Japan news - September 2024
What recent news have you been interested in?
Israel pager bombs
China starts buying Japanese seafood
Rice Prices Rise
Typhoon
Ohtani
Shogun
Next Prime Minister
Next US President
A recent NHK headline said:
Over 9,700 foreign technical interns in Japan vanished last year
What do you think this article is about?
Japanese government data shows more than 9,700 foreign workers vanished from their employers under the technical intern training program last year, reaching a record high. This represented about one in every 50 of such people.
What countries do you think the interns were from?
What industries do they work in?
Industries:
Construction 47.1%,
Agriculture 8.6%
Manufacturing 8.5%
Countries:
1) Vietnam: 5,481
2) Myanmar: 1,765
3) China: 816
4) Cambodia: 694
The largest members of the program are Vietnamese, Indonesians and Filipinos.
Why do you think the interns disappeared?
Experts say many interns decided they had no choice but to vanish after having problems at their workplace. The present program doesn’t allow interns to move to another employer, except in special circumstances (violence, harassment, committing crimes)
Some interns complained about…
no overtime pay
illegally low wages
violence from employers
no chance to work while looking for a new employer
How do you feel about this news?
The government is considering allowing interns to change company after 1 year … but only if they pass tests for technical skills and Japanese. Is this a good idea?
Now interns need to pass Japanese tests to get promotions at their companies but they must study in their own time with no support from employers. Should companies be providing more support?
Some LDP members don’t want to change the rules saying it will make it easier for people to leave jobs in the countryside and move to the city
If you were swimming in the ocean and saw a dolphin nearby, what would you do?
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15427496
In Wakasa Bay (Fukui), about 200 miles west of Tokyo, dolphin attacks have injured at least 47 people since 2022.
Many of them suffered minor bites on their hands, but a few were rushed to hospitals with broken bones or wounds that needed stitches.
wound (verb/noun) = “woond”
= cut
stitch(es) (noun) = sew the skin to heal a cut
Ryoichi Matsubara, the director of Echizen Matsushima Aquarium in Fukui, said that the photos and videos he reviewed of some of the 2022 and 2023 attacks appeared to show the same male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.
What should be done to protect swimmers?
So far the government has…
installed underwater devices which plays a loud noise that dolphins can’t stand
put up signs and handed out flyers to warn people
set limited swimming hours at beaches so people can only swim when there’s a lifeguard
device = machine
Should the government try to kill the dolphin?