新型コロナで解雇→強制帰国。日本で働きたい外国人へ就職支援を

Fired Due to Corona Virus→Forced to Leave Japan.
Supporting Foreigners Who Want To Work In Japan. 

 

Downsized/Job Offer Revoked→Forced to Leave Japan. 3 Month Time limit.  Supporting foreigners who love Japan to remain in Japan. 

 

Hello, my name is Tomohiro and I am the CEO of crobo Co., Ltd. 

We support foreigners who are looking for work in Japan by introducing them to Japanese companies. We especially focus on introducing trilingual job candidates to jobs in the inbound tourism sector. 

 

As you may already know the so called “Corona Shock” being caused by the novel corona virus (below referred to as corona virus) has had a huge effect on the Japanese economy. Daily the effects of corona virus are growing, and the media is speculating that it will be more destructive than even the “Lehman Shock” of 2008.  

 

As a result, companies freezing hiring and downsizing their employees are on the rise here in Japan. Companies have also begun to revoke job offers to recent college graduates, and although the government has called on businesses to avoid such practices as much as possible should the profits continue to slide more revocations and firings are likely. 

 

The situation for foreigners in Japan is even more difficult. Those who are fired must find a new job in 3 months, otherwise they will have to return home. Students that were hoping to find work in Japan have only until the end of March. 

 

For those who have to return to their home countries, looking for work in Japan after the end of the corona virus pandemic will be incredibly difficult because very few companies in Japan hire people from abroad. 

 

The other day we spoke foreign job seeker who was in tears asking “What will happen to my future in Japan?” after he was fired from his job. 

 

Because of this we decided that for 1 month we will provide all of our services completely free. Previously we requested payment from the hiring companies in order to keep our services accessible to all job seekers. However, this service won’t mean anything if it doesn’t reach as many foreigners as possible. 

 

Therefore, we decided to start this crowd funding campaign, as—without any profits from our introductions—we will be in the red and unable to fund the advertising we use to find job seekers.  

 

Our current situation is dire, but our goal is clear. We want to create the opportunities for those foreigners who love Japan to achieve their dreams here and say “I am so glad I chose to work in Japan!”

 

We want to do our part in these uncertain times and would appreciate any support you can give to this goal. 

 

 

We run our recruiting business with this goal in mind. 

“Eliminating prejudice and discrimination by creating a ‘Cross Border’ world.”  

 

We believe that prejudice and discrimination are “born from a lack of understanding.” That without firsthand knowledge and working from hearsay and one-sided media sources, people are unable to make comprehensive judgements. 

 

Our company’s name, crobo, is a portmanteau of Cross Border.  On its face this obviously means to overcome national barriers.

 

However, we believe that “Cross Border” means to overcome the barrier of not only nationality, but also race, religion, gender, and education among others and to create a direct exchange from person to person. 

 

In order to get rid of prejudice and discrimination and promote world peace, we work every day to create a “Cross Border” world.  

 

 

We will provide recruiting services to companies completely free of charge in order to help those foreigners who risk being forced to return to their home countries find work. 

 

We thought to ourselves, what can we do to help those that are having trouble finding work because of the corona virus?

 

And we decided that we would provide our services totally free of charge for 1 month by crowd funding to cover the costs of running our business and advertising. 

 

In doing so we believe that it will be easier to get companies to hire foreign applicants during this difficult time. We are giving our all to helping as many foreigners as possible. 

 

The reason we are decided to crowd fund are twofold.  

 

The first is that because this is a time of emergency we want to provide our service without taking fees from job applicants or companies.  Of course because we aren’t making any profits on these introductions we cannot receive funds from a bank. 

 

The second is that through crowd funding we want more people to learn about the foreign community in Japan. Why people come to Japan, what their lives are like, what it is like for them to work here. We want to be able to connect this campaign to our company’s “Cross Border” mission.  

 

Our goal is to introduce 5 job seekers during this 1 month period.  

 

The job seekers we work with are in a precarious position, and we want to support them in finding employment here in Japan. 

 

■B who had his job offer revoked. (Nepalese, 25 Years Old)
・Job Offer Previously Received: City Hotel Front Desk

As a result of the corona virus, the hotel lost a large number of reservations and B had his job offer revoked. B is still looking for work, but it seems it will be very difficult for him to find work in a hotel. Because of this difficulty he has been looking for recruiting companies here in Japan. However, many recruiters told B that to get work he would need to pay them a finder’s fee equivalent to 4,000 US dollars just to find work, which he cannot afford because he is a recent graduate. That is when B found us and found out that we do not charge applicants any fees. 

 

■O who was fired from his job. (Chinese, 27 Years Old)
・Previous Exployer: Airport Hotel Front Desk

Due to the corona virus, all of the hotel’s Chinese tour groups were suddenly cancelled. Just 1 hour after this cancellation O was called into the break room and told to pack his things. Since his firing he has been able to return to a previous employer as a contract employee, but O wants to find a new fulltime job as soon as possible. 

O is glad he was able to return to his previous employer but isn’t thrilled to be a contract employee, as he knows he could lose this as well job again at any time. At his hotel job O experienced some serious workplace discrimination. As a result he is afraid to rush the process on finding new work as he might end up in a similar situation. 

 

■S who had her job offer revoked. (Taiwanese, 23 Years Old)
・Job Offer Previously Received: Café Worker

S doesn’t know whether or not the exact reason her offer was revoked was because of corona virus. She got a sudden phone call telling her the company was revoking her offer without any explanation. S, having lost a lot confidence in her ability to find work in Japan, has decided to temporarily return home to Taiwan. 

S is very worried about her ability to find work here,  but does want to try live in Japan again. 

 

 We have also put out a press release about this crowd funding campaign. Our free recruiting service begins in March 24^th.

If we do not reach out 1 million yen goal we won’t receive anything and will be deep in the red.  

 

 Speaking frankly, even with everyone’s support, this effort has almost no upside for us and the more we introduce people the more dire our situation will get. 

 

However, we cannot just turn away from the people suffering like those above. It is precisely because this situation is so precarious that we have to help them. When all this is over we want to have contributed to a Japan where they can thrive and where foreigners and Japanese people can understand themselves a little better. 

 

 

By helping talented foreigners remain here in Japan, we can help get rid of prejudice and discrimination and in doing so we can support Japan’s future.  

By completing this project we can improve the lives of foreign workers in Japan in 2 major ways.  

 

The first point is that by introducing foreigners this campaign will be an opportunity for companies hesitating to hire foreign staff to see their potential and abilities.  In doing so we believe that it will reduce the discrimination and biases in the Japanese workplace and expand the job opportunities for foreigners.  

 

 The second point is that in the corona virus panic if those companies that are still hiring continue to grow through the economic depression, after the epidemic more positions will be available to foreigners in comparatively strong companies.

 

 The situation for foreigners in Japan is quite difficult right now, but we are going to support them so that they can turn this into a chance for growth and overcome this hardship.

 

 We will continue towards our goal of reducing the prejudice and discrimination in Japan and creating opportunities to empower Japan even as the population continues to decline. 

 

But we can’t do it without your support. 

 

 

 Project Member Introductions

■Tomohiro Kitauji (crobo Co., Ltd CEO)

This story is from when I was studying abroad in Canada. One day a friend and I were up late drinking at my house when he turned to me and said “If I hadn’t met you I might have always hated Japan. I’m really glad we met.”

This experience had a large impact on crobo’s mission as well as my own life philosophy. 

Through this project I hope to help those foreigners that wish to remain in Japan avoid forced repatriation,  and do everything I can to create a world without prejudice or discrimination. 

 

■Charley Yoshimura (crobo Co., Ltd. COO)

My father’s family immigrated to the United States generations ago. However, regardless of the fact that I was born and raised in New York City and that both of my parents are native English speakers I was often seen as a “foreigner” in school. Even though I did not speak a single word of Japanese I was often called the “Japanese” guy. Growing up in that environment I often thought that I would be accepted in Japan, and when I graduated from university I came straight here. 

However, things did not go as I had imagined.  No matter where I went I was told “Yoshimura” didn’t fit me as a last name. That was how it was, but now I have found friends, a life and a career and have made my own place in Japan. 

It is precisely because I am thought of as a foreigner wherever I go that I am working to help others make their way in Japan by introducing them to careers. I hope to, through my efforts to introduce foreigners to work in Japan, help eradicate prejudice and discrimination from the world. 

 

■Ryoki Azuma (crobo Co., Ltd. Intern)

As a student I have had the opportunity to travel to many countries and make friends all around the world. Among those friends many are already studying, working or want to come to work here in Japan. However, although many of my friends love Japan and dream about coming here, I also hear about cases of foreigners being forced into bad working conditions or enduring human rights violations in the Japanese workplace.  Due to the spread of the corona virus there are also many cases of foreigners losing their jobs and being forced to return to their countries of origin. I joined this project because I want to change that situation. I hope that through this project we can have companies experience the validity of hiring foreigners, while simultaneously helping foreigners find work that makes them happy to have come to Japan and create a win-win opportunity during this difficult time. 

 

 

About the Return

3,000YEN

 Thank you e-mail

・A thank you e-mail from us here at crobo.

・Your name featured on our website (upon request). 

 

10,000YEN

 Video Message from our job applicants

・A thank you e-mail from us here at crobo.

・Your name featured on our website (upon request).

・A video message from those you helped find work. 

 

30,000YEN

 Video Message from our job applicants 

& your picture/logo posted on our website

・A thank you e-mail from us here at crobo.

・Your name or company name featured on our website (upon request).

・A video message from those you helped find work. 

 

50,000YEN

A letter of thanks from our job applicants

・A thank you e-mail from us here at crobo.

・Your name or company name featured on our website (upon request).

・A video message from those you helped find work. 

・A thank you letter from those you helped find work.

 

100,000YEN

An interview article with you!

・A thank you e-mail from us here at crobo.

・Your name or company name featured on our website (upon request).

・A video message from those you helped find work. 

・A thank you letter from those you helped find work.

・An interview article with you uploaded to our website (upon request).