SHINONSEN, Hyogo Prefecture--An international romance blossomed in this fishing town, but the couple kept it a secret, fearing repercussions against themselves and the foreign intern program.

When their cover was blown, the reaction, as expected, was harsh.

But then something unexpected happened. Love eventually conquered all.

TOUGH FIRST YEAR

Eleven years ago, Ugia Restu Ginanjar came to Shinonsen as a technical intern from Indonesia. In the town, he lived in a fishing community of about 400 households.

Shinonsen is home of the Hamasaka fishery association that boasts one of Japan’s best catches of snow crab, a winter specialty from the Sea of Japan. Ugia started to work on a fishing boat.

In his first year, he found it difficult to understand Japanese, and his duties on the boat during the frigid months were painful.

In summer two years after his arrival, Ugia saw a Japanese crew member accompany a young woman to a foreign trainees’ dormitory on the second floor of a market site. He learned the woman was Ayaka Hamane, the daughter of a ship owner in the town.

Ayaka, now 32, was interested in foreign countries and hooked on South Korean TV dramas. She often helped out the Indonesian trainees who arrived in the town every year.

Having lost her mother, Ayaka was always busy with household chores and taking care of her younger sisters.

Chatting with Indonesians in her generation provided Ayaka with a “good and fun break.”

Ayaka was immediately attracted to Ugia, who resembled a South Korean pop idol.

Although Ugia was shy and quiet, he and Ayaka knew inside that they would become good partners.

A few days after their initial meeting, they attended a summer festival and exchanged contact information on the Line messaging app.

Six days later, the pair took a stroll on a beach following a fireworks display and decided to go steady.

Ugia and Ayaka promised to keep their dating a “secret from everyone,” feeling that the townspeople would frown upon the relationship, given that foreign technical interns are in Japan to learn occupational skills to bring to their homelands after the three-year program.

However, Ugia mentioned the relationship to a close friend in the intern community, and the romance became an open secret in the port town.

The fishery association took issue with the relationship. And Ayaka got into a big fight with her father, Hideki.

The couple, however, refused to part ways.

And Hideki ended up defending the relationship, saying, “No one can stop someone in love.”

Ayaka followed Ugia when he returned to Indonesia after the end of his training period. In his hometown, she joined his faith and became a Muslim. They registered their marriage there.

In January the following year, Ugia arrived again in Japan as the husband of a Japanese national.

They lived in Ayaka’s family home with Hideki and others. The married couple became parents of a boy and a girl.

Ayaka said another welcomed change after Ugia joined the ship owner’s household was the way the townspeople looked at Indonesian trainees.

The interns are now invited to talk at an elementary school and to carry a “mikoshi” portable shrine for a festival so that they can feel more like members of the community.

“I used to consider them a bit scary,” said Fumiko Inoue, 71, an employee at an intermediate wholesaler.

Inoue met many foreign interns through Ayaka and Ugia. Using the Line app, Inoue now constantly exchanges messages with a former trainee who has already returned to his home country.

SHRINKING WORKFORCE

Ugia, now 30, has become an essential crew member on Hideki’s Mitoshi Maru fishing boat.

Hideki bought the 95-ton boat from another ship owner who was shutting down the business.

Mitoshi Maru is five times larger than his previous boat and hauls in more crab, but it also requires additional crewmates.

Ugia currently goes fishing with three Japanese and four foreign interns. He is in charge of the trainees.

The fishing industry in Japan is struggling with a shrinking workforce. The number of fishermen in 2021 was 130,000, less than 40 percent of the figure 30 years previously.

Complicating the issue is the rising minimum wage for interns on fishing boats.

The salary level is set uniformly across Japan based on the results of talks between employers and employees.

The wages have continued to climb because of Japan’s heavier dependence on trainees and Indonesia’s economic growth.

The monthly salary was 120,000 yen ($905) for the first-year interns in 2015, but it rose to 160,000 yen in 2020.

Trainee fishermen can receive fixed payments even during the off-season. Costs for dormitories and other factors are basically covered by ship owners.

These trainees can no longer be called “cheap labor.”

However, cases are still reported around Japan about foreign interns in the fishing industry fleeing from the tough work conditions.

“Indonesians these days are different from what they used to be, too,” said Ugia, now a veteran fisherman. “Young people lack persistence.”

Forty interns from Indonesia are working on fishing boats of the Hamasaka fishery association. They account for 30 percent of the crews for crab trawling.

“Our boats would not be able to operate without the trainees,” said Kazuo Kawagoe, head of the association.

A fisheries industry insider said the industry must improve the working environment and make capital investments instead of merely depending on non-Japanese workers to cover labor shortages.

“We will become unable to continue business at some point unless we forge ahead with a vision for the future,” the source said.