One year passed

Towards 24th Feb, Japanese news, magazines, newspapers, TV, online news etc.. all were talking about the war

It felt like a certain pressure was gradually built up, as if some big day was approaching

This really reminded me of March 2012

A huge earthquake hit Japan in 2011, caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster & 11 March 2012 was the day of 1-year anniversary

And towards this day, quite intense tight air was increasing nationwide back then

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On 24th Feb morning, all Japan's major newspaper's front pages were about this war

The same went to online news, TV

Earthquake was Japan's domestic incident

this war isn't

But still many in this country hold an attention

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Recently watched a plenty of videos about Ukrainians who escaped to Japan & have lived since then

What I firstly noticed was the focus shift. Now the reports focus on more of their long-term plan & life here in Japan

which made sense, as even after 1 year the war still continues and they have to consider a possibility of long-term stay

I myself lived in some countries in Europe, and so their life in Japan is kind of an opposite case (= Europeans living in Japan)

But it's extremely hard, or highly likely impossible for me to imagine how their life is like here

I went abroad on my own will

And most importantly, I knew I could come back to Japan whenever I wished so

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One video left me a vivid impression

It's about a mother & her daughter from Kyiv, currently living in Tokyo

The reason a mother chose this far-away-country of Japan was unusual & unique, but actually it is the reason that only a Ukrainian person can use

Her daughter, around 17 y.o., had an interest in radiation & nuclear due to the Chernobyl disaster

And since Japan experienced the same nuclear catastrophe in 2011 in Fukushima, she thought she can study radiation & nuclear here, and in the future she wants to find the safe way to use the nuclear

This mother had no relation & no knowledge about Japan, but in order to realise her daughter's dream, she decided to come to Japan

.........Probably there are more of such young people who try to get the light out of darkness

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March started & gradually 11th March is approaching

12 years will have passed, but still many families are looking for their loved ones' remains/bones, who died by Tsunami waves in Fukushima

For the past few days, stories about these people started to appear on news sites/newspapers. Certainly will increase towards 11th

Even after 12 years, their pain of grief continues

......Japan, Ukraine, Fukushima, Chernobyl, anniversary, nuclear, man-made catastrophes, grief & dreams of young people......many things are overlapping