Vu Dan Binh went to Japan to follow a nurse training programme in Niigata Province for two years. Binh said that she used to earn between VND 28-30 million per month. However, the salary has now dropped to VND23 million.

“Earlier I could save some VND10 million a month to send home for my parents to repay the loans for my Japan internship programme," Binh said. "But the current income is only enough for me to cover daily expenses here and I don’t have any savings to send home."

Nguyen Thi Hong Lien has been working for a food processing company in Chiba Province in Japan for six years. However, she is thinking of returning to Vietnam as life in Japan is becoming more difficult.

"I used to have a good income during my first years in Japan," she said. "But life has become more difficult over the past two years due to the falling value of the yen and rising prices of food and other necessities as well as soaring rent."

Lien said that she was considering returning to Vietnam at the end of this year if the value of the yen does not improve.

According to the director of the TQC Trade and Human Resources Company, Trinh Quang Thieu, the labour export market to Japan has lost ground in Vietnam with a 60 percent decline due to the economic depression in the country.

“The current depreciation of the yen has greatly affected the income of Vietnamese workers in Japan," Thieu said. "More workers are turning to work in South Korea or European countries including Germany and Hungary."

As of June 22, 2023, the exchange rate between the Vietnamese Dong and the Japanese Yen continued to fall to between VND 163.24 - 169.94/yen.

Source: VOV