... Male and female migrant workers from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal, other Asian countries, Uzbekistan, and Poland are subjected to conditions of forced labor, sometimes through the government’s Industrial Trainee and Technical Internship Program (TTIP). ... The Government of Japan has not, through practices or policy, ended the use of forced labor within the TTIP, a government-run program that was originally designed to foster basic industrial skills and techniques among foreign workers, but has instead become a guest worker program. The majority of technical interns are Chinese and Vietnamese nationals, some of whom pay up to the equivalent of approximately $7,300 for jobs and are employed under contracts that mandate forfeiture of the equivalent of thousands of dollars if workers try to leave. Reports continue of excessive fees, deposits, and “punishment” contracts under this program. Some companies confiscated trainees’ passports and other personal identification documents and controlled the movements of interns to prevent their escape or communication. During the “internship,” migrant workers are placed in jobs that do not teach or develop technical skills—the original intention of the TTIP; some of these workers experience under- or non-payment of wages, have their contracts withheld, and are charged exorbitant rents for cramped, poorly insulated housing that keeps them in debt. ... The TTIP continued to lack effective oversight or means to protect participants from abuse; despite some reforms, NGOs and media reported recruitment practices and working conditions did not improve for interns. The government did not prosecute or convict forced labor perpetrators despite allegations of labor trafficking in the TTIP. ...