Report on Fieldwork in Japan
27.06.2009 - 13.09.2009
From June 27th until September 13th 2009 I stayed in Japan to conduct field research for my thesis: “Japan's »guest workers« and civil society – The debate and the political process of the Industrial Training Program and Technical Internship Program between technology transfer and exploitation”.
During the time in Tokyo I collected textual sources, conducted interviews and undertook field research in form of participant observation. I further visited the cities of Fukui and Osaka to do interviews.
In Tokyo my sources for gathering literature have been the Main University Library and the Library of Law on the Hongo-Campus of Tokyo University, the National Diet Library and the Library of Waseda University.
The literature published by the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization (JITCO) I obtained directly from JITCO at their main office in Hamamatsu-Cho, Tokyo.
I attended two meetings and the annual general assembly of the Advocacy Network for Foreign Trainees in Ueno, and conducted interviews with two of their members in Tokyo, one in Fukui and one in Osaka.
I attended a meeting of the working group on the trainee problem within the National Bar Association of Japan, and conducted interviews with two lawyers.
I also attended a consultation held between a workers union and an employer of a technical intern from china held at the labour standards commission at the Metropolitan Government of Tokyo.
I met and talked to Professor of Law Seigo Hirowatari at Meiji University, Tokyo, who is an expert of German and Japanese Law and Professor of Sociology Chieko Kamibayashi at Hosei University, Tokyo, who deals with the Industrial Training and technical Internship Programm from the viewpoint of political deliberation between business and political authorities.
I further conducted an interview with a manager of a cooperative that recruits trainees from an Asian country and dispatches them to numerous companies in the metropolitan area of Tokyo.