HOKKAIDO - Japan is facing growing pressure over its treatment and recruitment of foreign workers, with serious allegations of abuse emerging even as companies compete for a shrinking pool of overseas labor and some industries approach government-set limits on the number of workers they can accept.
A foreign worker who came to Japan under the Specified Skilled Worker visa program held a news conference this week to describe alleged violence at an agricultural company in Hokkaido that employs a large number of foreign nationals.
The man said he had believed Japanese people would be kind and patient, but his first experience working in the country was very different from what he had expected.
Video recorded by another foreign worker at the agricultural company in mid-July showed a man believed to be a manager in his 60s confronting workers. The footage also showed the worker who later held the news conference being grabbed around the chest.
Seven foreign workers have so far left the farm. A female employee has also alleged that she was sexually harassed, including being slapped on the buttocks by the manager.
Workers said conditions in their accommodation were poor. Male employees were paying 20,000 yen a month for dormitory housing that was heavily soiled and infested with rats.
At collective bargaining talks held on Wednesday, the company indicated that it would pay unpaid wages and other money owed to workers. It denied the sexual harassment allegation, while the alleged assault was not discussed.
The case is one of several illustrating longstanding concerns over the treatment of foreign workers in Japan.
Another case involved a Filipino woman who came to Japan in 2019 as a technical intern and worked at a facility for elderly people in Fukuoka Prefecture.
About a year and a half after arriving, she became pregnant. She said there had been an unspoken understanding that technical interns who became pregnant would be forced to return home.
When she told the supervising organization that she wanted to take maternity leave and temporarily return to the Philippines, a director raised the possibility that her actions could affect the reputation of Filipino workers and suggested abortion.
The woman refused, returned home and gave birth to a boy.
She later sued the supervising organization and others, alleging that her pregnancy had forced her to resign and return to the Philippines. She said continuing the legal fight caused pain and pressure but that she wanted to speak out for other women facing similar situations.
Last month, a court ordered the supervising organization and other defendants to pay more than 3 million yen in damages.
Government data also point to widespread problems. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, more than 8,000 legal violations were confirmed in 2024 at workplaces employing technical interns.
Despite continuing concerns over human rights, many Japanese industries increasingly say they cannot operate without foreign labor.
One example is a long-established shipbuilding-related company that manufactures large vessel components known as blocks. The company has operated for more than 70 years, but its management says production would no longer be possible without foreign employees.
Foreign nationals now account for more than half of the group's workforce, with 96 employees from overseas.
The company has also expanded the range of jobs that foreign staff can perform. Work involving overhead cranes, previously handled only by Japanese employees, is increasingly being opened to foreign workers who obtain the necessary qualifications.
The company has made adjustments for Muslim employees from Indonesia, including converting part of a dormitory into a prayer space and installing a lower washing area so workers can clean their feet before praying.
One foreign employee said the company respects its overseas workers and makes efforts to accommodate their needs.
Management said smaller regional companies cannot always compete with urban employers on wages alone, making working conditions and treatment particularly important in attracting people and encouraging them to stay.
The group employs 47 people under the Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 visa and 12 under the No. 2 status.
The No. 1 status generally allows a maximum stay of five years. The No. 2 status is available to workers with more advanced skills and has no limit on renewals, while also allowing workers to bring spouses and children to Japan.
The company has responded by creating family housing. New accommodation was completed in March, and three employees have already brought their wives to live with them.
One of them is a Vietnamese worker who married three years ago. The couple initially lived apart, with one in Japan and the other in Vietnam, before being reunited.
His skills are considered among the best at the factory. Although the No. 2 visa gives him a path toward remaining in Japan long term, he said he is considering returning to Vietnam with his family in about five years and working there.
The company has also maintained a tradition from the days when wages were paid in cash, with its president personally handing employees envelopes containing their pay statements on payday as a way of maintaining communication.
Some Indonesian employees work at the company alongside family members. One said that after deductions, much of his remaining salary is sent home to support relatives.
The company president said shipbuilding has historically suffered sharp swings in business conditions, creating an image that workers can quickly lose their jobs when orders decline. That has made it difficult to recruit Japanese workers, particularly for small and midsize companies on remote islands.
Japan once led the global shipbuilding industry but now faces intense competition from China and South Korea, where governments have provided strong support to the sector.
The government has nevertheless identified shipbuilding as one of 17 priority areas in its growth strategy and is aiming to double shipbuilding volume by 2035.
Achieving that goal will require a larger workforce, industry officials say, making foreign labor increasingly important.
Japan introduced the Specified Skilled Worker program in 2019 as a response to severe labor shortages in sectors such as nursing care, construction and agriculture.
The program grants residency status to foreign workers who possess specified levels of professional skill.
Under the No. 1 status, the government sets limits on the number of workers accepted in each sector.
The food service industry has already come close to its ceiling. About 49,000 workers have been accepted against a limit of 50,000, prompting the government to suspend new intake from April.
The decision has caused concern among employers.
A conveyor-belt sushi chain operating seven restaurants in Hokkaido employs a Myanmar national who obtained the Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 status in April and was hired as a full-time employee.
The worker said he wanted to work in sushi restaurants because the job would allow him to learn not only customer service but also Japanese food culture and the country's approach to hospitality. Asked whether the work was difficult, he said he enjoyed it.
Of the company's 217 employees, 48 are foreign nationals, including 10 with Specified Skilled Worker status.
The suspension means the company can no longer hire additional workers through the program.
Management said the announcement came as a major surprise because the restaurant industry depends heavily on having enough employees to open new outlets or expand into other businesses. Without workers, expansion plans have to be put on hold.
The impact is also being felt by foreign students.
At a Japanese-language school operated by the sushi chain, students who had hoped to enter the food service industry under the Specified Skilled Worker program said they were disappointed by the suspension.
One student said working in food service had been the goal from the beginning and that learning the visa route was no longer available came as a shock.
Recruitment companies specializing in foreign workers are also seeing the effect. One such company said job openings for Specified Skilled Workers in food service have increased 2.8-fold as companies compete for people already in Japan.
Employers are increasingly approaching foreign workers through personal connections and encouraging them to change jobs, intensifying competition for a limited labor pool.
A recruitment industry official warned that the environment surrounding foreign workers is becoming increasingly difficult and said it would not be surprising if some decided to work in other countries instead.
Japan, once widely seen as an attractive destination, risks becoming a country that foreign workers are less likely to choose.
A survey of foreign workers in Japan found that 83.7% were interested in working in another country, suggesting that Japan is no longer their only option.
At the same time, the government has recently moved toward tighter immigration controls.
Officials acknowledge that some industries need foreign workers because of labor shortages, but say public concern has also grown over illegal activity and violations of rules by some foreign nationals.
As part of efforts to strengthen residency management, fees for immigration procedures are scheduled to rise sharply from October.
Applications made at immigration counters to renew or change a residence status will cost as much as 75,000 yen, while the fee for permanent residence applications will rise from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen.
An expert on foreign labor policy warned that the increases have come as a shock to many foreign residents and could discourage people who had been considering moving to Japan.
He said Japan faces an apparent contradiction: the country needs labor, yet some foreign workers are beginning to feel that Japan does not really want them.
Other economies, including South Korea and Taiwan, are also working to attract overseas workers, raising questions over whether Japan can afford to adopt policies that make the country less welcoming.
The labor shortage is expected to worsen substantially.
Recruit Works Institute estimates that even if Japan experiences almost no economic growth, the country could face a labor shortage of 11 million people by 2040, roughly equivalent to the number of employed people in the Kinki region.
Even if automation through artificial intelligence, robotics and other technology advances, the institute estimates that the country would still be short about 4.93 million workers.
The question is whether Japan can continue to be a country chosen by foreign workers as its population declines and competition for global labor intensifies.
Experts say the government and parliament need to debate a long-term vision for the role foreign nationals will play in Japanese society, including how Japanese and foreign residents can live and work together.
Companies that invest in foreign workers' living conditions and respect cultural differences may offer one model.
At the shipbuilding company, some former employees have remained connected to the business after returning to their home countries. Some have established Japanese-language schools or training schools for prospective Specified Skilled Workers and have gone on to introduce new workers to the Japanese company.
Such relationships have created a cycle in which companies recruit people through former employees while maintaining links across borders.
As foreign workers become increasingly important in convenience stores, restaurants, nursing care, construction and other sectors essential to everyday life, Japan faces the challenge of balancing immigration controls with the need to remain an attractive place to live and work.
