1 Million Yen a Year for Up to Three Years: The Nippon Foundation’s Support for Ukrainian Evacuees Ended in March 2026

The Nippon Foundation ended its support program for people who evacuated from Ukraine to Japan on March 31, 2026. The program’s page states, “This support program ended as of March 31, 2026.” About four years after the March 2022 announcement, roughly 2,000 people received support centered on a living allowance. As of September 2026, it is no longer possible to apply for this support.

A private foundation paying each individual evacuee 1 million yen a year, separately from any government program. What did this support pay, to whom, and how much? This article organizes it based on the activity report the Foundation issued in December 2025 and its published materials.

Eligibility: “Having a Guarantor in Japan”

According to the timeline in the report, the Foundation announced support for Ukrainian evacuees who had come to Japan on March 28, 2022. It was aimed at Ukrainian nationals who had evacuated to Japan because of Russia’s invasion and who had a guarantor living in Japan. A guarantor here means a person who signed and submitted a letter of guarantee when the evacuee applied for a visa at an embassy or elsewhere. The program was initially expected to support 1,000 people.

Applications for benefits and grants opened on April 20, and a call center offering support in Ukrainian was also opened. Payment of the living allowance began on June 10, and on July 29 the Foundation expanded the target number to 2,000 people, anticipating that the war would be prolonged (all from the report’s timeline).

What Was Paid, and How Much

The report divides the payments into four categories.

The number of people receiving support declined over time as people returned home and for other reasons: 2,022 in the first year, 1,682 in the second year, and 1,474 in the third year (report). According to a notice for a February 2025 report session the Foundation held, about 30% had ended their support by that point due to leaving Japan and other reasons.

On return-home support, Junpei Sasakawa, then the Foundation’s managing director, said at a February 2024 briefing that the Foundation would provide airfare to Poland and a lump-sum payment of 300,000 yen per person, and that it expected around 200 of the roughly 2,000 people to use it. According to the report, the actual number approved for this support was 168.

Where the Money Came From

According to the report, the program’s main funding sources were about 5.60 billion yen in grants the Foundation receives from motorboat-racing revenue, and about 450 million yen in donations from individuals, companies and organizations. Of these donations, the “Ukrainian Evacuee Support Fund” set up in June 2022 had received a cumulative total of 199,451,551 yen as of March 5, 2024 (a Foundation notice). The report states that this fund was set up jointly by the Foundation together with then-Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky and then-Ambassador of the United States to Japan Rahm Emanuel. The fund stopped accepting donations on March 31, 2024 (5:00 p.m. for online donations on March 29).

The breakdown of how the money was used is: about 5.38 billion yen for support through benefit payments, about 470 million yen in grants to non-profit organizations, about 110 million yen for employment support, and about 90 million yen for other support (report).

What Else Was Done Besides Cash Payments

• Grants to non-profit organizations: A total of about 470 million yen to 157 projects run by 82 organizations, covering living support, counseling by Ukrainian-speaking psychologists, Japanese-language learning, job-hunting support, and more
• Scholarships at Japanese-language schools: From April 2023, tuition support for 116 evacuee students at 86 partner Japanese-language schools, funded from the fund above
• Remote interpretation and consultation: A free remote Ukrainian-language interpretation and consultation service, from August 2022
• Support at the point the living allowance ended: A support payment (about 190,000 yen, for 190 people, about 35.75 million yen in total) for children under 20, and digital book vouchers (50,000 yen, for 1,012 people, 50.6 million yen in total) for people aiming to find work or continue studying

All of the above is as stated in the report.

The Living Allowance Ended in Sequence, Based on Arrival Date

The living allowance was paid for “up to three years.” In its announcement for the February 2025 report session, the Foundation explained that the emergency living-cost support it had provided until then would end in sequence, based on each evacuee’s date of arrival in Japan. The program as a whole then ended on March 31, 2026.

In a survey included in the report (targeting people receiving Foundation support who were 18 or older), the share of respondents who were working was 42.5% in the third survey in 2023 (1,077 respondents) and 55.7% in the ninth survey in 2025 (937 respondents). The notice for the February 2025 report session put the employment rate at 80% for ages 18-64, excluding students. Both figures come from surveys the Foundation conducted itself, not from figures covering all Ukrainian evacuees in Japan.

Where to Turn for Help Now

This support has ended. As of September 2026, it is no longer possible to newly receive the Nippon Foundation’s living allowance. If you want to consult about daily life, work, or the Japanese language, your local municipal government’s counter or your regional international exchange association are good places to start. Ways to find those counters are covered in Consultation Counters for Starting Life in Japan; support that individual municipalities provide independently for housing and lump-sum payments is covered in Municipal Support for Ukrainian Evacuees; and how the number of people who have evacuated to Japan has changed over time is set out in The Number of Ukrainians Who Have Evacuated to Japan.