Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

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Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Foreign employees at Lawson claim unfair treatment such as forced sushi and Christmas cake purchases
Aug. 7 06:30 am JST 70 Comments
By SoraNews24
TOKYO
For quite some time now the number of foreign-born employees at places such as convenience stores has been steadily rising. I kind of like it, because I tend to feel a lot less self-conscious about my own Japanese when speaking to a clerk whose first language also isn’t Japanese.

But for employers, many of whom are deeply accustomed to the homogenous culture of Japan, it means a greater understanding of diversity is needed. This is something that convenience store chain Lawson is getting an education in, from a group of 10 employees originally from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

They are all employed at Lawson stores in Saitama Prefecture through a work placement service and requested collective bargaining with the chain to renegotiate the terms of their employment on August 1 at the Lawson corporate headquarters in Tokyo.

During the meeting they aired several grievances with their current employment system, such as not having transportation expenses covered and being forced to buy seasonal products from their own store like ehomaki sushi rolls and Christmas cakes.

They say that in some cases they weren’t even able to eat the things they were required to buy, for reasons such as religious dietary restrictions. “I threw away most of the things they made me buy,” said one Hindu employee from Bangladesh.

In fairness, some people here might be oblivious to the inherent wrongness of making a Muslim or Hindu buy a Christmas cake.

While there was some grumbling among online comments suggesting employees should just quit their job if they don’t like the conditions, most agreed that companies making their employees buy their own products, especially when it goes against their beliefs, is a policy that ought to be changed.

“Japanese people would just silently take it and bottle up their anger, but foreigners band together and demand better. Good for them!”
https://japantoday.com/category/busines ... -purchases
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kiwikiwon
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Re: Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

Post by kiwikiwon »

I assume it was probably a younger person who commented that most Japanese would just silently take it and bottle up their anger - in my experience middle-aged to older Japanese people are quite disapproving of anyone, ESPECIALLY a non-White foreigner, steps out of line, even for pretty innocuous, random things. Not having transportation costs covered seems like a stretch for a complaint unless it was specifically stipulated in their contracts but being forced to buy products? Lawson seems to be doing fine so surprised they would be so fiendish.
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Re: Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

Post by SlowJoe »

^^^Probably has a lot to do with people complaining about being in a foreign country and then needing to adapt to foreign circumstances.

You want to hold your religious beliefs? Stay in your country where others believe the same. If you want the money and pay from a foreign country, then accept you're going to need to fit in and make some changes to your lifestyle.

It's not about the "innocuous" things, it's about the attitude of wanting your cake and eating it too, and I'll agree with you, Japanese have zero tolerance for that kind of thing.

No one who works for Lawson's is given travel reimbursement, especially a non Japanese educated clerk. Japan already has some of the most easily accessible public transit, easy to navigate roads on foot, bicycle or moped, ultra efficient electric bicycles for not too much money, safe roads at all times of the day, and virtually no vehicle theft (especially bicycles or cheap mopeds).

If they're still complaining, they're going to find themselves very quickly shipped back to where they came from. I've seen it happen before.
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Re: Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

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kiwikiwon wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 1:45 am Not having transportation costs covered seems like a stretch for a complaint unless it was specifically stipulated in their contracts but being forced to buy products? Lawson seems to be doing fine so surprised they would be so fiendish.
A Japanese company providing a transportation allowance is the norm here. It can depend on the contract the employee has and I believe many of the non-educated visas for foreign workers do not provide transportation costs. My Brazilian friends who work in factories don't get it, but English teachers do.

Companies pushing employees to buy their products is not the norm, but I have heard of it happening behind the scenes. An ex-GF had to buy overpriced cookies from the jewelry store she worked at. There was an employee ranking and managers would pressure her to buy the cookies every month. (I ended up eating a lot of them.)

I live in an urban area and have seen a lot of South Asians at the convenience stores.
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Re: Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

Post by newkidontheblock »

At least no articles of Khmer workers freezing to death in farm shacks in Japan. Better working conditions.
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Re: Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

Post by kiwikiwon »

Big Daikon wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:40 am
kiwikiwon wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 1:45 am Not having transportation costs covered seems like a stretch for a complaint unless it was specifically stipulated in their contracts but being forced to buy products? Lawson seems to be doing fine so surprised they would be so fiendish.
A Japanese company providing a transportation allowance is the norm here. It can depend on the contract the employee has and I believe many of the non-educated visas for foreign workers do not provide transportation costs. My Brazilian friends who work in factories don't get it, but English teachers do.

Companies pushing employees to buy their products is not the norm, but I have heard of it happening behind the scenes. An ex-GF had to buy overpriced cookies from the jewelry store she worked at. There was an employee ranking and managers would pressure her to buy the cookies every month. (I ended up eating a lot of them.)

I live in an urban area and have seen a lot of South Asians at the convenience stores.
I lived in Takadanobaba and would also often see South Asian workers at the convenience stores. There was definitely a palpable sense of them being harried, particularly by their Japanese co-workers. It was uncomfortable.
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Re: Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

Post by techietraveller84 »

Yeah this was called the "company store" about a hundred years ago in the US and it was pretty much made illegal from what I understand.
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Re: Foreign Workers in Japan Protest at Forced Sushi Buying

Post by Big Daikon »

kiwikiwon wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 10:44 am
Big Daikon wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:40 am
kiwikiwon wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 1:45 am Not having transportation costs covered seems like a stretch for a complaint unless it was specifically stipulated in their contracts but being forced to buy products? Lawson seems to be doing fine so surprised they would be so fiendish.
A Japanese company providing a transportation allowance is the norm here. It can depend on the contract the employee has and I believe many of the non-educated visas for foreign workers do not provide transportation costs. My Brazilian friends who work in factories don't get it, but English teachers do.

Companies pushing employees to buy their products is not the norm, but I have heard of it happening behind the scenes. An ex-GF had to buy overpriced cookies from the jewelry store she worked at. There was an employee ranking and managers would pressure her to buy the cookies every month. (I ended up eating a lot of them.)

I live in an urban area and have seen a lot of South Asians at the convenience stores.
I lived in Takadanobaba and would also often see South Asian workers at the convenience stores. There was definitely a palpable sense of them being harried, particularly by their Japanese co-workers. It was uncomfortable.
I have not witnessed anything like that. I can imagine the culture clash, though.
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