NEWS
2024.07.02
【Report】The 68th AJI Frontier Seminar was held! Dr. WIDARAHESTY Yusy, presented “Gatekeepers in Labor Migration to Japan: Preliminary Studies on Southeast Asian Cases”
The 68th AJI Frontier Seminar was held online on Tuesday, June 11. In this seminar, Dr. Yusy Widarahesty, a Senior Researcher at Ritsumeikan Asia-Japan Research Organization, gave a presentation titled “Gatekeepers in Labor Migration to Japan: Preliminary Studies on Southeast Asian Cases,” organized and presented by AJI (Asia-Japan Research Institute) of Ritsumeikan University.
Dr. Widarahesty explained that to make up for its significant labor shortage Japan relies on migrant labor from Southeast Asian countries. Focusing on Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, her objective was to understand the mechanisms through which workers in the technical intern training program (TITP) and the specified skilled worker (SSW) programs are controlled by investigating the roles of the key players who function as gatekeepers to recruit, train, and supervise the trainees. She found that trainees from Indonesia and Vietnam face a tough selection process and long strict training program in addition to paying high fees, whereas the interns from the Philippines only have a brief introduction to Japanese language and culture and incur zero fees.
As a result, it was found that Vietnamese and Indonesian intermediaries do not follow regulations strictly, while most Philippine intermediaries practice ethical recruitment practices. From the Japanese side, it seems that the previous barriers to hiring workers from different cultures and religions has been overcome and migrant laborers are viewed as a positive asset in solving Japan’s labor problems. There has been some criticism from the West of Japan’s foreign technical intern labor (TITP) program due to violations of the labor code. However, Southeast Asian countries generally have a positive impression of Japan. Indonesia and Vietnam have renewed their commitment to the TITP program, and Vietnam and Japan signed a specific skilled labor (SSW) program in 2019. Meanwhile, the Philippines has opened a special Japan Desk in Osaka for its overseas employment program. and the three countries are competing to cooperate in ensuring an ideal program for all the players concerned.
Dr. Widarahesty’s presentation was followed by a Q&A, where she was asked for more details of the pre-departure training programs and the difficulties faced by migrant workers in Japan, and how such problems were dealt with. She provided comprehensive answers to all the questions. We wish her success with her continued research on this popular and important topic.
Dr. Yusy Widarahesty delivering her presentation
Please visit the following link for previous AJI Frontier Seminars:
https://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/research/aji/young_researcher/seminar/archive/