Debt of Gratitude and Subordinate Inclusion

Labor Management in the Technical Intern Training Program

Abstract

This study discusses the mechanism of subordinate inclusion of foreign technical trainees into the Japanese labor market, with special emphasis on the labor management in the Technical Intern Training Program（TITP）. Given that they are part of a separate workforce from Japanese workers, technical trainees are faced with various institutional restrictions. While the harsh realities of the traineesʼ working conditions have previously been recognized as human rights and labor violations, trainees are not necessarily managed through direct coercion and/or inhumane oppression. In light of this, this paper highlights the ideology of “debt of gratitude” incorporated into the policy and labor management. The following points will be clarified: First, pseudo-family labor relations with the employer and paternal labor management will be examined through the case studies of trainees working for family-operated businesses in remote areas. Second, the four adaptive patterns shown by trainees（i. e., to endure, return home, escape, or fight）are discussed. An analysis is conducted on how paternalistic labor management and institutional restrictions impact the traineesʼ choice of adaptive patterns. The results indicate that the logic of debt of gratitude, or “being cared for,” is present at a policy level and actual workplaces under the TITP. It is also shown that trainees are placed at the bottom of the labor market within this mechanism.