WORKING IN JAPAN AS A TRAINEE: THE REALITY OF INDONESIAN TRAINEES UNDER JAPAN'S INDUSTRIAL TRAINING AND TECHNICAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
ABSTRACT: Attracted by Japan's
prosperity and motivated by desire for gaining higher income, many Indonesians
have been migrating to Japan in increasing numbers since the mid-1990s.
Different from other destination countries, most of Indonesian workers who came
to Japan is under the program called "Industrial Training and Technical
Internship Program" with the main objective to get the use of actual work
to obtain new knowledge and technical skills. This paper aims to shows the
reality oflndonesian trainees and the issues related to implementation of the
training program in Japan. The bulk of empirical data in this paper is drawn
from a field study on Indonesian trainees in some big cities in Japan.
Primarily, the study includes a questionnaire survey to 120 Indonesian trainees
who are working in some factories in Mie Prefecture as well as extended
interviews with key informants, field observation and related literature study.
This study found that many of the young Indonesians questioned showed that in
the reality, the training program is just a way to fulfill Japan's labor
shortage and hired as a cheap labor source for small and medium companies in
Japan. Further, many of them had discovered that they have to take unproductive
jobs where no new skills or technology techniques transfer really take place.
Most of them were involved in marginal jobs or assigned to a small part of the
operation. However, it is considered that, in spite of many problems in the
implementation of the current training program of Japan, as long as the
significant difference remains in employment opportunity and earning between
Japan and Indonesia, the efforts of dispatching more Indonesians to Japan is
still an important policy for both countries.
Key words: International
Migration, Industrial Training and Technical Internship Program, and Indonesian
Trainees in Japan
Penulis: Nawawi
Kode Jurnal: jpsosiologidd100122
