The objective of this study is to explain about the role of the recruitment agency for young people in developing countries applying emigration to Japan as the technical interns and the recruits’ work. Technical interns for Japanese agriculture are starting from local recruitment, interview selection by Japanese farmers and the Japanese accepting organization, lodging together with passed applicants mainly for learning Japanese language, and finally leaving their country for Japan. This work and preparation are supported fully by the recruitment agency with income from the accepting organization in Japan and from applying technical interns lodging together. Expenses are mainly for training camps as lodging together for learning Japanese about half a year before going to Japan. The system for emigration to Japan is complicated, requiring careful selection among applicants and substantial preparation with high costs. The recruitment agency is just the key center for this work.

This paper clarifies changes in the acceptance of foreign workers in the agricultural sector under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in the usage of systems related to immigration status, focusing on an analysis of the actual conditions of agriculture in Hokkaido, where large-scale farm management is most concentrated in Japan. With the introduction of not only the Foreign Technical Intern Training System, but also the Specified Skilled Worker System, which has made it possible to use multiple statuses of residence, Hokkaido agriculture has changed from farm production and harvesting by individual management to production area management by agricultural cooperatives. Employment opportunities for foreign workers have expanded, from staffing at collection and shipping facilities, to professional farming support personnel such as dairy farm helper user associations. As a result, there is a need for further improvement in labor management at individual management or agricultural cooperatives, and due to competition for human resources, further improvement in working conditions and living support is also required.

Sapporo Agent Co., Ltd., headquartered in Sapporo City, Hokkaido Prefecture, employs and dispatches approximately 190 Indonesian workers, mainly for agriculture in Hokkaido, based on the Specified Skilled Worker System. In this paper, I would like to discuss the challenges of hiring foreign workers from the standpoint of a temporary staffing company that has dispatched foreigners with specified skills system and provided management support, mainly in the agricultural sector in Hokkaido. In order to stably accept foreign workers, the management side is required to firstly establish a wage level that is competitive with international standards, and secondly, to improve labor management capabilities. It is necessary to make work manuals and improve the efficiency of work guidance.