While young people from Japan are increasingly flocking to Australia on working holiday visas in pursuit of adventure, language skills and good wages, many face a harsh reality on arrival.

Some 200 people, many in their 20s and 30s, were waiting in a line for free food on a recent early afternoon at a park in Brisbane in eastern Australia.

Their voices filled the park with many languages other than English, including Spanish and Japanese.

On the table set up at the center of the park vegetables, fruit and bread were labeled with a sign saying “free food.”

The organizer of this event, Jimmy Fahham, 79, from the local charity Community Friends, said the group started this campaign 15 years ago primarily to distribute food to the homeless and people with disabilities.

Community Friends solicits donations of expiring food items from supermarkets. At times when donations are insufficient, the charity will purchase food out of its own pocket.

Fahham explained in late May that foreign nationals from South America, China and Europe who have come to Australia on the working holiday program can often be found waiting in line for food. Japanese have risen to make up 30 percent of the line.

A woman who came from Peru on the working holiday visa said in broken English that receiving charity from Community Friends allows her to save the money from buying a week’s worth of groceries.

Admitting that she had been searching, unsuccessfully, for cleaning jobs for a month and a half, the woman looked dispirited. She said that wanted to earn cash as soon as possible.

A 22-year-old Japanese woman from Fukuoka Prefecture was also in line, hoping to save a little money.

Her dream is to become an English teacher, so she obtained a working holiday visa to improve her English skills.

Despite securing the highest grade in Japan’s Eiken English exam, the woman was struggling to secure employment in Australia.

“I might seek support here until my financial circumstance improve,” she said. “I am really grateful.”

An increasing number of young people from around the world are traveling to Australia on the working holiday visa, which allows them to work and earn money in their foreign destination.

About 15,000 Japanese do so every year. Their reasons are varied, some hope to improve their English skills or to realize dreams of living abroad, others come for financial reasons—the minimum hourly wage in Australia is double that of Tokyo.

The number of working holiday visas issued to Japanese has recently hit a record high.

However, many struggle to find work once they arrive.

HARDSHIPS EVERYWHERE

A woman in her 20s from Japan’s Kansai region explained her situation in Australia in late May.

“I would not have chosen this occupation if I’d stayed in Japan,” she said about her job at a hostess bar in Sydney, the largest city in Australia.

The woman had arrived in Australia six months earlier, after quitting her job at the company she entered upon graduating from college.

She decided to go abroad because a strong desire to “live without regrets” had been growing inside her while cooped up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her main goal for the trip is to refine her English skills.

Because the Australian working holiday visa only allows one to attend school for up to four months, she first entered the country with a student visa to “spend at least six months on education.”

Once her schooling period ended, she planned to switch to a working holiday visa, which has no restrictions on working hours.

Needing “a job to start out with anyway,” the woman applied to more than 30 positions at restaurants and other workplaces via a recruiting site—but she received no replies.

In a “last-ditch” attempt, she applied for a job at a hostess club in Sydney, and was finally hired.

She currently works three to four nights a week from 7 p.m. until late at night for an hourly wage of 30 Australian dollars (2,900 yen, or $20.29).

“I can balance education with work this way,” she said. “I can obtain money efficiently.”

She goes to a language school in the morning and takes a short nap during the day before starting her night shift.

Although most of the hostess bar patrons are Japanese, she can still practice her English conversation skills with the Australian customers.

The student said she keeps her occupation a secret from her parents in Japan.

“The only important thing is how hard I can work,” she stated.

According to the hostess club’s 40-year-old male manager, the establishment gets more than 70 job applications a month. He said that many people struggle to find daytime jobs.

A 27-year-old Japanese man from Saitama Prefecture who came to Brisbane, the third largest city of Australia, on a working holiday visa, was among the many who struggled to find work.

“I’ve never seen anyone come here under the working holiday framework and not face difficulties getting hired,” he said.

He had researched a list of restaurants in Brisbane, handed out 80 copies of his resume and applied to more than 50 jobs online through a recruitment site—all over the course of a week.

“It nearly broke my spirit to wonder if I’d ever find a job,” recalled the man.

He was later hired by a bistro he came across by chance.

MORE WORKERS, FEWER JOBS

According to Australian government statistics, more than 17,000 working holiday visas were issued to Japanese during the one-year period through June 2024—a record-breaking number.

This seemingly explains why those visiting Australia on working holiday visas have struggled to find jobs.

Asked whether the competition between working holidaymakers is heating up, Anna Boucher, an associate professor of migration issues at the University of Sydney, said, “That’s also possible.”

Australia has signed agreements to issue working holiday visas with 50 countries and regions around the world.

The Australian government data revealed that some 230,000 working holiday visas were issued over a one-year period ending this June, approaching a record high.

One draw for foreign workers is Australia’s high wages.

The minimum hourly wage in Australia is set at $24.10 in Australian dollars, or approximately 2,300 yen, double that of Tokyo at 1,113 yen.

Australia’s minimum wage is particularly high, even among the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is sometimes referred to as a “club for rich countries.”

The high wage standard is believed to be due to the strong presence of labor unions, among other factors.

However, while high wages are attractive to workers, they can be a source of concern for employers.

“Wage levels have risen so dramatically that we can’t hire new staff easily at present,” lamented Arioki Kondo, 53, president of the operator of a Japanese-style restaurant in Sydney.

Constant inflation in Australia has triggered surges in living costs. As an increasing number of hotels and restaurants have gone bankrupt, Kondo noted that the Australian “economy can never be called brisk.”

Still, Kondo receives applications from 30 to 40 applicants daily each time he posts a new job.

“Frankly speaking, we are already unable to handle so many applications,” he said. “The working holiday visa holder market is saturated.”

WEAKENED YEN

The yen’s continual weakening since the end of the COVID-19 crisis has driven some people to turn to the working holiday system in pursuit of foreign currency.

Ryota Suzuki, 27, a Tokyo resident, described himself as a “typical migrant laborer.”

After building a career as a carpenter in Japan, Suzuki headed for Australia toward the end of 2021. He then moved from farm to farm in time for the various harvest seasons.

A farm worker’s performance is assessed based on how much the worker can harvest per day.

“I excel at (picking) strawberries the most,” Suzuki said proudly.

Combing through a field for strawberries from early morning to afternoon, he can collect 800 kilograms of the fruit in a day. His colleagues at the farm joke that he’s “as diligent as a robot.”

Suzuki usually earns 1,000 Australian dollars per week, and he once earned as much as 2,500 Australian dollars in a week.

He accumulated several million yen during his two-and-a-half-year stay in Australia. He then returned to Japan in late June.

“It is true that laborers can earn a lot in Australia,” said Suzuki. “People, however, should keep it in mind that they must count their pennies to save up, since commodity prices are significantly higher there.”

Migrant workers have just recently started arriving in Australia en masse.

“The main purpose of working holidaymakers from Japan changed following the novel coronavirus outbreak,” said Chihiro Tanaka, president of MyStage, an agency in Sydney that makes arrangements for international students.

Of the 400 customers using the company’s visa application services and other resources, Tanaka said, “An increasing number of people, around 60 to 70 percent, are here to earn money rather than to pursue a linguistic education.”

Kotaro Sanada, a public relations representative of the Japan Association for Working Holiday Makers, believes that holidaymakers have grown increasingly interested in Australia due to the plummeting value of the yen since the global pandemic.

“Those intrigued by the working holiday program may be further motivated to go abroad by the prospect of earning more money outside Japan,” Sanada said.

According to the association’s accounts, complaints began pouring in around 2023 from holidaymakers “struggling to find jobs” at their destinations. Failing to secure employment and seeing their savings run out within a few months, many have to return to Japan quickly.

Sanada projected that the number of people traveling to Australia on working holiday visas will “continue rising from here on out.”

“The booming supply of migrant workers will keep swelling for some time,” he said.

Sanada provided some advice for those wanting to make the attempt.

“Local competition is fierce," he said. "Those considering going to Australia should make thorough preparations beforehand, such as improving their fluency in English and gathering information via multiple approaches including through social media and travel agents.”

(This article was written by Naoko Handa. Staff reporter Rizki Akbar Hasan contributed to this report.)