The Nippon Foundation to Provide 5 Billion Yen Humanitarian Assistance to Displaced Ukrainians Coming to Japan
The Nippon Foundation has decided to provide humanitarian assistance totaling 5.08 billion yen (about $41.4 million) to Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion of their homeland.
In announcing the decision at a press conference in Tokyo on March 28, I noted there are almost 1,900 Ukrainian residents of Japan and an estimated 900 of their family members and acquaintances are said to be seeking to join them.
The Japanese government has decided to promote accepting Ukrainian evacuees, including family members and acquaintances of those residing in Japan. As of March 24, a month after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, 150 evacuees－or about half those who have been issued visas－had arrived.
At present, it is hard to predict exactly how many Ukrainians will ultimately come to Japan, but for now we are working on the basis of around 1,000 people.
Of the total sum we are offering in assistance, 3.55 billion yen (about $29 million) will be earmarked for travel and living expenses. Each displaced person will be eligible to receive 300,000 yen (about $2,446) to cover travel expenses to Japan and 1 million yen (about $8,153) annually for living expenses for three years (3 million yen, or about $24,460, in the case of households).
The foundation will also give 1.53 billion yen (about $12.5 million) to NGOs and other nonprofit organizations working to support the daily lives of displaced people from Ukraine, including providing them with Japanese language courses and helping them find employment. The Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto prefectural governments have offered to provide accommodations.
I started the press conference by talking about the Great Tokyo Air Raid on March 9 and 10, 1945, during World War II, when I was six years old, which killed some 108,000 people, injured hundreds of thousands and destroyed my school and countless other buildings in downtown Tokyo. “I am one of those who survived this living hell, so I cannot overlook Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” I said.
After the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, The Nippon Foundation, at the request of Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev, general-secretary of the Communist Party of the then Soviet Union, conducted health surveys which focused on screening about 200,000 children in the area for thyroid cancer in cooperation with Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus over a period of 10 years. We invited 230 health and radiation specialists from these countries for training in Japan.
We later put that knowledge to use following the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in northeastern Japan in March 2011, including holding the International Expert Symposium in Fukushima on Radiation and Health by inviting those specialists to attend.
These and other experiences led to our decision to provide this humanitarian assistance for Ukrainian displaced people. We are planning to provide support for a period of three years, and will consider expanding the program if the situation changes.
The Nippon Foundation has already dispatched a staff member to Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, to set things up. We are closely working with the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo and I am calling on Ukrainians living in Japan to convey information on our assistance to family members, friends, and acquaintances who wish to come to Japan, so that we can get in touch with them.
On March 28, we established The Nippon Foundation Humanitarian Assistance Team for People Displaced from Ukraine as a contact point for those evacuating from Ukraine and for Ukrainian residents of Japan. Please do not hesitate to get in touch via the URL or QR code below. Note that we are receiving a large number of inquiries, to which we are responding in order, and apologize for any delay in getting back to you.
The Nippon Foundation Support for Ukraine Inquiry Form
