Japanese firm to attract Vietnamese workers via football
Japanese electronic device maker Lion Power is tapping into football’s popularity in Vietnam as a way to recruit technical trainees amid a labour shortage in Japan, reported the Asian Nikkei Review.
Lion Power President Keishiro Takase (L) at a training session the company's football team (Photo: Asian Nikkei Review)
Hanoi (VNA) – Japaneseelectronic device maker Lion Power is tapping into football’s popularity inVietnam as a way to recruit technical trainees amid a labour shortage in Japan,reported the Asian Nikkei Review.
The company, based in the coastal city ofKomatsu in Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture, will take in three Vietnamese technicaltrainees with football experience in April 2021. A local recruiting agency willscout prospects at schools and clubs who will be selected for trials.
They will play for LionPower Komatsu, ateam of company workers formed in 2003.
Lion Power President Keishiro Takase, whoonce served as the head coach of the J-League team Shonan Bellmare, will doubleas team manager.
Off the field, the Vietnamese workers willmostly focus on assembling circuit boards. Highly skilled employees willreceive a special work visa granting residency of up to five years.
Lion Power said it is considering paying traineeson a par with permanent workers or above, depending on their performance.
Lion Power launched its football recruitmentprogramme amid a nationwide surge in defections of foreign technical trainees.A total of 9,052 workers left in 2018, equating to roughly 2 percent of alltrainees and nearly double the desertions in 2014.
The chance to play football is expected toassist in communication and help the workers learn Japanese quickly, thusmaintaining motivation to stay on the job. The players will also have theopportunity to play in a prefectural league through slots granted toforeigners.
Vietnam has gained attention due to thegrowing popularity of football within its borders. The fandom soared to itspeak last year when Vietnam's U22 team won the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAGames).
The Vietnam Football Federation and the JapanFootball Association have shared know-how and engaged in other exchanges underan agreement signed in 2018./.
Japan’s authorities have withdrawn the operation licences of two Japanese organisations in charge of receiving foreign technical trainees after finding that they had illegally negotiated with Vietnamese agencies sending trainees to Japan.
Vietnam now ranks second in the number of employees working in Japan, according to the latest statistics of Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
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Vietnamese people account for 55 percent of the foreign workers who are granted visa under Japan’s new policy adopted from April 1, 2019, according to the Immigration Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Justice.
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Lion Power President Keishiro Takase (L) at a training session the company's football team (Photo: Asian Nikkei Review) 
