Reports & Publications

Handbook for Welcoming Foreign Residents

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes. In Japan, the government moved to actively welcome Ukrainian evacuees, and local governments and NPOs across the country began launching their own resettlement programs.

However, Japan had few established models for organizationally receiving refugees. Many municipalities wanted to help but found themselves unable to act, held back by a lack of know-how and personnel.

This handbook was created to share the practical experiences of Gyokuto-machi (Tamana-gun, Kumamoto), Saga City (Saga Prefecture), and Beppu City (Oita Prefecture) — all of which have hands-on experience welcoming Ukrainian evacuees. By presenting their processes in an accessible way, we hope to support other municipalities and organizations that wish to launch similar programs, and to help drive this kind of work forward. The full title is: Public-Private Partnership: Handbook for Welcoming Foreign Residents — Supporting Ukrainian Evacuees in a Small Town.

Beyond Ukrainian evacuee support, we also hope this handbook will contribute to broader understanding of international issues and help advance efforts toward multicultural coexistence within Japan.

We hope that through this handbook, more people will come to see global issues as their own — and that it will serve as a practical resource for those ready to take action.