A total of 230 organizations that accepted trainees from foreign countries on a government-sponsored technical training program for foreign nationals took advantage of them last year by failing to pay wages, violating their human rights or committing another types of injustice, according to the Justice Ministry.
The ministry said the number has shown a significant increase in the three years since the current program started in 2010. The ministry plans to implement a new system to penalize organizations that do not treat foreign trainees properly.
Last year, 366 cases were reported, up by 126 cases from a year earlier. Of them, nonpayment of wages was highest at 99 cases, followed by changes from initial training plans at 87 cases and taking part in business operations during training periods at 79 cases.
In one specific case, an organization in the agricultural field that accepted a foreign trainee did not return the trainee's passport and residence card on the grounds that the trainee caused trouble. In another case, a marine product processing factory forced a trainee to engage in meat-processing work, which differed from the terms the trainee was accepted under, as the factory's marine product processing business had decreased.
The Technical Intern Training Program for foreign nationals is a system that was initiated as an international contribution program. It was designed to give young foreign nationals an opportunity to gain skills through on-the-job training in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries and other domestic fields that they would use back home.
The government plans to extend the current three-year acceptance period to five years, as the system may offset manpower shortages in Japan.