27 Myanmar refugees complete resettlement training program

TOKYO (Kyodo) - Twenty-seven refugees from Myanmar, who arrived in Japan from Thailand last fall under a U.N.-promoted third country resettlement program, completed a six-month orientation and language training program sponsored by the Japanese government on Wednesday.
During a ceremony to mark the end of the training program, the refugees, wearing traditional clothing, received certificates. A male refugee said he will ''work hard to begin a new life'' in Japan, while a woman expressed her hope that Japan will continue to accept refugees under the resettlement program.
Following the orientation program, the ethnic Karen families will work as farmers in Chiba and Mie prefectures. The 27 are the first of 90 Myanmar refugees that the Japanese government will accept from Mera camp in northwestern Thailand near the border with Myanmar over three years from 2010 under a pilot program.
Many of the 27 Myanmar refugees are now able to engage in everyday conversation in Japanese and write Chinese characters. They also learned how to separate trash for recycling.
Japan is the first Asian country to introduce the resettlement scheme, which is designed to help people who have fled human rights abuses and find it hard to settle or return home.