't finished their project or whatever excuse is available - in order to delay the inevitable.

But hey, "shigoto daiichi" because the boss is screwing you all over and telling you to "take it for the team". And "ganbattekudasai" is a freaking joke because you could take a half-dead zombie and a genius university graduate, put them in whatever Japanese company you like and they'll both be paid the same wage because of their age anyway. Ganbatte my ass.

(rant over)

[Catoneinutica]

The treatment this woman received is only marginally worse than what most salarymen have to put up with.

While they have no curfew, they're usually working until 10pm anyway. To prevent salarymen trying to leave there are many tactics available. They pressured to do unpaid overtime until they don't have time to have a life outside work, so they come in to work to find something to do on weekends. Nor do they have time have time to go to interviews to change jobs, because their company won't let them take paid leave unless they have finished all their work (which is never, because they'll always find something for them). Even should they dare try to quit they are bullied and cajoled into working just "a little bit longer" because they haven't finished their project or whatever excuse is available - in order to delay the inevitable.

But hey, "shigoto daiichi" because the boss is screwing you all over and telling you to "take it for the team". And "ganbattekudasai" is a freaking joke because you could take a half-dead zombie and a genius university graduate, put them in whatever Japanese company you like and they'll both be paid the same wage because of their age anyway. Ganbatte my ass.

(rant over)

What he said! A great many, if not the majority, of J-salaryman seem to have no more freedom than the average 18th century Russian serf. Two anecdotes from yesterday: I had been unable to get ahold of a friend of mine in Karuizawa for a couple of weeks. Worried, I asked my wife to call him at his company, a subsidiary of C-nantoka Co. My wife told me in disbelief that she was told first by a secretary, then by a manager, that personal calls to employees were not allowed. She then said it was an emergency, and after a great deal of grumbling was told to call back at 2:10, when the staff had a "rest time". Quite the contrast to my old office back in Seattle, where folks spent huge amounts of time making and taking personal calls.

Second anecdote from yesterday: the landlady tearfully emailed my wife that her husband had been permanently posted in Dubai by his employer, M-nantoka Denki. She said the transfer was presented to him as a fait accompli, no debate, do it or your career's finished.

'Tis a fine line indeed which separates the serfdom of the J-salaryman and the slave-like conditions under which a lot of foreigners here work in blue-collar and agricultural jobs.

[Taro Toporific]

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]Number of foreign trainees in Japan surge as more take on low-paid work
Mainichi - June 20, 2008
The number of non-Japanese who began two years of skilled practical activities after a year of training under Japan's foreign trainee program surged to a record 53,999 in 2007, a government survey has found.
The figure, unveiled in a recent survey by the Ministry of Justice, was more than eight times higher than the number recorded a decade ago.
Payment below the minimum wage [color="Silver"][687 yen/hr][/color] has emerged as a problem for the trainee system...more...