Article

Characteristics and Needs of Vietnamese Technical Intern

Training Candidates (Care Workers) in Japan:
A Qualitative Study
Koji Hara 1, * , Tomokazu Yamamura 1,2 , Ningyi Li 1 and Pham Thu Huong 3

1 School of Economics and Business Administration, Yokohama City University, Yokohama 236-0027, Japan;
[email protected] (T.Y.); [email protected] (N.L.)
2 Aijinkai Healthcare Corporation, Osaka 555-0034, Japan
3 The Collaboration Center for Japanese Language & Culture, Hanoi University, Hanoi, Vietnam;
[email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +81-45-787-2131

Abstract: In Japan, where the shortage of care workers poses a challenge to the sustainability of
the long-term care system, foreign care workers play a crucial role. This study aimed to identify
the needs and challenges of Vietnamese Technical Intern Training candidates, the largest group of
foreign care workers, to facilitate program reforms and a more efficient recruitment process. A
semi-structured interview survey was conducted with 27 candidates in Vietnam. Interview items
included reasons for choosing the training program in Japan, the desired length of stay, expectations,
and career advancement after returning home. Descriptive statistics and K-means clustering were
used to analyze the data. Survey results showed that all participants independently decided to
pursue care worker training in Japan; 44% had considered other countries; most wanted to stay in
Japan for as long as possible; and 37% wanted to live in Japan permanently. The K-means method
revealed three clusters: a Japanophile cluster (preferred Japan for its landscape, culture, and national
character); a word-of-mouth cluster (influenced by personal referrals); and an intellectual cluster
(influenced by Japan’s economic development and care levels). Our findings indicate that support
for obtaining qualifications, Japanese language skills, and caregiving skills are important to secure
the stability of foreign care workers. It is necessary to tailor recruitment, training, and support for
Citation: Hara, K.; Yamamura, T.; Li, each cluster.
N.; Huong, P.T. Characteristics and
Needs of Vietnamese Technical Intern
Keywords: foreign care workers; long-term care; Japan; K-means; system sustainability
Training Candidates (Care Workers)
in Japan: A Qualitative Study.
Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231. https://
doi.org/10.3390/su162411231
1. Introduction
Academic Editor: Gabriela Topa
The declining birthrates and aging population in Japan are increasing the demand for
Received: 28 October 2024 long-term care, and there is an acute shortage of care workers in the country to support this
Revised: 18 December 2024 demand. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, there were 1.9 million
Accepted: 18 December 2024 care workers in Japan in 2016, and it is estimated that 2.45 million will be required by
Published: 21 December 2024 2045 [1]. The number of care workers has increased by only 15,000 annually, raising
concerns that the workforce will decrease due to declining birthrates [2]. Therefore, in the
near future, Japan may be unable to sustain its long-term care system due to a shortage of
long-term care workers.
Copyright: © 2024 by the authors.
To address the shortage of care workers, it is essential to secure domestic human
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
resources by improving the working conditions and wages and accepting foreign care
This article is an open access article
workers. Additionally, new technologies, including information and communication tech-
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
nology and robots, must be utilized [3]. The employment of foreign care workers has been
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
expanding in Japan, with a recent survey showing that 30% of long-term care facilities are
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ staffed with foreign care workers [4].
4.0/).

Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162411231 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 2 of 11

The processes related to the acceptance of foreign care workers in Japan can be divided
into four programs: (1) the Economic Partnership Agreement, aimed at strengthening
bilateral economic partnerships; (2) the status of residence for nursing care, aimed at
accepting foreigners in professional and technical fields; (3) the Technical Intern Training
Program, aimed at transferring skills to the workers’ home countries; and (4) the Specified
Skilled Worker program, aimed at accepting foreigners with certain expertise and skills to
address labor shortages in Japan [5,6]. Of these programs, the Technical Intern Training
Program comprises the largest number of foreign care workers at 7900, with Vietnamese
workers accounting for approximately 40% of the total.
Despite these efforts, several challenges remain in recruiting foreign care workers.
Yu [7] pointed out that there are costs associated with the acceptance and employment
of foreign workers, including recruitment, training, and travel costs, and that a certain
level of Japanese language proficiency is required. Additionally, the recruitment of these
workers in Japan is affected by exchange rates and competition with other countries for
human resources [7]. According to the Japan External Trade Organization, the total number
of general workers sent abroad from Vietnam is 140,000, with Japan and Taiwan each
receiving approximately 40% and South Korea, which is also growing in popularity as a
destination for these workers, approximately 7% [8].
The Technical Intern Training program in Japan is at a major turning point. It has been
recommended that the program be revised to protect the human rights of trainees, clarify
career advancements, and create a safe, secure, and harmonious society for foreigners [9].
Much research has highlighted problems with the content of the work, treatment, and
living conditions of technical intern trainees in Japan [10–13]. Accordingly, in June 2024,
the Japanese government decided to revise the law, dissolve the Technical Intern Training
program in a developmental manner, and shift to the Employment for Skill Development
Program [14]. The purpose of the Technical Intern Training program was to contribute to the
international community through human resource development, whereas the Employment
for Skill Development Program aims to develop and secure human resources in areas where
Japan has a shortage. This change, expected to take effect within three years, is intended to
facilitate a smooth transition to a visa that permits long-term stay. Despite these efforts,
no specific date has been set for the implementation of these changes, and authorities are
currently focused on making the necessary adjustments to ensure a smooth transition.
Several studies have been conducted on Vietnamese technical trainees coming to
Japan [10,15–17]; however, few have focused on their needs, thoughts, and concerns.
Additionally, while many researchers have explored the experiences of these trainees after
their return from the Technical Intern Training program, few of these authors have examined
their situation prior to their departure. Despite the lack of research, the information that
such studies could yield may be useful for program reform and human resource recruitment.
Therefore, this study conducted an interview survey with Vietnamese Technical Intern
Training candidates, all of whom were care workers, regarding their reasons for coming
to Japan, their thoughts and concerns about the country, and their career aspirations after
returning home.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Participant Selection and Data Collection
Technical intern trainees are expected to come to Japan after receiving Japanese lan-
guage and technical training for several months at the sending agency in Vietnam. Given
that the regions and characteristics of the participants from each sending agency may
vary, this survey was conducted with recruits from three different sending agencies in
Hanoi, Vietnam.
The survey interview was conducted between January and February 2024 after ap-
proval was obtained from the Yokohama City University Ethics Committee (reference
number: 2023-18). Not many sending agencies dispatch technical intern trainees, and
those contacted for cooperation in this study all had a large number of workers and stable
Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 3 of 11

operations. Each agency was informed in advance of the study outline and interview items
and was asked to recruit voluntary participants. The recruitment of participants began
on 25 January 2024, and the interviews were completed by 29 February 2024. Participants
provided written, informed consent.
Semi-structured group discussions were conducted with 27 Vietnamese nationals
affiliated with Vietnamese sending agencies (nine from each of the three sending agencies)
and scheduled to come to Japan as technical intern trainees (care workers). Participants
were divided into groups of three, totaling nine groups, and each group was interviewed
for approximately 90 minutes by the authors.
Group interviews were employed to take advantage of group dynamics to collect
a broad range of opinions and to conduct interviews smoothly with a larger number of
participants. The interviews were conducted in the conference room of each sending agency
with the assistance of a Vietnamese interpreter. Questions were asked in Japanese and an-
swered in Vietnamese. With prior permission, the interviews were recorded, and verbatim
transcripts were prepared at a later date. The survey items are listed in Appendix A.

2.2. Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics were calculated from the data obtained from the semi-structured
group interviews. To better understand the 27 participants, clustering was performed
using the k-means method, a typical partitioning clustering method reported to be com-
putationally efficient and to fit spherically distributed data well [18]. It is also often used
in customer clustering in marketing [19,20]. In the k-means algorithm, the data are first
divided into k groups, with each data point assigned to the nearest centroid, which, in turn,
is then recalculated, and data points are reassigned iteratively. The appropriate number
of groups k in the study was determined using multiple indicators, including the elbow,
the silhouette, and gap statistic methods, as recommended for confirming the optimal
number of clusters [21,22]. The elbow method, known for its intuitive and visual approach,
is computationally efficient and helps identify the “elbow point”, which typically signifies
the optimal cluster number by showing a sharp decline in the within-cluster sum of squares.
The silhouette method evaluates the quality of clustering by measuring how similar each
data point is to its own cluster compared to other clusters, with a score ranging from −1 to 1,
where higher values indicate better clustering. The gap statistic method compares the total
within-cluster variation for different numbers of clusters with their expected values under
a null reference distribution of the data, helping identify the optimal number of clusters
by selecting the one with the largest gap. Based on the importance and variance of the
variables, the following were employed as variables for the k-means method: educational
background, having children, main reasons for choosing the Technical Intern Training
program and sending agency, other options for countries, desire to permanently live in
Japan, and willingness to take the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N1. Each
variable was set as a dummy variable of 1 or 0. While Euclidean distance is commonly
used in k-means clustering, cosine similarity was used in this study. This is because co-
sine similarity depends on the directionality, not the magnitude, of the vectors, and thus
allows for accurate clustering based on whether the elements are present [23]. All statistical
analyses were performed using R (ver. 4.2.3).

3. Results
Participant characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Most participants were female
(92.6%), their average age was 21.7 years, about half (55.6%) were high school graduates,
and 22.2% had children. There was no variation in sex or age among the sending agencies,
but there was a variation in education and parental status.
Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 4 of 11

Table 1. Participants’ characteristics.

Overall A B C
Sex Female 25 (92.6%) 9 (100%) 8 (88.9%) 8 (88.9%)
Male 2 (7.4%) 0 (0%) 1 (11.1%) 1 (11.1%)
Age 21.7 (±4.5) 22.7 (±4.7) 19.8 (±4) 22.3 (±4.9)
High school 15 (55.6%) 4 (44.4%) 9 (100%) 2 (22.2%)
Educational background Professional training college 4 (14.8%) 1 (11.1%) 0 (0%) 3 (33.3%)
University 8 (29.6%) 4 (44.4%) 0 (0%) 4 (44.4%)
Have children Yes 6 (22.2%) 3 (33.3%) 2 (22.2%) 1 (11.1%)
No 21 (77.8%) 6 (66.7%) 7 (77.8%) 8 (88.9%)
A, B, and C represent the three sending agencies.

Table 2 shows the interview survey results. More than half the participants (56%) did
not consider any other country apart from Japan. Potential destinations other than Japan
included Germany (seven participants), Taiwan (three), Korea (three), and China (one). The
reasons for choosing Japan over Germany were the better impression that participants had
of Japan, the friendly relations between Japan and Vietnam, and the greater availability
of information on Japan than on Germany. Moreover, Taiwan was chosen because of its
cultural and lifestyle similarities with Japan, although Japan remained the first choice based
on information available on the Internet and from acquaintances and relatives in Japan.
Korea was less popular because it does not offer a career for care workers.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the interview results.

Questions Options n/Average Percentage/SD

1. Whose decision was it to go to Japan? Self-determined 27 100%
Other 0 0%
2. Initially, was your family in favor of you going to Japan? Yes 20 74%
No 7 26%
3. Did you also consider countries other than Japan? Yes 12 44%
Germany 7 26%
Taiwan 3 11%
Korea 3 11%
China 1 4%
No 15 56%
4. What are your goals in Japan? JLPT: N2 19 70%
JLPT: N1 6 22%
Certified Care Worker 27 100%
5. What are your concerns in Japan? Communication 17 63%
Living environment/train 8 30%
Climate (cold) 5 19%
Disaster 3 11%
6. Do you want to live in Japan permanently? Yes 10 37%
No/Undecided 17 63%
7. What is your desired length of stay? 6.8 years ±3.1 years
8. What do you want to do when you return home? Care worker 18 67%
Care worker Teacher 5 19%
Other 4 15%
9. How much is your take-home pay in Japan per month? $1038.9 ±$31.5
10. What is your desired take-home pay per month? $1197.3 ±$122.9
JLPT, Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. This test has five levels, from N5 to N1, with N1 being the most difficult
and measuring the level at which one can understand the Japanese being used in various situations. Certified care
workers are certified nationally in Japan. 1 USD = 149 JPY.
 Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 5 of 11

Regarding career goals, 22% of the participants wanted to pass the most difficult
level (N1) of the JLPT, while all wanted to become certified care workers. However,
communication difficulties, living environment (e.g., traveling by train), cold weather,
and natural disasters were cited as areas of concern regarding Japan. Only one in three
participants wished to stay in Japan permanently; others wanted to stay for an average of
6.8 years. Many hoped to work in the long-term care industry after returning to their home
countries. The average monthly take-home pay that candidates expected to receive upon
coming to Japan was $1038.9 (±$31.5). However, their desired monthly take-home pay was
$1197.3 (±$122.9), indicating a gap of approximately $160 between the actual and ideal
monthly salaries.
The reasons for choosing Japan are illustrated in Figure 1. Approximately half of the
participants (51.9%) chose Japan because of their interest in Japanese culture (e.g., anime
Sustainability 2025, 17, x FOR PEER REVIEW
and kimonos) and scenic beauty (e.g., Mt. Fuji). Approximately 40% of the participants 6 of 12
cited personal recommendations by family and friends and the diligence and rule-abiding
nature of Japanese people, respectively, as reasons for their choice of Japan.

Figure 1. Reasons for choosing Japan.

Figure 1. Reasons for choosing Japan.
The number of clusters was determined to be three based on the average of the elbow
The number
method, of clusters
Silhouette method,was anddetermined
Gap statistic, to be three
which based
was on the average
confirmed visually of the elbow
through
plotting.Silhouette
method, The results of clustering
method, and Gapusing the K-means
statistic, which method are shown
was confirmed in Figure
visually 2 andplot-
through
ting. The results of clustering using the K-means method are shown in Figure 2 andthe
Table 3. The three clusters were named by the authors based on their characteristics: (1) Table
Japanophile cluster (red circle), (2) the word-of-mouth cluster (blue circle), and (3) the
3. The three clusters were named by the authors based on their characteristics: (1) the
intellectual cluster (orange circle) (Figure 2). These clusters differed in their characteristics
Japanophile
and reasonscluster (red circle),
for wanting to come(2)to the word-of-mouth
Japan, interests in thecluster
country, (blue
andcircle),
desiredand (3) the
length
intellectual
of stay. cluster (orange circle) (Figure 2). These clusters differed in their characteristics
The Japanophile
and reasons for wanting cluster, or those
to come whointerests
to Japan, admire Japan
in the for its scenery,
country, culture,length
and desired and of
national
stay. character, were mostly high school graduates who learned about the Technical
Intern Training program from campus briefings, had no other candidate countries besides
The Japanophile cluster, or those who admire Japan for its scenery, culture, and na-
Japan, and had little desire to live in Japan permanently.
tional character, were mostly high school graduates who learned about the Technical In-
tern Training program from campus briefings, had no other candidate countries besides
Japan, and had little desire to live in Japan permanently.
The word-of-mouth cluster consisted of those who had heard about the Technical
Intern Training program from family and friends and decided to come to Japan based on
their recommendations, some of whom wanted to live in Japan permanently.
In the intellectual cluster, half of the cluster members were university graduates who
 Sustainability 2025, 17, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 1
Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 6 of 11

32
1
0
−1
−2
−3

−3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3

Figure 2. Results
Figure of clustering
2. Results using theusing
of clustering K-means method. method.
the K-means

Table 3. Characteristics of the three clusters using the K-means method.

Table 3. Characteristics of the three clusters using the K-means method.
ClusterCluster
Name Name Japanophile
Japanophile Word-of-Mouth
Word-of-Mouth Intellectual
Intellectual
n n 10 10 9 9 8 8
High
High school school (70.0%), High school
(70.0%), High school (55.6%),
(55.6%), High schoolHigh school (37.5%),
(37.5%),
Professional training
Professional Professional
training college training training college
Professional Professional training training col-
Professional
Educational background
Educational background college (30.0%), college (33.3%), college (12.5%),
University (0%) (30.0%), University (11.1%) (33.3%), lege (12.5%),
University (50%)
University (0%) University (11.1%) University (50%)
Having children Yes (10.0%)/No (90.0%) Yes (62.5%)/No (37.5%) Yes (0%)/No (100%)
Having children Yes (10.0%)/No (90.0%) Yes (62.5%)/No (37.5%) Yes (0%)/No (100%)
On-campus briefing (80.0%), On-campus briefing (0.0%), On-campus briefing (75.0%)
Main reasons for choosing the
Referrals by family and Referrals by family
On-campus briefing (80.0%), On-campus briefing (0.0%),and Referrals byOn-campus
family and briefing
Technical Intern Training
Main reasons for choosing the friends (30.0%), friends (88.9%), friends (0.0%) (75.0%)
program and sending agency Referrals
Internet search
by family and friends
(40.0%) Internet
Referrals
search (33.3%)
by family and Internet search (40.0%)
Technical Intern Training pro- Referrals by family and
(30.0%), friends (88.9%),
gram and sending agency Landscape and friends (0.0%)
Internet
culture (80.0%),search (40.0%) Referrals byInternet
family andsearch (33.3%)
Landscape &Internet
Culture (62.5%),
Main reasons for search (40.0%)
Economic friends (66.7%), Vietnam–Japan
choosing Japan Landscape and
development (70.0%),
culture (80.0%),
High level of care (66.7%)
Landscape
friendship (50.0%)
& Culture
Referrals by family and
Main reasons for choosingNationalJa- Economic
character development
(70.0%) (62.5%),
friends (66.7%),
pan (70.0%), Yes (55.6%,High
Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam–Japan friendship
Yes (10.0%, Taiwan), level of care (66.7%)
Yes (75.0%, Germany),
Other options for countries National character (70.0%) and China), (50.0%)
No (90.0%) No (25.0%)
NoYes
(44.4%)
(55.6%, Taiwan, Korea,
Yes (10.0%, Taiwan), Yes (75.0%, Germany),
Other options
Desire to live in for countries
Yes (10.0%), No No (90.0%) Yes (33.3%), No and China), Yes (75.0%), No (25.0%)
(66.7%)
Japan permanently (90.0%) No (25.0%)
No (44.4%)
Willingness
Desire to
to take
liveJLPT N1 perma-
in Japan Yes (10.0%), No (90.0%) Yes (0%), No (100.0%) High (62.5%), No (37.5%)
Yes (10.0%), No (90.0%) Yes (33.3%), No (66.7%) Yes (75.0%), No (25.0%)
The numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of participants in the cluster who gave the associated response.
nently
JLPT, Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
Willingness to take JLPT N1 Yes (10.0%), No (90.0%) Yes (0%), No (100.0%) High (62.5%), No (37.5%)
TheTheword-of-mouth
numbers in parentheses
cluster indicate
consistedtheofpercentage
those who of had
participants in the cluster
heard about who gave the
the Technical
Intern associated
Training program
response.from
JLPT,family andLanguage
Japanese friends and decided
Proficiency to come to Japan based on
Test.
their recommendations, some of whom wanted to live in Japan permanently.
4. Discussion
Many of the participants in this study wanted to gain skills in Japan in anticipation
of future care needs or to provide care to their families in Vietnam. This is due to th
Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 7 of 11

In the intellectual cluster, half of the cluster members were university graduates who
learned about the Technical Intern Training program from campus briefings. They tended
to be highly motivated to live in Japan permanently and aimed to acquire a high level of
Japanese language proficiency. Outside Japan, Germany was mentioned as a candidate
country in this cluster. Components 1 and 2 explain 38.15% of the point variability.

4. Discussion
Many of the participants in this study wanted to gain skills in Japan in anticipation
of future care needs or to provide care to their families in Vietnam. This is due to the
rapidly growing demand for long-term care in Vietnam. According to the General Statistics
Office of Vietnam, the population aged 65 years and above is expected to increase from
7.4 million people in 2019 (7.7% of the population) to 16.8 million by 2039 and 25.2 million
by 2069 (21.5%) [24]. However, Vietnam lacks long-term care insurance and has only
a few long-term care services, implying that family members play an important role in
caring for older adults. Recent years have seen challenges associated with family care,
such as reducing family sizes due to declining birth rates, a shift from multi-generational
cohabitation to nuclear families, and rapid urbanization leading to rural youths migrating
to urban areas, resulting in family dispersal [25]. By creating a virtuous chain in which
Vietnamese who have acquired long-term care skills in Japan return to their home country
to provide long-term care services, it will be possible to increase the sustainability of the
long-term care system not only in Japan but also in Vietnam.
All participants indicated that they wanted to become certified care workers, citing
the potential for certification to lead to a permanent residency in Japan and to provide
proof of their care worker skills. However, obtaining this certificate is difficult under the
Economic Partnership Agreement, with a pass rate of 82.8% for all candidates and 43.8%
for foreign candidates [26]. Although exam-related accommodations have been made for
foreign examinees (e.g., paraphrasing difficult expressions, providing English notations
of diseases, and extending exam times), the learning environment and exam preparation
support must also be improved. Moreover, gaining a care worker certification in Japan
led to a greater understanding of and confidence in their work and contributed to the
professionalization of care [27].
Based on our findings, it has become evident that the Technical Intern Training pro-
gram, which assumes a three-year short-term stay, does not align with the needs and
aspirations of its candidates. The Japanese government has traditionally been reluctant to
accept immigrants, and significant challenges remain in fostering a society that effectively
integrates and coexists with foreign residents [28,29]. With the transition from the Technical
Intern Training program to the Employment for Skill Development Program, a framework
for obtaining long-term visas has been reported [14]. However, critical issues related to visa
acquisition, labor conditions, and living environments have not been sufficiently addressed
or discussed. The results of this study contribute to these ongoing discussions, highlighting
the importance of addressing these challenges comprehensively. Recognizing these realities
and fostering a society that supports coexistence with foreigners is essential. Such efforts
could ultimately lead to the development of a sustainable long-term care system in Japan.
Focusing on Vietnam, the absence of a formal long-term care system presents a signifi-
cant challenge, with existing long-term care services being offered primarily by a limited
number of private organizations. Under these conditions, Vietnamese trainees who acquire
caregiving skills in Japan may encounter difficulties in pursuing caregiving careers upon
their return to Vietnam. To address this gap, Japan should actively engage in collaborative
efforts to share its expertise in long-term care systems with Vietnam. Notably, the Japanese
government has introduced the Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative, emphasizing its com-
mitment to facilitating dialogue and providing support for the development of long-term
care systems across the Asian region [30]. Such initiatives have the potential to create a
mutually beneficial framework, generating positive outcomes for both countries.
Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 8 of 11

This study represents the first attempt at clustering technical intern training candidates,
classifying participants into three clusters according to their educational background,
reasons for choosing Japan over other candidate countries, and desire for permanent
residence. While clustering has been widely used in marketing to target customers, it
is increasingly being used in human resource management, including recruitment and
selection, training and development, and performance management [31–34]. Thus, the
application of the k-means method to the process of adoption is being explored [35].
As society matures and values and lifestyles diversify, the importance of segmenting
(clustering) targets and changing strategies has been pointed out [36]. By implementing
strategies suitable for each cluster, more effective and efficient results can be obtained.
These clusters can be useful for securing and developing human resources in the
future. For example, if a recruiter wants to target people who wish to live permanently in
Japan, they may focus on the intellectual cluster and use strategies such as disseminating
information via the Internet and emphasizing learning and growth opportunities in Japan.
However, if the target is potential future care workers who are high school graduates
and relatively young, it may be prudent to target the Japanophile cluster by visiting high
schools to disseminate information emphasizing Japanese culture (e.g., anime and manga)
or the diligent and rule-abiding nature of the Japanese people. Additionally, if the focus is
on people with high aspirations for caregiving skills, targeting the word-of-mouth cluster
may be important, which could be achieved by creating a mechanism that fosters referrals
for Japanese caregiving. Thus, from a human resources perspective, cluster-based targeting,
public relations strategies, and cultivation methods could be given greater consideration.
As mentioned in Section 1, the Japanese government has recently decided to revise the
law from the Technical Intern Training program to the Employment for Skill Development
Program and is preparing for the transition. The key points of the revision include the
possibility of transferring to other workplaces and a smoother transition to the Specified
Skilled Worker Program, which enables long-term stays. Since many participants in the
study were candidates for the Technical Intern Training program, we were unable to confirm
their intentions regarding a transfer. Given the high desire for long-term stays in Japan,
the revision of this system may positively impact the securing of foreign care workers.
However, there is a need for more international publicity regarding these legal revisions
and for the provision of training and industry-wide cooperation to ensure that long-term
care workers can work with in Japan peace of mind.
This study has some limitations that must be considered. First, the participants were
limited to 27 individuals from sending agencies in Hanoi, Vietnam; therefore, the findings
cannot be generalized to all Vietnamese or technical interns. However, by targeting three
sending agencies, we avoided significant biases. Second, the clustering results do not
indicate causality, implying that understanding what type of information would increase
the intention of care workers to partake in the Technical Intern Training program requires
further experimentation. Nevertheless, there have been few studies on Technical Intern
Training candidates prior to their departure from Japan, and the results of the current study
help close the gap in the literature in this regard.

5. Conclusions
Our study revealed that Vietnamese Technical Intern Training candidates (care work-
ers) going to Japan wanted to gain advanced Japanese language proficiency and become
certified care workers. Most intended to continue working in the long-term care industry
after returning to Vietnam. Additionally, more than half of the participants chose Japan for
care work over other countries such as Germany, Taiwan, and Korea, particularly due to
Japan’s landscape, culture, and national character as well as positive referrals by family
and friends. More than a quarter of participants were looking to live in Japan permanently.
Given the findings of the clustering analysis, it seems important to consider information
dissemination, communication, and human resource development tailored to the char-
acteristics of each of the three clusters to effectively recruit and support these workers.
Sustainability 2024, 16, 11231 9 of 11

By understanding and appropriately addressing the needs of candidates, it is possible to

enhance the sustainability of Japan’s long-term care system. Supporting the development
of Vietnam’s long-term care system is also essential to meet the increasing long-term care
demands in Vietnam and to secure future career opportunities for candidates.

Author Contributions: K.H.: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal Analysis; Funding acquisition;
Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Writing—original draft. T.Y.: Investigation;
Resources; Supervision; Writing—review and editing. N.L.: Supervision; Writing—review and
editing. P.T.H.: Supervision; Writing—review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the
published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by JSPS KAKENHI, grant number JP 20 K 18850, and the
K. Matsushita Foundation, grant number 23-G31.
Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration
of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Yokohama City University (reference
number: 2023-18 and 1 January 2024).
Informed Consent Statement: All of the participants provided written informed consent.
Data Availability Statement: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are
available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Acknowledgments: The authors extend their gratitude to the technical intern training candidates
and sending agencies.
Conflicts of Interest: Author Tomokazu Yamamura was employed by the company Aijinkai Health-
care Corporation. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of
any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Appendix A
Interview Items
1. Please tell us why you chose a technical internship instead of working in Japan.
2. What are your parents’ and family members’ opinions of you going to Japan? Has
anyone close to you been to Japan?
3. How did you discover the sending agency? What were the key factors influencing
your choice?
4. What are your reasons for choosing Japan? Also, tell us about any other countries
besides Japan that have emerged as potential technical internship destinations.
5. Do you have any concerns about learning Japanese? If so, in what areas?
6. Do you have any concerns regarding nursing care in Japan? If so, in what areas?
7. What are your expectations and concerns about life in Japan?
8. How long would you want to stay in Japan and why? Do you plan to return to
Vietnam after completing the training?
9. What kind of work do you want to do after you return?
10. What kind of salary do you hope to receive in Japan?
11. Do you want to become a certified care worker (national qualification)? Why/Why not?
12. Other (“Is there anything else you would like to share about your internship in Japan?”).

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