A Vietnamese technical intern who was subjected to violence at a construction company in Okayama. The intern said he was forced to suffer two years of physical abuse by Japanese workers. (Provided by Fukuyama Union Tanpopo)

Photo/Illutration The Vietnamese technical intern is beaten by a colleague with a rod-like object. (Provided by Fukuyama Union Tanpopo)

Immigration authorities revoked the license of an organization in Okayama that supervises the training of technical intern trainees, saying it failed to stop the physical abuse of a Vietnamese trainee.

The Immigration Services Agency on May 31 announced the administrative punishment on Okayama Sangyo Gijutsu Kyodo Kumiai (Okayama industrial technology cooperative association).

The association had arranged the placement of a Vietnamese man who endured two years of physical abuse while working at an Okayama-based construction company.

The agency said the association failed to properly oversee the training of the man, swiftly submit a report on the matter and take necessary measures to address complaints from him about the abuse.

The association is barred from holding a license for five years.

“The supervising organization did not properly fulfill its role, resulting in such an extremely vicious infringement of the human rights of the trainee, who suffered repeated physical and verbal abuse,” Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa said at a news conference on May 31. “I understand that a serious problem lies within the technical intern training program.”

According to officials from Fukuyama Union Tanpopo, a labor union based in Hiroshima Prefecture, the man came to Japan in October 2019 and began his training with Six Create, a construction company based in Okayama city, mainly helping to erect scaffolding at construction sites.

Japanese workers at the construction company began physically abusing the Vietnamese man soon after he started working there. 

The man was repeatedly struck with a broom and a rod-shaped object. On one occasion, he sustained three broken ribs when he was beaten to the ground and kicked with steel-toed protective footwear.

The trainee consulted with the cooperative association about the matter, but he continued to suffer from physical abuse. The union provided the man with a safe shelter in October 2021.

The union obtained video of the abuse experienced by the man and released it publicly in January.

In February, the Immigration Services Agency and the labor ministry revoked certification for Six Create’s technical intern training plan.

Experts have long pointed out a flaw in the technical intern training program, where supervising organizations both arrange the placement of trainees and oversee their training.

“For supervising organizations, companies that accept trainees and pay the bodies the cost to supervise their training are ‘clients,’” said Shoichi Ibusuki, a lawyer well-versed in the program. “The organizations tend to be less strict in overseeing the training to avoid making those firms feel annoyed.”

(This article was written by Kosuke Tauchi and Hideshi Nishimoto.)

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