News Katsuobushi producers rely on foreign workforce for survival

[thomas]

Please, someone, tell Sanseito and Ms Takaichi:

If not for the presence of migrant workers, one of the foundations of traditional Japanese cooking could soon be at risk. Dried bonito flakes, the source of the deep umami flavour in dashi broth, face an uncertain future as Japan's labour shortage worsens. Industry figures stress that foreign workers have become indispensable to maintaining the production and processing of katsuobushi. In the western Pacific, some 3,000 kilometres south of Tokyo, a subsidiary of fisheries giant Nissui Corp. runs two large purse seine vessels. Each voyage lasts approximately 25 days, during which crews haul in hundreds of thousands of bonito. On one ship, nearly half of the 30 crew members come from overseas, particularly Indonesia, Kiribati and Micronesia.

Almost half of the 30 men working on one of the vessels were said to have come from Indonesia, Kiribati and Micronesia. It was explained that Kyowa Fishery Co. makes use of a government-approved scheme that allows foreign nationals to work on Japanese boats through agreements with overseas companies. The initiative was intended to relieve labour shortages in the fishing sector while also addressing the steadily ageing domestic workforce. Reports noted that on board the ships, support was provided in practical ways: signs were posted in eight languages, and pork-free meals were prepared to accommodate Muslim crew members from Indonesia. According to Yoshinao Naitō, who oversees Kyowa's purse seine operations abroad, the industry could no longer manage without these younger and physically capable foreign workers, given the rapid decline in Japan's own fishing labour force.

Anticipating it would eventually face a labour shortage, the company began accepting trainees from China around 2010. But as wages rose in China and job opportunities in Tokyo became more attractive, applicants dwindled, prompting a shift to Vietnam and Indonesia. "We still have a higher ratio of Japanese workers compared to other companies," Kunisawa said. "Some manufacturers rely on foreign labour for more than half of their workforce. If the workers left, their production could drop by half." One trainee, a 24-year-old woman from Indonesia, is paid 165,000 yen ($1,100) monthly in her first year. "It's significantly more than the 20,000 to 30,000 yen I could earn back home," she said.

Foreign workers key to survival of plants producing katsuobushi | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

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