Kuala Lumpur - In a manufacturing factory in Azumino, Nagano,* *surrounded by Japan’s vast mountain ranges, stood an Indonesian migrant worker waiting for his next instructions.
Working under Japan’s Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) visa, he has settled into the rhythms of the factory, carrying out his daily work with quiet familiarity.
“Wash the car, it’ll be used tomorrow,” says Mr. Suzuki (a pseudonym), the president of a metalworking company.
Mr.Suzuki’s company was founded in 1962, originally operating as a steel mill supplying construction materials.
Over time, its focus shifted with changing industrial demands.
Today, the factory specializes in steel plate cutting, bending, welding, and related fabrication work, serving clients in the local and surrounding regions, and employs around 20 workers, with 5 of them being Indonesians.
For years, Technical Intern Trainees (TITs) and SSW laborers have kept the company running.
“A Japanese worker who joined the company in April this year quit after one month, ” Mr.Suzuki recalls.
“The work simply did not suit him.”
Japan’s manufacturing sector is facing a quiet but deepening crisis.
Work once seen as the backbone of the nation has been labeled 3D (dirty, dangerous, and demanding), pushing young Japanese workers away from the factory floor.
He sighs before adding, “Without foreign labor like them, our industry would not function.”
Structural Crisis in Manufacturing
The labor shortage in Japan's manufacturing industry has been a controversial topic.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of foreign nationals working in Japan reached approximately 2.57 million as of the end of October 2025, nearly three times the level a decade earlier.
Among all industries, manufacturing is among the most dependent on foreign labor.
In industry, manufacturing accounts for 24.7% of all foreign workers, second only to the wholesale and retail sector.
From food processing to the automotive industry, foreign workers have become an indispensable presence on the front lines of Japan’s manufacturing sector.
One defining feature of foreign labor in manufacturing is the high proportion of TIT or SSW workers.
36.4 % of foreign workers in the sector are employed under the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP).
For small and medium-sized factories facing chronic labor shortages, the program has become a key channel for securing workers.
“We’ve changed the company’s name to improve its image, introduced a five-day workweek, and increased annual holidays to more than 120 days.”
”Even so, attracting younger workers remains extremely difficult,” Mr. Suzuki says, emphasising the years of struggles his company has faced.
Many young people leave their hometowns to pursue higher education and employment in major urban centers such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka, and few return.
This long-standing pattern has further hollowed out the local labor pool in regional manufacturing towns.
At the same time, manufacturing continues to be defined by so-called “3D jobs”, work that many young Japanese are increasingly unwilling to take on.
As large corporations absorb much of the remaining domestic talent, small and medium-sized manufacturers are left with few options.
In this context, foreign workers are no longer merely supplementing Japan’s manufacturing workforce.
They are increasingly replacing it, stepping into roles once filled by domestic workers and sustaining production lines that would otherwise fall silent.
What is Showa-Style Work?
Labor shortages alone do not explain what is occurring on factory floors today.
To understand why foreign workers are now sustaining these workplaces, it is necessary to look at the culture that governs them.
The manufacturing industry once formed the backbone of Japan's postwar economic rise.
However, perceptions of factory work began to shift as society grew, weathering from the late bubble era onward.
Physical labor in manufacturing gradually came to be labeled as 3D work, particularly among young generations.
As this shows, the view of work that continues to shape Japan’s manufacturing floors today was formed during the country’s period of rapid economic growth from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, within the broader Showa era (1926-1989).
It emphasizes long working hours, strict hierarchical structures, patience, excessive workloads, and strong organizational loyalty.
Sociological research has also pointed out that historical and cultural contexts have shaped Japanese views on work, and that characteristics have remained deeply embedded throughout the postwar period.
Currently, this showa-style work is sometimes criticized as “black”, which many young people note and avoid during job hunting.
Although many companies have attempted to reform their work environments, the image remains rooted.
When Does Culture Turn into Exploitation?
Since younger generations have left those positions, foreign workers have taken over.
Against the backdrop of chronic labor shortages, Japan has expanded programs such as the TITP and the SSW system.
In sectors such as manufacturing and construction, where securing domestic workers has become increasingly difficult, these schemes have become key sources of labor.
At the same time, the TITP in particular has long been criticized internationally as a form of “modern-day slavery,” due to structural features of the system.
Restrictions on job mobility and the power imbalance between employers and trainees have made it easier for interns to find themselves in vulnerable positions.
One factor behind these problems may lie in the compatibility between the system and the Showa-style work culture.
Practices that were once considered normal forms of workplace discipline during the Showa era, such as shouting, harsh reprimands, or even physical punishment, are now widely recognized as harassment.
For many Japanese workers who have spent years within the same workplace culture, such methods may still be perceived as familiar or acceptable forms of instruction.
For foreign workers, however, these communication styles are often challenging to understand and interpret, creating an environment that can be deeply stressful and alienating.
For technical intern trainees in particular, whose legal and institutional position is inherently weak, the combination of Showa-style “strict guidance” and limited avenues for escape risks turning cultural norms into harsh working conditions.
Together, these factors suggest one way to understand how labor shortages, institutional design, and workplace culture intersect.
A Showa-Era Manager in A Changing System
Mr.Suzuki is one of the business leaders who built during the Showa era. He has been making an effort to understand his employees' cultural differences and the shift in working styles, and to reform the work environment.
He completely rejects the common perception that foreigners are cheap labor.
In reality, they are often paid higher hourly wages than Japanese workers, and companies also incur substantial costs, including union dues and rent subsidies.
Nevertheless, he says, “they are accepted because they are highly motivated and eager to work overtime and learn skills, making them essential for maintaining production”.
He respects and appreciates them.
“Of course, daily work attitudes and performance are properly evaluated and reflected in wages,” he said.
“We are strict during work, but I believe it is essential to build a relationship in which that strictness is communicated in a constructive and meaningful way.”
Because people like Mr. Suzuki have witnessed intergenerational shifts up close, some choose to actively change their workplaces rather than resist the tide.
The Gap between Traditional Showa-Era Work Values and Modern Ways of Working
In Japan, much harshness has been justified under the guise of “culture”. Strictness has been recognized as essential for professional growth, and patience is regarded as a virtue.
Employers are increasingly being asked to recognize that the times have changed.
Practices and behaviors that were once considered a normal part of workplace “training” are now, in many cases, subject to strict scrutiny as harassment.
In manufacturing workplaces in particular, long-standing approaches to instruction often conflict with contemporary labor and human rights standards.
At the same time, the workforce itself has changed. Many factory floors are no longer staffed primarily by Japanese workers, but by foreign workers with diverse cultural, linguistic, and professional backgrounds.
Employers must acknowledge that management styles once taken for granted may no longer be effective or appropriate in today’s increasingly international workplaces.
Foreign workers, however, face their own challenges. In unfamiliar labor environments, they are often required to judge for themselves where the line between instruction and harassment lies.
Navigating these boundaries can be especially difficult when language barriers and differences in workplace norms are present.
As Japan’s manufacturing sector becomes increasingly reliant on foreign labor, the question is no longer simply who fills labor shortages.
It concerns whether workplaces can adapt to new realities in which mutual understanding, rather than assumptions, becomes the foundation of work.
The Industry is at A Turning Point
The Japanese government is in the process of reforming the TITP into a new system, the Employment for Skill Development (ESD) program.
How far the system can address deeply rooted cultural attitudes and long-established ways of working remains a key question.
The challenges cannot be reduced to simple binaries, they involve the personal values of business leaders shaped during the Showa era, as well as the level of understanding on the part of workers themselves.
What is clear, however, is the need for a perspective that reflects the times.
Foreign workers often occupy a structurally vulnerable position within the system.
Recognizing this imbalance and strengthening mechanisms that protect their rights will be essential if the system is to function fairly in an increasingly diverse labor environment.
Finally, Mr.Suzuki said, "If Japanese society never forgets the Japanese spirit of harmony, consideration for others, and harmony, it will also lead to coexistence with foreign talent."
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