Six Myanmar nationals aged 19 to 30, men and women, held a press conference in Sapporo on the 21st to say they had been beaten and verbally abused almost daily at a farm in Hokkaido, and that women among them had been sexually harassed. They had been taken in by the Sapporo regional labour union, which had approached the agricultural company the day before with two demands: stop the violence and abuse against foreign workers immediately, and pay the unpaid wages in full. The union says it also passed information to the immigration agency.
They had arrived on the specified-skilled-worker visa, category one, and started at the farm between May and July. Asahi reports they were struck repeatedly with sticks and open hands by people connected to the farm. Through an interpreter one of them said they were hit on the head and shouted at day after day. Another began by saying that until he left Myanmar his days had been full of hope. The phrase that gave the Japanese coverage its headline was simpler: they had thought Japan was a very good country, and that the people at the company would be good people too.
The farm is in Kyogoku, in the Shiribeshi district — a town better known for the spring water that comes off Mount Yotei. Hokkaido Shimbun reports it has seen video that appears to show a person connected to the farm grabbing another Myanmar worker by the collar.
The complaint has since moved. On the 21st, Asahi reported that one of the six had been injured and intended to file a criminal complaint for assault. 弁護士ドットコム reports that on 24 August the man who says he was assaulted submitted that complaint to police. The group is also asking the company that runs the farm to come to collective bargaining, improve conditions and apologise.
The company has not answered. Asahi records that as of half past eight on the evening of the 21st it had said it would call back and had not done so.
Why it is on the board
Third on the Japanese reading list when we collected, carried by 弁護士ドットコム. Above it sit a Bangladeshi court's death sentence, carried by the Japanese edition of a Korean newspaper, and an item about a television personality's new office.
Which outlet is carrying it is itself the fact worth noting. The story is on the list through a legal-news site, and the two other accounts we found are a national paper's report from the press conference and the regional paper that has the video. The outlets that ordinarily set the Japanese most-read list are not on it.
확인: 弁護士ドットコムニュース · 朝日新聞 · 北海道新聞