Myanmar workers on Specified Skilled Worker visas fled a farming company in Kyogoku, Hokkaido and, with a labor union, are pursuing a criminal complaint over alleged violence and sexual harassment. Online, the anger widened from the accused into a condemnation of Japan's foreign-labor system.
Saitama police re-arrested a Vietnamese former technical intern with no residence status over the death of a 91-year-old woman. Alongside a report that 18.6% of foreign workers left Japan without paying resident tax, plus a Sri Lankan stabbing case and a fraud arrest in Osaka, frustration over the foreign-labor system and public safety boiled over.
Japan moved to tighten permanent-residency requirements just as a court backed a pregnant technical intern, and boards debated whether the state is finally enforcing fair rules or driving away the workers it needs.