Japan has been one of the major donors for the reconstruction of Afghanistan over the past 20 years, and has also developed broad relationships with the country through international cooperation projects, while accepting students from Afghanistan in various fields. In the aftermath of the dramatic political change that took place on 15 August 2021, it became clear that government employees, civil society workers and former international students were no longer able to utilize their expertise; and had additionally become the primary target of persecution due to their association with foreign countries including Japan. More than 800 people have been evacuated to Japan since that time, including former staff of the Japanese Embassy and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), former international students, and local staff of Japanese NGOs.

The purpose of this study is to identify the challenges of “refugees” in Japan by interviewing people who fled there following Afghanistan’s political upheaval. The interviews centered around three issues affecting interviewees’ lives: (1) their fear of persecution, (2) their experiences of migration to Japan, and (3) the challenges they have faced during resettlement. Although Japan ratified the UN Refugee Convention in 1981, its refugee recognition rate is less than 1%—a figure lagging far behind international standards. The authors believe that one reason for the low refugee recognition is that the “well-founded fear of persecution” stipulated by the International Refugee Convention is not fully understood by either Japan’s government or society. This study explores how evacuees from Afghanistan with diverse backgrounds experienced a clear fear of persecution, and also documents their experiences. By identifying the difficulties the evacuees have faced in resettling to Japan, the study additionally aims to contribute toward policy debates on the social integration of refugees.