1. Encountering the Issue

After studying for one year in Japan, one of my professors introduced me to a friend of his who works at a technical trainee center in the city. I was recommended to work as a free-lance interpreter at the center because some of the trainees there are from my same home country and that they also needed interpretation between Burmese and Japanese for the upcoming seminars. However, as a few months passed by working as an interpreter there, I was notified that a fellow technical trainee from Myanmar went missing, leaving no traces behind. According to his colleague, he showed signs of irritation and indicated that he could not handle the stress of being bullied at the work-place anymore. The conversation logs from the app between his friends also showed that he was not able to get the help from the supervising organization.

For those who do not know, if you deliberately went missing in Japan, you will be regarded as "Illegal Migrant" until your whereabouts have been identified. Thus, if you want to keep your identify anonymous, you will have no choice but to engage in illegal activities during these periods. Those harsh conditions force the technical trainees to make a desperate choice between returning back to the unfavourable work-place or going missing, which generally leads to either engaging in illegal activities or returning back to their country. But in either of the cases, should the trainees be found again by authorities, they face the possibility of deportation too. This is also a potential issue for Japan as more than 20 percent of its foreign workers are technical trainees and the workforce of Japan has been declining for years.

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2. Understanding the Issue

Even though I have only met once with the technical trainee who went missing, as a fellow citizen from Myanmar, I could not turn a blind eye to it. Plus, as a scholar who has the ability to communicate between the two languages, I felt an obligation to confront this issue with the best of my ability. Just around the same time, I saw a poster on the bulletin at my university about a thesis contest for international students. And the fact that this contest was also supported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan encouraged me to participate, as I would have a chance to address this issue to the Japanese society. But there was a small problem.

I had previously applied to participate in a six-month study exchange program in Canad, and it was beginning in a few months. As the deadline for the thesis report was still far away, I decided to put this aside for the time being and prepare for the exchange program first. Long story short, I worked on the thesis during my exchange period in Canada, which later placed third on the contest.

To read about the tuition-exempted study exchange program that I did in Canada, visit this [Blog Post].

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3. Possible Reasons behind the Issue

To understand the roots of the issue, I first had to learn how the 「技能実習制度」, the Technical Intern Trainee System in Japan works. According to Japan's Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the Technical Intern Training System was first established during the early 90's where Japan would accept foreign workers for a determined period of time, as interns in industrial factories. And there exists a supervising organization that manages the recruitment and the handling of contracts between the workers and the employers of such industrial factories. The main aim of this system was to provide specialized training to those foreign immigrants so that they would be able to make contribution when they return back to their home country. However, some of the restrictions imposed within this system may lead to the issue of technical trainees going missing.

• Working Condition

One such restrictions is the fact that the foreign workers in this system are prohibited from changing their work-place, let alone the change of occupation. This obviously would raise the rate of resignation but as per contract, the trainees would have to keep working until the contract period ends which is usually around 3 years. In addition, the technical trainees are only paid minimal wage for their work and according to this [Japanese law], their residential status prohibits them from engaging in part-time jobs. Thus, it is not surprising that the working condition of the foreign workers under this system may be the one of the reasons that lead to the missing of technical trainees.

• Employer's Legal Violation

Another potential cause of the issue seems to lie in the legal violations on the employers' side. Based on this [Report] by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan, the most common legal violation from the industrial factories turns out to be Work-place Safety, which is a surprising fact considering that Japan has been regarded as highly systematic and regulated. If you dive further into the report, you would find that the most common industry where this violation occurs is in the one that deals with Machinery and Processing Tools, which is ironic, considering that safety should have been the top priority in such industries.

Fig: Report on the Violation of Employers

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4. Potential Solutions Towards the Issue

There is no denying that language plays a huge role in getting you around in a foreign country and I believe that it is also true in the case of technical trainees. Since a vast majority of foreign workers that come to Japan only have N-3 Japanese proficiency at best and usually start their language studies only after arriving in Japan, language barrier imposes a huge struggle for them.

• Establishment of Foreign Communities within the Workplace

Being able to effectively communicate with at the workplace is obviously important for the technical trainees. However, due to the language barrier, there arises the risk where the complaints and struggles of the trainees may not be fully understood by the respective supervisors. Thus, by reducing the chances of miscommunication between the employers and foreign worker, we can alleviate the risks that would give rise to the issue.

One of the ways this can be achieved is by means of establishing communities or union that is managed by foreigners who is proficient in Japanese and the respective foreign languages. With this, we can surely help alleviate the challenges and struggles the trainees face.

• Breaking Language Barrier with AI Language Models

As AI language models are becoming more accessible to the general public, especially with open-source models such as DeepSeek, building and training a language model that specializes in interpretation has become increasingly possible. Thus, with the help of such models, it is possible to construct and fine-tune a language model between, say.... Japanese and Burmese languages, which if done successfully, would be a huge help not only to Burmese foreigners who require assistance with communicating in Japanese, but also to the corresponding Japanese employers and supervising organizations.

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5. Bringing the Issue to Light to Japanese Society

Whatever solutions I may have thought about, it will be futile unless it is recognized within the Japanese society. That is why I decided to participate in the Thesis Contest that I mentioned earlier. I started investigating the issue after one month (in October 2024) into the first semester of the [Exchange Program in Canada]. To be honest, it kind of feels a bit....for the lack of words...."weird"... to write the thesis. I mean....working on a thesis report for an issue in Japan, while studying in Canada, felt like something that I wasn't supposed to be doing.

However, the strong sense of obligation persevered despite all the doubts and uncertainties. Plus, out of the courses that I registered for the fall semester in Canada, the only challenging course was the "AI & Machine Learning" as shown in the student schedule below. Thus, I was able to work on the thesis for at least two hours everyday during the Fall Semester at Ontario Tech University in Canada.

Fig: 2024 Fall Schedule at Ontario Tech University

The most challenging part about the [Thesis Report] that I wrote was in the explanation of the Technical Intern Trainee System to the Japanese audiences. As the issue is relatively new to the Japanese society, it is quite challenging for to convey the severity of the issue. Thus, I decided to use illustration and images to help in my explanation as shown in the image below.

Fig: An Illustration by myself on how the Technical Intern Trainee System Works

Source

• Placing 3rd on the Contest

Who would have thought that a thesis report that I compiled in Canada, would go on and place 3rd in a contest in hosted in Japan. To be frank, I originally thought that this report had the potential to place 1st in the contest but after reading the reports by other contestants, I can see why I didn't get the 1st place. The top thesis reports didn't include imagery or illustrations and had more concise word length. In addition, the choice of topic by top contestants were also focused on the issues in Japan more relatable to the Japanese society, such as the [Low Participation in Fire Drills by Foreigners in Japan].

Regardless of the outcome, it is certain that the issue of Technical Intern Trainee in Japan is brought closer to light in the Japanese society as this contest is also supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan. The next step that I hope to take is in the realization of the proposed solutions indicated in my thesis report.

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Key Points

• The severe working condition and the legal violations of Japanese employers give rise to the issue of technical trainees to go missing in Japan.

• Since the Japanese language ability of most technical trainees is insufficient, solutions such as the establishment of foreign communities and the use of AI language model can help alleviate the challenge of language barrier.

• By placing third in the thesis contest supported by Japanese government, I hope to bring this issue to light within the Japanese society.

Thanks for reading thus far!

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