By Ari Hirayama, The Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
To prevent tragedies involving pregnant foreign technical trainees in Japan, a nonprofit organization is informing interns about truths, falsehoods and where they can turn should they become expectant mothers here.
Pregnancy in a foreign country often induces anxiety, and this is especially true for technical trainees, who work in Japan’s notorious intern program. The system has long been criticized for exploiting vulnerable foreigners, including using them as cheap labor for undesirable or dangerous jobs.
During an online class held by the nonprofit Mother’s Tree Japan in early July, executive director Tomomi Tsubonoya told Vietnamese technical trainees, “If you find out you are pregnant, don’t run away. Please talk to the relevant organizations or us.” Around 40 men and women in their early twenties who were about to come to Japan listened intently through an interpreter. The Tokyo-based nonprofit started these online classes free of charge this past summer.
“Giving birth in Japan and raising a child until they are one year of age would cost around 1.1 million yen ($7,500),” Tsubonoya said. She also told the technical trainees how to use birth control and where to obtain morning-after pills. “I want you to build your life while cherishing it,” she concluded.
Tsubonoya, 51, started Mother’s Tree Japan three years ago to support foreign women before and after childbirth. The organization offers online consultations in six languages and holds Japanese classes that teach childbirth and parenting-related terms. After learning that a growing number of trainees feel isolated in the country, the organization shifted its focus to supporting technical trainees who are about to enter Japan.
Tragic incidents involving young pregnant trainees have been reported across Japan. In June 2023, a 19-year-old Vietnamese trainee was indicted on charges of abandoning her newborn in a vacant lot in Hiroshima Prefecture. A month earlier, a 21-year-old Vietnamese trainee was arrested on suspicion of abandoning her baby with the umbilical cord still attached in Hyogo Prefecture.
Queries received by Mother’s Tree include, “Will a trainee be fired if they get pregnant?” Terminating employment due to pregnancy and childbirth is prohibited under Japan’s Equal Employment Opportunity Law, which also applies to technical trainees. However, a survey conducted by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan last year showed that a quarter of trainees were told by their dispatching organizations or training facilities to return to their home countries if they became pregnant.
The organization also received a report about a pregnant woman who couldn’t speak Japanese being turned away by doctors, who said they didn’t have the time to deal with her.
“Being pregnant in a country with a different language, customs and religion is already stressful,” Tsubonoya said. “Trainees are isolated with no relatives to rely on, and they cannot even receive a medical check-up.”
She thought it was important to inform trainees about the Japanese system before they came to the country. The classes are held monthly in collaboration with another nonprofit that teaches Japanese to trainees. They aim to expand such learning opportunities by collaborating with dispatching organizations in Indonesia and Myanmar.
The Japanese government is considering abolishing the program and replacing it with a new system. “Even if the current program is abolished, foreign women coming to work in Japan will face the same problems with pregnancy and childbirth,” Tsubonoya says. “Measures by the central and local governments are urgently needed.”
