Holiday jobs attract more travellers from Japan

Britons make up by far the largest number of working holidaymakers in New Zealand, but Japanese made a determined run into second place.

Satomi Matsubara, who works part-time in an inner-city Auckland internet cafe, is one of 3270 young Japanese who came last year, her main goal to improve her English. Fluency, she says, will open up the world and its people to her.

Since the office administrator arrived in New Zealand last April - "I wanted a change" - she has done several months of motel cleaning and visited tourist spots such as Rotorua and the Bay of Islands.

Ms Matsubara juggles her present job with five hours of daily language lessons in Queen St, and thinks her next move will be a South Island trip.

She has enjoyed meeting "friendly, optimistic" people but says New Zealand women are more assertive than those back home in Aichi, central Japan.

"Women here have strong minds ... the first time I found it scary!"

New Zealand has established Working Holiday Schemes with 23 countries, ranging from Britain and Ireland to countries with less obvious links: Finland, Uruguay, the Czech Republic and Malta.

The programmes, most reciprocal, allow 18 to 30-year-olds to visit and work in New Zealand for a year, except for Britons, who get two years. The aim is to build links, says Lesley Haines of the Labour Department. Arrivals are often well-educated people "who take home long-term friendships and an understanding of New Zealand they would not have had before".

"For a small country like New Zealand, trade and links count for a lot." But the visitors also contribute to the job market, "and given our shortages, that's important as well".

Japanese are keen, says Kotaro Mizoguchi, a member of the Japanese Society of Auckland, because of the relatively low cost of learning English here, the country's perceived safety for young people who are not well-travelled, and the chance to get close to nature - "most of them had never seen sheep and cattle in Japan".

As the once-rigid "lifetime employment" system breaks down in Japan, he says, it is getting easier for young people to take time out.

Ms Haines adds that the numbers from Japan probably reflect the fact that it was the first country with which New Zealand negotiated a scheme, in 1985. 
 

Where they're from

Working holidaymakers in New Zealand 2004-05:
* Britain 7375
* Japan 3270
* Germany 2288
* Ireland 1891
* Canada 1132
* France 892
* South Korea 796
* United States 68
(Source: Migration Trends 2004/2005)

The top jobs

* Hospitality (17 per cent),
* Agriculture (14pc),
* Fruit-picking (7pc),
* Sales (7pc),
* Backpacker/hostel work (5pc).
* Average take-home pay: $12.06 an hour.
(Source: Department of Labour)