"Foreigners working at convenience stores" complain about the "horrible reality" - some are heavily in debt (Japanese)

Foreigners are busy working at convenience stores in every store. Why do they leave their home countries and work at stores in a foreign land?

Although we may refer to them all as "immigrants," there are 29 different types of foreigners in Japan. They are staying in Japan with various "resident statuses," such as "technical intern training" or "short-term stay" for tourism purposes.

Of this wide variety of immigrants, the most familiar to us are probably "foreigners working at convenience stores." Where do they come from? And why do they suddenly disappear without us even noticing?

Nowadays, convenience stores cannot function without foreigners. The big four companies (Seven-Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, and Ministop) have around 54,000 stores nationwide, with over 80,000 foreign employees. They account for 10% of all part-time workers, and the number is still on the rise.

In fact, over 70% of these foreign part-time workers are "international students" attending Japanese language schools or universities.

Incidentally, technical intern trainees are not allowed to work at convenience stores. The purpose of the technical intern training system is for trainees to bring Japanese skills back to their home countries and put them to good use. Convenience store work is considered "simple labor" in Japan, so it is not allowed.