I was fooled, but I was saved February 4, 17:37

"I was fooled by the company, but the farmers were saved."

An incident occurred in a rural area of ​​Nagano prefecture last fall.

It is alleged that a broker illegally sent a large number of Vietnamese to work in a farmhouse.

This is what a farmer tweeted as he continued to interview.

I interviewed what is behind the words.

(Nagano Broadcasting Station reporter Yumana Mase Yuki Shinoda)

Behind the Vietnamese fight ...?

In late September last year, a Vietnamese man was injured in Minamimaki Village in the eastern part of Nagano Prefecture.

According to police announcements, the two were colleagues engaged in farm work at the same farmhouse, and were arrested and charged with stabbing the other's belly with a kitchen knife or hitting with a bat, starting with a fight.

As I was interviewing, there was information that "three other Vietnamese who lived together will also be arrested on suspicion of illegal employment."

However, I didn't know the details at this point.

In addition, there was information about this incident that "the police are investigating a broker sending a large number of Vietnamese."

First of all, I decided to go to the site of Minamimaki Village to see what was happening.

Village with only foreigners

Minamimaki Village is about a two-hour drive southeast of the center of Nagano City.

It is located at the foot of Mt. Yatsugatake, and the fields are endless.

And when you enter the village, you can see many foreigners.

Foreigners also stand out among those who walk, ride bicycles, and farm in the fields.

Agriculture is the reason why there are so many foreigners in this small village.

"Foreigners are a valuable labor force," the

villager explained.

The Saku area of ​​Nagano prefecture, where Minamimaki village is located, is one of the leading producers of leafy vegetables such as lettuce and Chinese cabbage in Japan, and is also called the "kitchen" that supports Japanese dining tables.

Since the harvest of leafy vegetables is not yet mechanized, the harvest is still done manually, and it is said that the number of workers is directly linked to the yield.

It is said that a large amount of manpower is required for harvesting.

On the other hand, the harvesting work is hard work, so it is difficult for Japanese workers to gather, and we have to rely on foreigners, that is, technical intern trainees.

Many foreigners at the foot of Yatsugatake

In fact, I tried to find out how many foreigners live in the village.

This is data from a while ago, but in the 2015 census ...

The total population of Minamimaki Village is 3,408.

Of these, 428 are foreign nationals.

The ratio is 12.56%.

In other words, more than 1 in 10 were foreigners.

Comparing local governments nationwide, the percentage of foreigners is the fourth highest.

By the way, the top 5 cities, wards, towns and villages are as follows.

1. 1.

Nagano Kawakami Village 15.76%

2.

Gunma Oizumi Town 14.64%

3.

Ikuno-ku, Osaka 12.58%

4.

Nagano Minamimaki Village 12.56%

5.

Shinjuku-ku

, Tokyo

9.15%

Minamimaki Village has a higher percentage of foreigners than Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo.

In addition, Kawakami Village, which is next to the east, is in first place.

The village is larger than Minamimaki Village, and the production of leafy vegetables is also thriving.

At the foot of Yatsugatake, there is an area with a high proportion of foreigners, which is one of the highest in the country.

According to data from Nagano Prefecture, the number of technical intern trainees in the prefecture increased from 2201 in 2010 to 6987 in 2019.

Nearly half of them are 3,325, and the number has increased more than 20 times in 10 years.

What we can see from the data is that the local production areas suffering from labor shortages are "dependent" on foreigners.

Many Vietnamese in the background

How did the Vietnamese involved in the incident come to the village?

The clue was an announcement by the police in late October last year.

It is said that three employees of a company in Osaka were arrested on suspicion of violating the Employment Security Law.

It is a company that was informed that the police were investigating from the beginning.

The alleged allegedly had three Vietnamese working illegally at a farmhouse in Minamimaki Village for more than three months since June last year.

The three Vietnamese employees were working in late September last year when they were informed that they would be arrested on suspicion of illegal employment.

When I looked up the company, it was written on the homepage as follows.

It was also written that

"Vietnamese solve the labor shortage!" "Good news for farmers!"

Furthermore, "Everyone has a regular visa" and has a track record of sending 200 Vietnamese to Nagano prefecture.

Apparently, he was introducing Vietnamese to a farmer who was suffering from labor shortage.

However, I'm not sure about the business.

Therefore, I interviewed people involved in agriculture.

As a result, it has become clear that the company seems to be a so-called "broker" who illegally mediates Vietnamese to farmers.

According to the interview with the investigators, he was a "human resources broker".

The composition of the case is as follows.

▽ The company is looking for people who want to work through SNS etc. used by Vietnamese.

Many of them are believed to be Vietnamese who entered Japan with the qualification of technical intern trainees, but were dismissed or fled and stayed illegally.

▽ Next, I contacted the local JA to mediate these Vietnamese to farmers such as Minamimaki Village, which is in trouble due to labor shortage.

▽ JA introduces the company to farmers.

▽ Explanation to JA and farmers that "every Vietnamese has a proper status of residence".

The company seemed to have sent more than 200 Vietnamese to the Saku area, including Minamimaki and Kawakami.

Harvest crisis with the new corona

So why did the farmer introduce a Vietnamese to this company?

It seems that the new coronavirus had an effect on it.

According to Nagano Prefecture, the government's immigration restrictions and the timing of trainees coming to Japan overlapped, and it is said that about 800 trainees could not come to Japan, mainly in Minamimaki Village and Kawakami Village.

If that number of people does not come, the harvest will be greatly affected.

One farmer also said:

"Without foreigners, the yield would have been halved."

"It

would

n't be possible for the

Japanese alone." In other

words, the impact of the new corona caused a serious labor shortage that made it impossible to harvest leafy vegetables. It seems that it was a company in Osaka that appeared where I was in trouble.

The disappeared village of Vietnamese

Shortly after the employees of a company in Osaka were arrested, I was contacted by a farmer I met through an interview.

"Vietnamese are

rushing

away" When

I went to the village in a hurry, there were many Indonesians and Filipinos left, and certainly there were almost no Vietnamese.

When I asked a farmer who was accepting Vietnamese from a company in Osaka, he said that the company had terminated the contract with the farmer just before the employees were arrested and at the same time finished the settlement of the salary to the Vietnamese. I will.

Then, the Vietnamese who seemed to be afraid of being caught by illegal employment fled all at once, and most of the Vietnamese disappeared from the village.

"I don't have a job in Corona right now," said

a Vietnamese who barely heard the story.

Although he worked at an automobile-related factory in Saitama, he was forced to quit the company due to the influence of the new Corona.

So I found a job for this company on SNS.

He said his wife was Japanese and not illegally working, but it was difficult to find a job and he was worried.

On the other hand, it was the same with the local farmers who were worried.

One of the farmers said, "If technical intern trainees do not come, agriculture here will probably be ruined."

I was fooled, but I was saved

"I was fooled by the company, but it helped the

farmer,

" said

one farmer.

Through this interview, I was able to see the reality of local production areas where I had to rely on foreigners.

If a company in Osaka had a lot of Vietnamese working illegally, that would never be forgiven.

But if they weren't there, the leafy vegetables we usually eat might have had a big impact.

I had to think so.

I would like to continue to cover the reality that was struck in front of us.

Naganohosokyoku reporters

Mase YuMana

2016 joined

police and judicial representatives, through the Matsumoto branch office, currently, police and judicial cap

Nagano Broadcasting Station Reporter

Yuki Shinoda Reiwa

2nd year

police and judiciary