FUKUOKA - A severe shortage of truck drivers—forecast to reach 210,000 by fiscal 2030—has prompted a driving school operator in Fukuoka Prefecture to begin recruiting foreign drivers in an effort to support Japan’s strained logistics sector.
Ryousuke Kobayashi of Minami Holdings, which operates driving schools in Fukuoka, traveled to rural towns in Cambodia distributing flyers to recruit prospective drivers willing to work in Japan. The company has established a driving school in the capital Phnom Penh to train drivers for employment in Japan, and when reporters visited in October last year, 12 Cambodian trainees were undergoing Japanese-language education and driving instruction. Tuition, including procedures related to travel and employment in Japan, costs about $3,000 per person, and the business must send more than 100 trainees to Japan annually to remain viable.
One trainee preparing to depart for Japan is Chhun Chet, 44, who previously worked for three years as a welding technician in Tochigi Prefecture under Japan’s technical intern program. After returning home, Chet earned a living as a tuk-tuk driver, but decided to leave his family again to work in Japan in order to cover educational expenses for his two daughters. Training alongside him is Sar Sandy, 30, who hopes to become a truck driver—still a rare career choice for women in Cambodia.
Both are set to join Sankei Works, a transport company based in Nogata, Fukuoka Prefecture, which employs 13 drivers and mainly delivers food and alcoholic beverages within the prefecture. Struggling to secure Japanese drivers, the company decided to hire Chet and Sandy as foreign drivers and holds high expectations for their performance.
In November last year, the two arrived in Japan and began training to pass the country’s driver’s license examination. However, Japan’s left-side traffic and right-hand-drive vehicles—opposite of Cambodia—proved challenging. Despite undergoing advanced AI-assisted training, Chet made repeated errors, receiving a score of minus 100 out of 100, while Sandy recorded minus 55, highlighting the difficulty of adapting to Japan’s driving system.
Although they continued training daily, both ultimately failed the licensing exam. The question now is whether Kobayashi can establish a stable path for foreign drivers to work in Japan, as he and the two Cambodian trainees take on the challenge of overcoming the hurdles to employment in the country’s logistics industry.
Source: テレ東BIZ
