On the 24th of this month, it will be one year since Russia began its military invasion of Ukraine.
In Tokyo, people who had evacuated to Japan from Ukraine talked about their current state of mind.
The event was organized by The Nippon Foundation, which supports people evacuated to Japan from Ukraine, inviting three groups of evacuees.
Of these, Olga Vdovenko, who came to Japan with relatives in March last year and gave birth to a daughter four months later, said, "I came to Japan to safely give birth to my child, but at first I wanted to return early. However, after about half a year, I got used to life in Japan, and now I can live my life with peace of mind.”
Ms. Rubidjanska Villa, who evacuated with her husband last May, said about her life in Japan, "The language barrier is so big that I can't communicate as I would like, so I need to study Japanese more." However, learning new words is also a joy in life."
According to the results of a questionnaire survey of 750 evacuees published by The Nippon Foundation in December last year, about half of the respondents answered that they "can hardly speak or understand Japanese", and that they have been living as evacuees for a long time. One of the challenges is how to proceed with support for learning Japanese.