【英语中国】中国研修生在日本

Three years ago, in the depths of winter, a group of young men boarded an aircraft in the windswept city of Dalian in north-eastern China and set off with high hopes of making it big by working in Japan.

Lured by stories of the good salaries and advanced skills they could gain, they had signed up to become trainees. They had paid high fees to Chinese brokers, as well as agreed to guarantees that they would meet a raft of obligations, believing they could earn many times more than they earn at home and return as heroes. “We had heard from people we knew that Japan was a good country and a good place to work and that it would be possible to save money,” says Zhou Liankhang, 30, one of those who left Dalian that day in January 2007.

But far from being a workers’ paradise, Japan has been a country of hardship and discrimination for Mr Zhou and many of his compatriots, who are often forced to work long hours in gruelling conditions for less than minimum wages. “All the dirty, dangerous work is done by the Chinese workers,” says Li Changqing, 34, who journeyed from the same city that day.

Mr Zhou and Mr Li went to Japan as foreign trainees who were supposed

to acquire high-level skills on a government-sanctioned programme that aimed to nurture skills they could use once they returned home. Officially, “trainees are not to be used to compensate for shortages of local labour”, says the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization, which provides support for the programmes.

But it is widely acknowledged that, in practice, the system benefits industries such as food processing, construction and garment and electrical manufacturing shunned by homegrown workers because of low wages and tough conditions. “Very cheap labour from Asia is used to sustain industries that would, under the natural course of things, be wiped out,” says Mo Bang-fu, a Chinese journalist based in Japan who has followed the issue for many years.

Many trainees are given simple manual work and discover that the pay and conditions are far worse than they had been led to believe. The situation has prompted a severe warning from the United Nations that migrant workers toil in circumstances that, in some cases, “may well amount to slavery”.

Isolation prevents most from seeking help – they often end up in the regions, living in company dormitories and are forbidden from venturing far from the workplace. Many also lack Japanese language skills.

An even bigger factor keeping them in line is the fear that they could be sent home before earning enough to repay their debts. They typically pay Chinese brokers between Rmb10,000 ($1,475, ￠1,160, ￡950) and Rmb20,000, equivalent to a year or two in salary, says Lila Abiko, a lawyer representing many of them for the Lawyers’ Network for Trainees. Unless they can earn at least that much, they risk losing ownership of their homes

– or, more commonly, those of relatives who have put up their house deeds as collateral.

Many do return happy with the skills they have acquired in Japan and the income they have been able to save. Oh Kei and Koh Xui-ken, both 19, left Tsingtao on the east coast in July last year to train at the refurbished Hotel Mikazuki in Kinugawa, a hot-spring resort about two hours by train west of Tokyo. They say the opportunity to learn the language and culture first-hand will help them in their goal of becoming interpreters.

“There are some really fortunate people who work for companies that provide nice housing and good pay. There are many people who become very happy as a result of this programme,” says Koichi Yasuda, who has written about such migrants.

But the number of misdemeanours prompted Tokyo last month to adopt stricter rules on the rights and pay of foreign trainees and to stiffen the penalty for abusers.

三年前的深冬，一群年轻人在海风吹拂的大连登上飞机，怀着打工致富的梦想飞往日本。

对可能获得的丰厚薪水和高级技能的描述，吸引这些年轻人签约成为了研修生。他们向中国的中介机构支付了高昂费用，并保证将履行大量义务，只因相信自己可以挣到比国内高出数倍的薪水，最终荣归故里。30岁的周连康（音译，Zhou Liankhang）表示：“我们听认识的人说日本这个国家不错，是一个工作的好地方，而且还能攒下钱。”周连康是三年前1月的那天离开大连的年轻人之一。

但是对周连康及其许多同胞而言，日本远非工人的天堂，而是一个充满艰辛和歧视的国家。他们经常被迫在艰苦的条件下长时间工作，薪水却低于最低工资标准。34岁的李长青（音译，Li Changqing）说：“所有肮脏、危险的工作都由中国工人来做。”李长青也是在那天离开大连来到日本的。

周连康和李长青都是作为外国研修生来到日本的，这是一个政府支持项目，目的是培养研修生的高级技能，以便他们回国后能学有所用。为该项目提供支持的日本国际研修协力机构(Japan International Training Cooperation Organization)表示，官方规定是，“不得利用研修生来补偿当地劳工的短缺。”

但实际上，这种制度令日本食品加工业、建筑业、制衣业和电子制造业受益，这已经是普遍共识。日本本国工人因工资低和条件艰苦而不愿从事这些行业的工作。多年跟踪这一问题的中国驻日记者莫邦富(Mo Bang-fu)表示：“非常廉价的亚洲劳动力被用来维持一些本应随着自然规律逐渐淘汰的行业。”

许多研修生只能从事简单的手工工作，而且他们发现，薪酬和工作条件远比他们听信的恶劣。这种情况已经招致联合国(UN)的严厉警告：在某些情况下，研修生的工作条件“可能与奴隶无异”。

与世隔绝让大多数人无法寻求帮助——他们经常最终滞留在外省地区，住在公司集体宿舍，并被禁止远离厂区。许多人日语也说得不好。

迫使他们安分守己的一个更重要因素是，他们担心自己会在赚够足以偿债的钱之前被遣送回国。外国研修生问题律师联合会(Lawyers’ Network for Trainees)代表了许多研修生的律师安孙子理良(Lila Abiko)表示，他们一般向中国中介机构支付1万到2万元人民币，相当于一两年的薪水。如果他们赚不到那么多钱，就可能丧失自己房屋的所有权——或者更常见的是，那些用自己房契进行担保的亲戚的房屋。

的确，许多人带着在日本学到的技术和积攒下的收入愉快地返回了国内。Oh Kei和Koh Xui-ken均为19岁，他们在去年7月离开海滨城市青岛，来到鬼怒川温泉胜地重新装修后的Mikazuki酒店接受培训。鬼怒川在东京以西，坐火车去大约需要两个小时。他们表示，这种实地体验学习日语及其文化的机会将有助于他们实现成为译员的目标。

Koichi Yasuda就此类研修生撰写了相关文章，他表示：“也有些研修生真的很幸运，他们所在的公司提供了良好的住宿条件和丰厚的薪水。许多人因该项目而变得非常幸福。”

但是大量的不端行为，促使日本政府上月针对外国研修生的权利和薪酬出台了更严厉的法规，并加重了对违法者的惩罚。

译者/君悦