Grantee | WELgee (Awarded in 2025)
Project | Bridging Borders: Empowering Refugee Talent Through US-Japan Collaboration
Sayaka Kankolongo Watanabe wasn’t supposed to start a nonprofit. She was just a university student at Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, volunteering in a Bangladeshi indigenous peoples' area, when something shifted—when she saw the difficult situation that so many there lived in every day. “I realized that I could leave, and they couldn’t,” she recalled in an interview. “I had protections by my government, my rights, even my dignity, simply because I was a citizen of Japan. They didn’t.” That moment stuck with her—not as guilt, but as resolve.
Years later, this experience—and encountering young refugees who fled to Japan—would become the seed for WELgee, a nonprofit organization reimagining refugee inclusion in Japan not as a problem to be solved, but as potential to be realized. WELgee doesn’t focus on crisis response or emergency relief. It focuses on something deceptively simple: launching careers. Because in Japan, where many refugees have had little access to government support, employment can be more than just income—it is a doorway to residency, stability, and a new life.
In 2025, with support from the U.S.-Japan Foundation (USJF), WELgee launched a new initiative: Bridging Borders: Empowering Refugee Talent Through US-Japan Collaboration. The project was designed to both deepen WELgee’s career support programs at home and strengthen ties with U.S. refugee organizations through on-site visits and joint learning. It was, in a sense, a coming-of-age moment for the organization, allowing them to extend their reach beyond Japan for new solutions, new ways to think about refugees, and how to be an effective platform for facilitating their securing of meaningful, self-sustaining work. Sayaka, a Second Year Delegate of the United States-Japan Leadership Program, notes, “Thanks to this grant, we will be able to gain fresh insights from abroad while advancing our mission in Japan.”
From Work to Security
WELgee’s model is distinct. While Japan’s refugee recognition rate hovers at just a few percent, other organizations seek to provide immediate and often life-saving support. With so many refugee asylum seekers falling through the cracks of a very weak safety net in Japan, organizations such as these are vital for refugee survival. Some of these other groups work through the courts and policy avenues to politically mobilize and address the human rights violations asylum seekers suffer in Japan. WELgee takes a different route—getting refugees stable residency and work. Even if an asylum seeker has been fortunate enough to be recognized as a refugee in Japan, many still find themselves far from achieving a stable life or rebuilding their future. WELgee offers tailored career support, Japanese language learning assistance, and careful matchmaking with refugee-friendly companies. According to their USJF application, “our goal is to build a foundation where society can recognize and accept refugees as valuable ‘human resources.’”
As a result, WELgee has had to learn how to seek out and collaborate with both businesses and governments productively, including how to talk their talk. “Of course, we do not see our refugee friends as merely ‘human resources’ (or a labor source), but we also know that unless we can show businesses, and potential employers, a reason to hire a refugee, they won’t.” Learning how to channel the idealism that any young organization has into effective strategies that focus on tangible results in the society we live in—this is one of the keys to institutional development. And it makes WELgee more effective.
For example: Z was a doctoral student from Afghanistan who left behind a career in legal governance and urban development. WELgee connected him with a manufacturing company in Aichi Prefecture that needed part-time support in accounting and legal affairs. His job was designed to be compatible with his studies. A perfect match! These are the quiet mechanics of WELgee’s work—thoughtful, individualized, and deeply human.
M shows us another path. She was a Ukrainian illustrator who fled to Japan, finding that meaningfulness meant finally being able to put her creativity to use. After graduating from art school in her home country, she had worked as a freelance creative until the war disrupted everything. She fled to Japan with so many other Ukrainians, and in Tokyo, she was introduced to WELgee, which matched her with CFCL, a fashion-forward and social impact knitwear brand. What began as a trial position became a full-time role. “She grew through honest efforts,” the organization reported, “and the company created a team structure to support her development.”
While WELgee’s primary goal is to secure employment, Sayaka points out that, at least in Japan, this often requires a change in perspective on the part of the employer, and often the development of new structures of support and inclusion. The beneficiaries of these developments are not just the refugee worker, but the company and other workers as well. In time, Japanese society as a whole benefits as it learns to become more open and more able to recognize diverse talents, and figures out ways to find mutual benefit.
A Scalable Solution for Society
With over 600 refugees already connected to their services, WELgee has placed 45 refugees in jobs that match their passions and skills. Maybe even more impressive, they have registered more than 200 companies that are looking to hire great refugees. This is a testament to WELgee’s ability to articulate the situation in a way that allows companies to see and join the effort.
WELgee is now beginning to take steps toward a “system change”—gradually tackling the structural barriers surrounding refugee employment in Japan, such as mismatches in visa regulations, employer uncertainty, and prolonged recruitment processes.
Sayaka is clear-eyed about the barriers, but also about the opportunity. “In many countries,” she wrote in her application, “anti-immigration sentiment poses significant barriers.” We cannot conflate a country’s people with their government; as in Japan, even when leaders are resistant to outsiders, both NPOs and companies around the world are finding it hugely beneficial to be open. By meeting with the change-makers in other countries, “there is huge potential for innovative approaches where refugees can achieve stable residency and a sense of belonging through employment and community integration.”
The USJF-funded project will lead to exciting learning exchange opportunities with leading U.S. organizations like Upwardly Global and Tent. These collaborations will generate more than new ideas for WELgee; they offer models for all parties to learn from each other. “We will be able to learn from advanced U.S. initiatives while applying Japan’s best practices to U.S. efforts,” Sayaka explained, “as well as share what we are doing here in Japan. This mutual learning allows us to imagine a new model for refugee support that benefits both societies.”
A Mission Worth Funding
WELgee’s mission is to “uncover aspirations, broaden connections, and create mechanisms that empower individuals to design their own futures.” This isn’t charity. It’s infrastructure. It’s society-building. And it’s exactly the kind of work the U.S.-Japan Foundation seeks to support: binational projects that address pressing needs in Japan while advancing mutual understanding and building durable, human-centered solutions.
“This grant came at a critical moment,” Sayaka said. “It allowed us to maintain our planned support even as program registrations exceeded expectations. We’re deeply grateful.”
As refugee needs in Japan grow, and as Japan’s labor and social needs grow—and as the nonprofit sector looks for scalable, hopeful responses—WELgee is showing what a quiet revolution can look like: one person at a time, one job at a time, one future made possible by dignity and an openness to the possibility in each other.
|
|
Big News from WELgee" USJF would like to congratulate both Sayaka and WELgee on successfully navigating this important step in institutional continuity, and we look forward to working together in the future. |
|
To further advance our mission and growth, WELgee has decided to transition to a new management structure. As part of this shift, Sayaka Kankolongo Watanabe has stepped down from her roles as Representative Director and Board Member of WELgee. Yota Anzai, who has been with WELgee since its early days, has assumed the position of Representative Director.
