More Ukrainian Evacuees Want to Stay in Japan Longer: The Nippon Foundation Poll
It’s been over a year and a half since The Nippon Foundation started to provide Ukrainian evacuees with humanitarian assistance in April 2022. As of August 30 this year, a total of 2,491 Ukrainians have sought refugee in Japan from their war-torn country, according to the Immigration Services Agency. Of these, 397 have returned home or left for other countries.
The foundation set aside a total of 8.3 billion yen (about $ 56.7 million) for humanitarian assistance to about 2,000 Ukrainians who have a guarantor with residence status in Japan. This amount included their travel costs and up to 1 million yen (about $6,830) worth of annual living expenses per person for three years as well as monies for NGOs and other nonprofit organizations working to support their daily lives.
We have also conducted surveys on a regular basis to look into whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with their life in Japan and what support they need.
According to the foundation’s third poll, conducted between March and June this year that covered 1,077 Ukrainian evacuees aged 18 and older, roughly two in five (39.4%) want to stay in Japan until the situation in Ukraine stabilizes while one third (33.1%) wish to stay here for as long as possible.
The combined total of 72.5% is 7 percentage points higher than the previous survey carried out between November and December 2022.
By contrast, only 2.7% want to return to Ukraine as soon as possible.
The online survey also found that more than two in five (42.5%) were employed either full-time or part-time, showing a 3.4 percentage point increase over the previous poll, whereas the remaining 57.5% were not.
Asked about their Japanese language skills, those who said they can speak and understand daily conversation increased from 11.2% to 13.8%.
Although the changes were small given the short interval since the previous poll, they seem to indicate that the assistance provided by the foundation for language training and job search is having a positive effect.
The foundation plans to organize a seminar in September on how we should deal with people from countries other than Ukraine who have sought refuge in Japan for humanitarian reasons.
It has been reported that the Nitori International Scholarship Foundation of Nitori Holdings, a major Japanese retailer of furniture and interior products, will start providing Ukrainian evacuees this autumn with assistance totaling 360 million yen (about $2.46 million), including 960,000 yen (about $6,600) worth of annual living expenses per person.
The aid is said to cover Ukrainians beyond the 2,000 evacuees The Nippon Foundation is supporting and I welcome the initiative by a private foundation.
I am eager to see many more Japanese companies join us in supporting displaced Ukrainians. If necessary, the foundation is ready to share the data and knowhow we have accumulated.