Following Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi’s travel to Poland, twenty Ukrainians arrived in Tokyo on a government jet on Tuesday, as Japan cautiously welcomes those escaping Moscow’s incursion.

While it has opened its doors to Ukrainians, it refers to them as “evacuees” rather than refugees. Japan generally takes only a few dozen refugees per year from thousands of applicants.

Hayashi flew with the 20 Ukrainians from Poland, where he was on a multi-day journey to help Kyiv as it fights Russia’s invasion.

“We learned there were several people who sincerely wished to evacuate to Japan, but had difficulty in securing travel means on their own,” top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said in a press conference on Tuesday.

“From a humanitarian point of view, 20 of these people were invited to fly on a government plane.”

According to Matsuno, 404 more Ukrainians have arrived in Japan since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a plan to accept individuals fleeing the conflict last month.

They are not, however, classified as refugees, which would allow them to stay in the country for at least five years before seeking for more permanent residency.

Instead, the “evacuees” are given a 90-day visa that can be extended to a year with work authorization.

Japan has joined strong Western sanctions against Russia as a result of its invasion, and on Tuesday offered an additional $100 million in humanitarian aid for Kyiv, following a $100 million commitment to Ukraine and its neighbors announced last month.

Out of roughly 4,000 applicants in 2020, Japan admitted only 47 refugees and 44 people on humanitarian grounds, and rights groups have long accused Tokyo of doing too little to assist those escaping conflict.

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