Tokyo, Japan – When Leonid Riznyk arrived in Japan from war-torn Ukraine in April 2022, he knew that getting a job in Tokyo could be tough.

Riznyk, who fled the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv together with his girlfriend within the early days of the Russian invasion, spoke no Japanese and had little sensible work expertise past a stint as a part-time 3D printing engineer.

“The job hunt was powerful,” Riznyk, 19, informed Al Jazeera. “However there have been good individuals who helped me loads, so even I, a [newly] graduated Ukrainian scholar, may discover a good place in a very good firm.”

Eight months after touchdown in Japan as certainly one of about 2,000 Ukrainian “evacuees” granted non permanent residency and work rights, Riznyk landed a job at Tokyo Techies, an IT consulting and software program improvement firm, as a front-end engineer.

Rizny’s break got here by the Japan-Ukraine Tech Bridge initiative, a scholarship programme established to concurrently assist displaced Ukrainians discover work and handle employee shortages in Japan’s tech sector, which is feeling the results of a quickly ageing Japanese inhabitants.

Launched by NGO Stand With Ukraine Japan, attire tech firm Virtusize, and funding agency Nextblue, the scholarship is awarded to asylum seekers to permit them to take part in Le Wagon Tokyo, the native chapter of an intensive coding boot camp based in France in 2013.

Three of the ten accessible scholarships have already been awarded, certainly one of which went to Riznyk.

“I had some minor expertise in IT; simply fundamentals of front-end improvement,” he mentioned. “The boot camp helped me enhance my abilities and in addition construct a portfolio for myself and eventually open a gate to the world of the Japanese IT business.”

Over the course of 10 weeks – consisting of 9 weeks of programming from 9am to 6pm and a “profession week” to assist streamline graduates’ entry into the office – boot camp members purchase the fundamental technical abilities to develop into net builders and, probably, land a coveted job at a Japanese tech firm.

Sasha Kaverina, co-founder of Stand With Ukraine Japan and head of partnerships and development at Le Wagon Tokyo, was in Japan when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of her homeland on February 24, 2022.

Then in March, Kaverina, a long-term Tokyo resident, made the tough journey again residence to persuade her mom and father to briefly relocate to the west of Ukraine from Kharkiv, a missile-battered metropolis close to the Russian border. After two stressed days travelling on planes and buses, Kaverina met her mother and father within the metropolis of Chernivtsi, the place she labored remotely for her firm in Japan whereas doing volunteer work and assist runs throughout the Romanian border.

Upon returning to Tokyo a number of weeks later, Kaverina felt decided to do no matter she may to assist her individuals.

“I began to consider how I may assist Ukrainians begin a brand new life from scratch in Japan,” Kaverina informed Al Jazeera. “The reply got here fairly quick usually because I’m working at an establishment that provides individuals the possibility to change to a brand new profession.”

Kaverina floated the thought of a scholarship for Ukrainian “evacuees” – the Japanese authorities has but to grant them formal “refugee” standing – to Nextblue, an early-stage enterprise capital agency, and Virtusize, a style tech firm based in Sweden with headquarters in Tokyo.

Yuichi Kori, a basic companion at Tokyo-based Nextblue, felt “nice disappointment” on seeing information stories of the Russian invasion, he informed Al Jazeera.

So when Kaverina offered him with the thought of the Ukraine-Japan scholarship, Kori determined to again it straight away, contacting the chief executives of companies in his funding portfolio, a few of whom have been eager to sponsor scholarships.

“Not solely does this assist Ukrainian refugees,” mentioned Kaverina, “however as soon as they graduate … it might additionally assist sort out the scarcity of IT specialists in Japan.”

Points round poor digital literacy have plagued Japan over the past decade. The nation’s inflexible, seniority-based wage system has been criticised for undermining the IT sector, with low pay blamed for failing to lure formidable IT engineers and software program builders. In 2022, the jobs-to-applicants ratio for IT professionals hit 10 to at least one, the most important disparity of any business measured, in response to figures from staffing company Persol Profession.

The sector’s comparatively unattractive situations have triggered many younger programmers and builders to look overseas or to foreign-owned corporations.

Andreas Ueno-Olausson, the CEO of Virtusize, mentioned his expertise of working with Ukrainian tech companions led him to see younger, technologically savvy Ukrainians struggling to search out work in Japan as “wasted expertise”.

“I’ve a dream that Japanese corporations will rent Ukrainians coming to Japan and use this chance to get entry to arguably the world’s greatest tech market, return on investment-wise,” Ueno-Olausson informed Al Jazeera. “Put them into internships, put them into jobs in Japanese tech corporations, and possibly they are often ‘the bridge’.”

The significance of Japan-Ukraine Tech Bridge has been underscored by the excessive proportion of unemployed Ukrainian evacuees. Greater than 60 p.c of the two,000 or so Ukrainian evacuees in Japan have been unemployed on the finish of final 12 months, in response to a survey by the Nippon Basis. Practically 80 p.c of these with jobs have been solely working part-time, in response to the survey.

Yulia Naumenko, a 30-year-old evacuee from Ukraine’s jap metropolis of Sumy, is amongst these at the moment exploring the job market.

After witnessing a number of failed makes an attempt by authorities to evacuate civilians because the Russian military decreased Sumy to rubble, Naumenko and her mom have been supplied a lifeline by her brother, a software program engineer who has been residing in Tokyo for the previous 4 years. Following a roundabout journey out of Ukraine, the pair arrived in Tokyo in late March final 12 months.

Though Naumenko already had an curiosity in IT, she had misgivings when she heard concerning the scholarship programme in a gaggle chat for Ukrainian asylum seekers. Not solely was she working late nights as a knowledge supervisor in Sumy seven time zones away, she was additionally juggling organising her documentation for residency and taking care of her aged mom.

Kaverina, the co-founder of Stand With Ukraine Japan, satisfied Naumenko there was potential profession development inside the IT sector and to use for the scholarship. Naumenko heeded the recommendation and graduated from the boot camp alongside Riznyk final 12 months.

“It’s laborious to discover a job proper now as a result of persons are not in search of junior engineers … and discovering a job in IT will not be a quick course of,” Naumenko informed Al Jazeera, referring to the a number of interviews and sensible abilities assessments essential to land a job in net improvement.

Nonetheless, Naumenko has an upcoming interview with an area tech firm and has a number of extra functions pending a response.

“I’m additionally busy volunteering with Stand With Ukraine Japan, and doing work for my associates to ensure I don’t overlook how you can do the programming,” she mentioned.

At Tokyo Techies, based by Vietnamese entrepreneur Duc Doba, Riznyk has discovered himself thriving in a “laid-back” setting that permits him to refine his abilities.

He plans to remain in Japan for not less than one other 5 years and hopes the native tech sector will realise the chance offered by the inflow of Ukrainians.

“IT corporations, if they will, ought to present internships for Ukrainian refugees who need to be IT specialists,” Riznyk mentioned.

“Ultimately, will probably be extra worthwhile for them, as a result of a lot of the refugees are younger, almost graduated college students, whose potential isn’t unlocked but. The youth who search a chance to work in Japan, reside right here and pay taxes will likely be repaying all who helped them.