Movie spotlights Vietnamese non permanent staff’ plight in Japan

When director Akio Fujimoto’s “Alongside the Sea” reaches theaters nationwide subsequent spring, he hopes the plight of Vietnamese non permanent staff depicted within the movie will present the exploitative actuality their like face in Japan at instances.

A co-production with a Vietnamese movie firm, the film follows three younger girls from Vietnam who arrive in Japan to work as technical interns. The trio flees harsh employment situations and is pressured to confront new challenges as undocumented staff in a small coastal city.

Whereas the plot is fictional, the ladies’s conditions are all too actual in Japan, the place lately the government-sponsored technical intern program has come beneath hearth from critics for being little greater than a canopy for corporations to import low cost labor.

Thus, Japanese director Fujimoto paid explicit consideration to delivering a nuanced portrayal of the characters, in search of out knowledgeable recommendation to make the movie as sensible as doable to indicate their experiences, good and dangerous.

“As there are folks similar to the characters within the movie, I wished to ensure it sticks to the information in order that when technical interns and anxious folks see it, they don’t really feel that it’s out of contact from actuality,” mentioned the 32-year-old filmmaker.

In sure circumstances, some Vietnamese technical trainees incur bills of 1 million yen ($9,700) or extra for charges together with commissions for brokers earlier than they arrive in Japan. As soon as on the bottom, they need to work to repay their money owed earlier than beginning to earn cash to avoid wasting, supporters say.

Jiho Yoshimizu, head of a help group for Vietnamese staff, mentioned this system’s issues are tough to resolve as a result of Vietnamese concerned have a tendency to not complain to authorities or attempt to repair their very own issues.

“Some corporations certainly have a look at technical interns merely as low cost labor, not as human beings,” Yoshimizu mentioned, including she had dealt with circumstances associated to their considerations, together with in the event that they develop into pregnant.

Fujimoto mentioned he was contacted on-line a number of years in the past by a technical intern who sought assist for unfair remedy, and though he ultimately misplaced contact together with her, the expertise turned ingrained in his reminiscence.

Photograph reveals screenshot of Akio Fujimoto, director of “Alongside the Sea,” throughout a web-based interview on Nov. 4, 2020. (Kyodo)

He had additionally heard of stories stories of technical interns unable to work after changing into pregnant. Those that refuse to return house usually keep on and find yourself residing illegally. Fujimoto turned involved in understanding how they cope in such conditions so he may convey their tales in movie.

He mentioned he feels it a “subject near my coronary heart,” on condition that his spouse can be a international nationwide they usually have a toddler collectively.

Within the movie, the interns speak about having needed to work 15-hour days with little compensation.

The technical intern program, which started in 1993, is geared toward selling worldwide cooperation by transferring abilities and data in Japanese industries to growing nations. It permits interns to work for as much as 5 years in designated fields.

Critics have cited lengthy working hours, low pay, and never being allowed to switch jobs as being behind hundreds of technical interns deciding to depart their jobs and disappear into the group.

As of the top of final yr, the variety of technical interns, largely from different Asian nations, totaled 410,000, with Vietnamese accounting for the biggest group, Immigration Providers Company knowledge confirmed.

Yoshimizu mentioned there are various experiencing difficult conditions and urged additional safety for these within the nation by way of this system, akin to making certain honest phrases of employment and permitting them to alter jobs.

Fujimoto is not any stranger to tackling international group points by way of movie. It’s his second feature-length movie depicting challenges impacting foreigners in Japan following the “Passage of Life” a couple of Myanmar household looking for its place.

“Alongside the Sea” was proven for the primary time in Asia on the 33rd Tokyo Worldwide Movie Competition which resulted in early November. Its world premiere was in September on the San Sebastian Movie Competition in Spain and it was just lately featured on the Cairo Worldwide Movie Competition in Egypt.

He mentioned he felt the characters’ ache within the movie struck a chord in Spain, a rustic like many others in southern Europe through which there are massive immigrant communities.

Filmed for a couple of month in a coastal city in Aomori Prefecture, “Alongside the Sea” captures the darkish, lonely however stunning, snowy panorama and the loneliness felt by one of many characters, stunningly depicted in a single scene when a personality walks alongside a rail line heading for a checkup at hospital.

However Fujimoto mentioned he didn’t wish to paint a wholly bleak image, interspersing the movie with heartwarming scenes that confirmed the ladies taking a respite from their every day toil.

His movie comes at a time Japan is seeing growing numbers of international residents, which means it appeals to extra than simply these concerned within the intern program.

“The movie doesn’t cater solely to Vietnamese. It goes out to Japanese folks, in addition to Thai, Indonesia, Nepalese (and different nationals),” Fujimoto mentioned.

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