"Foreign trainees disappear, Ministry of Justice's investigation uncovers illegal employer conduct against workers", 29 Mar 2019

[Summary translation from Japanese to English provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

The Ministry of Justice…announced the results of its investigation, which found that 5,218 foreign trainees are missing from their training site. It also raised allegations of illegal conduct by employers, including the case of 759 trainees who were paid below the minimum wage. Between 2012 and 2017, 171 trainees had died from accidents or illness. Among the deaths were four individuals, who had allegedly experienced illegal overtime or did not receive enough vacation days.

…The number of foreign trainees who disappeared has increased by 1,963 people to a total of 9,052 from 2017 to 2018. At the end of 2018, the total number of trainees in Japan was 328,360.

The Ministry of Justice conducted its investigation between January 2017 and September 2018…Immigration officers interviewed with 5,218 trainees and 4,280 companies that have employed these workers were covered. In addition to the 74 trainees still living in Japan, the investigators talked directly to trainees by phone and obtained copies of the employees’ payrolls and timesheets. However, officials was not able to speak to 383 companies, which either refused to cooperate or had gone bankrupt. 

The Ministry of Justice said that it had reported violations of labour laws [related to foreign trainees] to the Labour Standards Inspection Office by [March] 28. Starting in 2019, the agency will require the Organization for Technical Intern Training and local immigration offices to conduct on-the-ground investigations when employers submit a missing persons report. In the short term, the Ministry of Justice will revise its rules [on foreign trainees] and ban companies that are held responsible for their trainees’ disappearance from participating in the program.