How refugees from Myanmar are getting head start in Saitama

By SATORU ITO/ Staff Writer            September 10, 2023 at 07:00 JST

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14989565 

Nor Halisah Munir Ahmad works at the Soka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Satoru Ito)

The Soka Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Saitama Prefecture close to Tokyo is trailblazing a program to help refugees from Myanmar find employment with local companies.

It is the first such entity in Japan to do so, and has already helped 11 people from Myanmar, all single men and women in their 20s and 30s who fled the civil war raging in their homeland. They arrived in Japan in September last year.

They came under a third country resettlement program, which accepts refugees recognized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Their first order of business was to study the Japanese language, culture and customs at a Tokyo facility operated by the Refugee Assistance Headquarters of the Foundation for the Welfare and Education of the Asian People, which is accredited by the government.

As of April, they have worked at companies in the local cities of Soka and Yashio. The five companies include an automobile repair shop, a furniture manufacturer and one that provides logistics services. At least one of the refugees works at the chamber.

With their training period ending in September, the refugees will soon be formally employed.

All five companies are members of the chamber of commerce. The entities readily agreed to cooperate when the chamber asked its members to accept refugees into their workforces.

The chamber helped the Myanmar people find jobs after its chairman, Tomoyoshi Nozaki, and other officials learned about the third country resettlement program.

They decided they could make an international contribution by supporting refugees, so they contacted the refugee foundation.

The two cities already have sizable Asian workforces. Local companies and residents have, by and large, unfurled the red carpet to foreign workers. The refugees were able to find work easily due in part to a labor shortage, the chamber said.

“Our aim is to support refugees throughout the region, so they feel glad about coming to Japan,” said Osamu Yamazaki, the executive director of the chamber.

The body aims to assist their resettlement while offering counselling to address the concerns of both the Myanmar people and the companies that hire them.

It said plans are in the works for around six more people from Myanmar to be hired in October.

Nor Halisah Munir Ahmad, 28, who works at the chamber answering phone calls and accompanying her colleagues on company visits, also advises foreign nationals living in areas under the chamber’s jurisdiction.

“My dream is to run a restaurant or work in a trading company,” she said in Japanese.

Japan began accepting refugees under the UNHCR program in fiscal 2010.

Up to 30 refugees were accepted annually until 2019. Since then, 60 refugees have been accepted annually in the Kanto region, Aichi Prefecture and elsewhere.

For the first six months after arriving in Japan, the foreign nationals study Japanese at the refugee foundation.

After that, efforts involving nonprofit organizations, individuals and companies get under way to find them employment. Even so, many still struggle to find jobs.

But in this instance, the refugees found employment without any hassles due to the chamber’s assistance in mediating between them and the companies.

“The support of the chamber, which is the core of the community, is very encouraging,” said Tomoyuki Yoshida, the head of the refugee foundation.

“We want to use Soka’s case as a model and spread it to other regions,” he said.