TOKYO -- The Koto area of Tokyo is just waking up when Dang Ngoc Hoang and his four Vietnamese colleagues arrive at the construction site at 6:30. Along with a group of Japanese colleagues, they will spend the day moving heavy wooden pilings and pouring concrete for the foundation of a seven-story condominium block.
It is demanding work, but the 22-year-old Hoang sees it as a stepping stone toward a white-collar job in Japan, where he has lived for the past two years.