Technical trainees who come from overseas to work in Japan are subject to conditions that don't necessarily apply to foreign workers who come to Japan with conventional work visas. There are many people who feel these conditions are unreasonable, especially given the general understanding that the technical trainee system, whose ostensible purpose since it was established in 1993 is to “transfer technology” from Japan to so-called developing countries, has evolved into a system that provides Japanese employers with cheap labor.