Workers are learning to bow

Workers are learning to sort garbage

Recently, a report titled "Female Textile Workers Earn a House in Three Years Working in Japan" sparked heated discussions online, and the group of female workers going to Japan has once again attracted people's attention. Can female workers going to Japan really earn so much money now? What preparations do they have to make before going to Japan? Recently, a Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned that with the depreciation of the yen and the increase in China's labor costs, the attractiveness of working in Japan is declining, and the quality of workers recruited by intermediary companies is also declining. According to a staff member of a Japanese labor dispatch company, the current training of workers going to Japan in China mainly emphasizes Japanese social culture.

In 3 years, you can bring back 200,000

According to a Beijing Youth Daily reporter, Japan is the main country that receives Chinese workers. There are many companies that undertake labor dispatch to Japan in various parts of China, especially in the eastern region. There are many "senior companies" engaged in labor dispatch to Japan in Beijing.

Recently, the reporter contacted one of the companies. This company has been sending skilled interns to Japan since 1987, which is what we generally call migrant workers in Japan. Over the past 20 years, it has sent a total of 5,000 people, 60% of whom are female workers. These skilled interns are mainly engaged in low-end production work in Japan, distributed in various industries in Japan such as mechanical processing, aquatic product processing, electronic assembly, sewing, welding, stone processing, plastic processing, and food processing. Last year, the company sent more than 300 skilled interns. The company's staff told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that although the report said that female workers in Japan could earn a house in three years, with the decline of the Japanese exchange rate and the increase in Chinese consumption, it is now difficult to achieve this goal by working in Japan. The staff member said that at present, the monthly income of working in Japan can be guaranteed to be 120,000 yen, which is more than 6,000 yuan. On average, it can be 8,000 to 9,000 yuan a month. Of course, the income varies depending on the overtime and the nature of the work. Some people can also earn more than 10,000 yuan a month. "Generally speaking, you can bring back about 200,000 yuan in three years." Workers going to Japan are called "skill interns" in Japan. Statistics from the Japan International Research Cooperation Agency show that although Chinese skilled interns still occupy a mainstream position in Japan, their number has decreased significantly. In 2011, the number of Chinese skilled interns exceeded 380,000, and in 2014 it was only about 260,000. At the same time, the number of interns from Southeast Asian countries has increased significantly. "Originally, more than 95% of interns were Chinese, but now the proportion is less than 70%." said Mr. Zhang, the head of a worker dispatch company in Japan. Mr. Zhang said that the decline in the attractiveness of working in Japan is mainly related to the depreciation of the yen and the rise in China's labor costs. Mr. Zhang said that because working in Japan for a long time may cause pressure on the family and psychology, the salary is more attractive when it is 2.5 to 3 times the salary in China. However, currently working in China can earn 5,000 yuan or even more. The salary in Japan has not risen. On the contrary, with the depreciation of the yen, the attractiveness is decreasing.

Mr. Zhang told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that as the number of applicants for working in Japan decreases, the quality of the recruited workers is also declining. "After arriving in Japan, many things that did not happen before, such as running away midway and malicious fraud, etc." Mr. Zhang believes that in this case, training before going to Japan is even more important. "Many people may give orders to their bosses when they go abroad, which is unacceptable in Japan, so in China, we still need to emphasize the training of Japanese social culture."

How to bow in training, divided into 4 situations

Mr. Zhang's company has business contacts with a training school for workers going to Japan in Rugao City, Jiangsu Province. In this school, nearly 50 workers going to Japan are participating in "intensive training", most of whom are female workers. They will be enrolled in early March and will study Japanese and Japanese culture for three months. After that, they will fly directly to various parts of Japan to start working overseas. Most of them will work in bedding and clothing production, and some will process electronic components.

This school seems to exist independently of Chinese society, and everything is close to Japanese customs: students will change their shoes after entering the teaching building to keep the floor clean; dormitories, classrooms, and canteens are equipped with trash cans for combustible and non-combustible garbage classification; whenever students meet, they will bow to each other and say "hello" loudly.

Zhang Lianhua, 41 years old this year, is one of the students of these schools. Here, she has not studied for more than 20 years and has started her student life again. In addition to learning Japanese every day, of course, she also studies Japanese social culture, among which etiquette is the most emphasized part. The first lesson of the school term was about how to bow - 15 to 25 degrees for a general meeting, 30 degrees for a normal bow, 45 degrees for an apology, and 90 degrees for a serious problem. "Put your hands in front, right hand on top, bend your head, and the whole class stands up and bows one by one. The teacher corrects you, and those who don't do it well try again." Zhang Lianhua said. After the first lesson, bowing became a daily requirement. No matter who you meet in school, whether you know them or not, you have to bow and say hello loudly.

Li Yawen, Zhang Lianhua's head teacher, was also a female worker who went to Japan. "In Japan, people attach great importance to attitude. No matter who you meet, you have to say hello. Letting students do this is also to let them adapt to the habits in Japan in advance, and it's all for their own good." Li Yawen said that in Japan, you may not be skilled when you first go there, but the boss will like you if you are polite and will be more tolerant. In addition, workers also represent the image of the dispatch company and the Chinese.

Break through the face and make bowing a habit

"Habits become second nature" is a phrase often emphasized by school teachers, and it is also a phrase Zhang Lianhua often said to reporters during interviews. After more than a month of learning, she can naturally bow to everyone she meets, "I have to bow at least 20 to 30 times a day."

However, at first, it was difficult for Zhang Lianhua to get used to this new interpersonal relationship model. After all, in China, no one bows to each other when meeting each other, and greeting strangers on the street may be considered mentally abnormal. After the first class, the teacher asked the students to bow and greet each other after class. "I was a little embarrassed at that time and couldn't say it, and no one took it seriously. But later the teacher repeatedly emphasized that it must be done this way, and we gradually got used to it." Although it took Zhang Lianhua a while to accept it naturally, she understood this teaching method in her heart. "Since you want to go abroad, you have to learn other people's etiquette. They are different from us." Li Yawen told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that many students were as uncomfortable as Zhang Lianhua. At the beginning, they just smiled when they saw the teacher and couldn't say it. She encouraged the students to say it out loud. "When you go to Japan, you may not be able to speak the language and be nervous, so you won't be able to do it. So you develop a habit in China and say hello directly when you get there." Li Yawen said that in class, for some older and embarrassed students, she would tell them, "You all have sons, and you will have grandchildren to take care of in the future. If you are polite, you will teach by example, and your grandchildren will also be praised." Generally, after one or two weeks to one month, students have formed the habit of bowing and greeting when they meet.

One word, filled up the whole page

Although Zhang Lianhua encountered some resistance in adapting to etiquette, learning was not difficult for her. In fact, she only graduated from junior high school and had never learned foreign languages. However, after daily morning reading, listening to lectures in class, and reviewing after class, she basically maintained a score of more than 95 in every exam. "At the beginning, I was also worried about whether I could learn it, but it was not very difficult to learn it." Zhang Lianhua said.

Zhang Lianhua's performance made Qin Lin, who is nearly 10 years younger than her, very envious. Compared with the classmates in the class who are 18 or 19 years old, Qin Lin is already an "old man". "My memory is not as good as theirs, and I don't learn so smoothly. I often can't remember what I learned today tomorrow. I have to think for a long time when writing words." There are more than 20 people in the class. Many of them can get more than 90 points in the exam, and Qin Lin is almost at the level of just passing. "I still have to study hard." Usually after 6:30 in the evening, many young students can relax and rest, but Qin Lin will continue to study in the classroom until 9 o'clock, and read books after returning to the dormitory. In the eyes of her classmates, she belongs to the kind of "older, very hard-working person."

Mr. Zhang, the head of a dispatch company for workers going to Japan, told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that when visiting schools, he often saw many female workers who wrote a word on a whole page, but still couldn't remember it, which made people who saw it anxious. It may be because they haven't studied for too long and don't have a good learning method. After all, most female workers have limited academic qualifications. "In order to remember words, they are also very hard."

Seeing poverty, understanding workers going to Japan

Among the female workers going to Japan, in addition to junior high school graduates such as Zhang Lianhua and Qin Lin, there are also real undergraduates. 25-year-old Zhang Wenjia graduated from a normal college in Jiangsu. After graduating from undergraduate school, she worked in a Japanese company doing computer-related work. After getting married and pregnant, she found that the fetus had congenital heart disease and had to have an induced abortion. She suspected that the child's disease was related to work, so she chose to resign. After getting pregnant again and giving birth to a healthy child, Zhang Wenjia's mother-in-law suggested that she take care of the child while she went to work in Japan. Zhang Wenjia said that after all, she was born in the countryside and it was impossible for her to study abroad. She went to Japan to work for three years, just as her mother-in-law said, "While you are young, you can make money, gain experience, and learn Japanese, so you can be competitive when you come back to find a job."

For these girls from poor families, it is not realistic to come up with money to travel abroad in a short period of time. Mr. Zhang, the head of the worker dispatch company to Japan, said that many people do not understand "why Chinese people have to work hard for the Japanese", but when he visited some workers at home and saw the poverty of their families, he naturally understood why these women workers chose to go abroad.

Zhang Wenjia's classmate Fan Xiaofang did some calculations for going abroad. "I heard that some people went abroad to work, played golf, ate, drank, and had fun, and went sightseeing during their breaks. They saved 200,000 yuan in three years." Xiaofang, who is determined to save money, calculated that according to the current exchange rate, if she doesn't spend money recklessly, she can save 280,000 to 290,000 yuan. In China, she and her husband only earn 10,000 yuan a month. "Before I turn 30, I want to go out and try my luck, see more, learn some things, and use the money I earn to pay a down payment for a house, or to start a small business in the future."

(All names in the article are pseudonyms at the request of the interviewee)

News memory

Female textile worker earns a house by working in Japan for three years

Last month, a piece of news titled "Female textile worker earns a house by working in Japan for three years" was hotly discussed on the Internet. The news said that Ms. Ma from Shaanxi started working in Japan from 1999 to 2002. During the three years, she worked more than 10 hours a day and spent 5 hours learning Japanese. After returning to China, she brought back 220,000 yuan at one time, which was enough to buy a house in Xi'an at that time. If she had continued to work in Xi'an, it might take her 30 years to earn this money. This 220,000 yuan also became her first pot of gold in life.

After returning to China, she immediately bought a house with 90,000 yuan, and used the rest of the money for financial management. "I caught up with the big bull market in 2007, speculating in foreign exchange and stocks. In 2013, I bought another house," she told the media. Ms. Ma is now a Japanese training teacher at a human resources company. "The biggest gain from going abroad is that my life trajectory has changed because of it," said Ms. Ma. This group of articles/Reporter Zhao Jingshu

Pictures and clues provided by/Ms. Zhao

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