School President Quits After Calling Ukrainian Refugees ‘Privileged Robbers’ – Media

Masumi Shimizu announces his resignation as the president of Nippon Academy in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, on March 22. (Sakura Kawamura)

The Japanese headmaster reportedly refused to apologize for his remarks

The president of a Japanese language school has reportedly resigned after calling Ukrainian students “elite refugees” who get more than they deserve from the government.

The Nippon Academy in Maebashi, Japan, announced on Monday that Masumi Shimizu would step down from his position, local newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported on Thursday.

Shimizu’s school has accepted 38 Ukrainian students, who objected when management asked them to start paying for tuition after receiving several months for free. Speaking at a press conference last month, Shimizu referred to the students as “robbers” and “elite refugees,” who enjoy free rent and tax exemptions while Asian students struggle to make ends meet.

Shimizu’s comments went public, and the school was reprimanded by prefectural authorities. These authorities then announced that Ukrainian students who wished to continue learning Japanese would receive payments to do so, while continuing to enjoy free housing and assistance with living expenses, the Mainichi newspaper reported.

The former school director refused to apologize as he stepped down, insisting that the “prefectural government is doing far more than it should” for the Ukrainians. Shimizu added that the refugees – some of whom told the Mainichi that his remarks caused them emotional damage – are acting like a “privileged class.”

Shimizu said that he was urged to resign by the school’s board of management.

The Asahi Shimbun reported a similar incident last year in which an Afghan asylum seeker in Japan condemned the government’s apparent double standards in relation to Ukrainian refugees. He claimed that Tokyo was giving Ukrainians preferential treatment in an “extremely political move.”

Japan has taken in around 2,300 Ukrainian refugees since last February, the majority of whom speak little to no Japanese. An ethnically and linguistically homogeneous society, Japan has traditionally kept its doors closed to refugees and immigrants, and accepted a record 74 asylum applications in 2021, up from 27 the year before.

Ukrainians in Japan are not technically recognized as “refugees,” a designation that would grant them five-year visas. Instead they are given one-year work permits with the possibility of extension.

Language school head out of job after belittling Ukraine student

The president of a local Japanese language school officially resigned after coming under fire for calling his Ukrainian students “elite refugees.”

But Masumi Shimizu refuses to say he is sorry over his comments and maintains that the “prefectural government is doing far more than it should” to support them.

Nippon Academy announced Shimizu’s resignation on March 20, pledging to restore public trust through improved corporate governance.

The school has accepted 38 Ukrainian students since May 2022, shortly after Russia invaded the country.

Some of the students protested when the academy demanded they pay tuition, despite that it initially promised them free education.

Shimizu argued that offer was temporary and only designed to last until the students became financially independent--but not for six months or a year, as the students maintain.

When he was making his case, Shimizu said the Ukrainian students are aristocratic refugees, a privileged class of asylum seekers who enjoy free rent and tax exemptions while Asian students are struggling to get by on their own.

After the comments generated public backlash, the prefectural government reprimanded the school on March 15, ordering it to take steps to prevent a recurrence and improve its corporate governance.

Shimizu said members of the school’s managing board suggested he resign.