Bangladeshi tech expertise heads to Japan’s north to Sapporo expat scene

SAPPORO, Japan — He has come a great distance from Dhaka, however Mohammed Julkarnaine, a 32-year-old from Bangladesh who moved to this northern Japanese metropolis to work in software program improvement, appears completely satisfied to name it house.

“I have been in a position to work in synthetic intelligence,” he mentioned. “And I have not seen any crime.”

Data know-how engineers like Julkarnaine, now in excessive demand amid a world battle for expertise, have performed a significant position within the latest rise in Sapporo’s inhabitants of overseas nationals — the third-fastest amongst Japan’s 20 main cities.

Bangladesh is a major contributor to this pool of expertise.

House to just a little greater than a tenth of the inhabitants of neighbor India, the nation punches above its weight on the subject of IT, with about half of the 500,000 college college students who graduate there every year going into the sector. Bangladesh despatched about 700,000 staff overseas in 2018 and once more in 2019.

Most of the 163 who got here to Japan in 2018 settled in Sapporo. Julkarnaine earns 5 occasions his previous revenue at his present employer Suncreer, which develops AI-powered methods for nursing care. Whereas he got here to Japan alone, he talks on-line together with his household again in his house nation virtually day-after-day.

Well-known for ramen and its annual snow pageant, Sapporo is Japan’s fifth-largest metropolis, with a inhabitants of 1.97 million. The town’s overseas inhabitants numbered 14,956 as of Jan. 1, in response to official information — a rise of almost 6,000 from 2013, the earliest yr for which comparable statistics can be found. The tally might have declined this yr owing to journey restrictions imposed to curb the unfold of the coronavirus.

The town’s Bangladeshi inhabitants is believed to quantity about 100, coming in behind just a few different locations in Japan, together with Tokyo and Miyazaki. The neighborhood is close-knit, with many connecting on Fb and different social media to share details about such matters as shopping for hard-to-find substances.

Noritsugu Suzuki, a supervisor at system developer Techno-Labo, provided excessive reward for Bangladeshi staff after hiring one for the primary time beneath a program arrange by the Japan Worldwide Cooperation Company.

“They’re critical and passionate,” Suzuki mentioned. “We’re brief on IT engineers from each Japan and overseas, so it is a large assist.”

Mossarrat Samma Tasnim, a 28-year-old AI specialist from Bangladesh who moved to Sapporo in April 2019, is among the many firm’s workers. A fan of such widespread manga as “Naruto,” “Demise Be aware” and “Fullmetal Alchemist,” Tasnim mentioned she had determined that if she was going to stay overseas, it might be in Japan.

“I needed to stay someplace that wasn’t scorching and crowded like Dhaka,” she mentioned.

Tasnim joined Techno Labo as a part of its seek for expertise, whereas her husband relocated to Japan along with her, abandoning his educating job. She lives a full life right here, becoming a member of up with a bunch of fellow Bangladeshis at Hokkaido College and visiting passion outlets within the leisure district of Susukino for anime merchandise.

The district with the most important overseas inhabitants in Sapporo is Kita Ward, house to Hokkaido College, which has produced a number of tech startups. The town’s rising international repute as a analysis heart is drawing expertise from overseas.

Whereas a lot of Japan’s enterprise tends to be concentrated in Tokyo and Osaka, international communications networks have made residing in these cities much less needed than it as soon as was.

Mohammed Julkarnine at work at his AI software program improvement job in Sapporo. (Photograph by Toru Takahashi)

Workers from Bangladesh, China, Jordan, Singapore and Thailand sit facet by facet on the workplaces of Hokkaido College-affiliated AI startup Chowa Giken, the place the official languages are English and Japanese.

Jordan-born Mohammad Saeed Samara joined the corporate in August, leaving his earlier job at a Japanese trucking firm. He earned a grasp’s diploma and doctorate from the College of Tokyo and is keen to advance his profession in Japan.

“I’ve plenty of freedom in my job, and my residing area is bigger and extra snug” than earlier residences in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures close to Tokyo, he mentioned, including that his pay can also be about 10% greater at Chowa Giken.

Co-worker Sei Sou graduated from a college within the northern Chinese language metropolis of Dalian earlier than finishing her grasp’s and doctorate research at Hokkaido College. She settled down in Sapporo, the place she appreciates the number of buying accessible and town’s lack of crowding in contrast with Tokyo and Osaka.

“I lived in Dalian. I do not like the warmth,” Sou mentioned. “I am fortunate I discovered a job that is in Sapporo, the place plenty of my associates from graduate college are, and carefully associated to my analysis matters.”

The Japanese best of working near house is beginning to change because the coronavirus pandemic retains staff out of their workplaces. Suncreer President Masato Mori expects that to strengthen future hiring of overseas expertise.

“Telecommuting has gained floor because the coronavirus has unfold, and limits on the place individuals can work have disappeared,” Mori mentioned.

If present traits proceed, it might be no shock to discover a Little Dhaka in Sapporo in one other decade. The town’s budding internationalization is just not stopping at simply IT engineers, however spreading to most of the workplaces that assist Sapporo’s economic system.