“Building a bridge between Ukraine and Japan! “

I’ve interviewed Nastya, who is a graduate student at Nagasaki University majoring in Global Humanities and Social Science.
She posts on X about Ukrainian culture and lots of pictures that were taken when she enjoyed Japanese culture. Recently, she started an online shop UA.Designer.

First, could you tell me the reason why you have started posting on X about Ukraine culture in Japanese?

It all started when I introduced myself to a Japanese student, “I’m from Ukraine.” and I was told “It must be tough.”
Ukraine is such a beautiful country, but many people in Japan only know about Ukraine because of the war. Ukrainian culture is sometimes mistakenly introduced to Japan as Russian culture. That is why I decided to start posting about Ukraine cultures on X in Japanese accurately.

You post pictures of you enjoying Japan.
What did you enjoy most in Japan?

The school festival at Nagasaki University!
In Ukraine, there is no school festival like in Japan. It was great to see everyone working together to create a festival, breaking down the barriers between clubs, circles, and departments. It was such a refreshing and fun experience!

What are you researching at your graduate school?

I’m researching the differences and similarities between Japanese mythology and Ukrainian indigenous beliefs. In Japanese mythology, there are foxes. Ukrainian indigenous beliefs also have something similar to foxes.

It sounds interesting. Japan is so far from Ukraine, but there are similarities between the two countries.

By the way, is Japan known in Ukraine?

Yes. Many people know about Japan.
Japanese cartoons and animation are so famous. Japanese food, like Sushi and ramen, are so popular. Wabi-sabi (traditional Japanese aesthetic sense) is also well-known and many people love it.

Nastya san likes Japanese food. She ate a lot of rice cakes covered with sweet soybean powder in a shrine in Nagasaki city.

Recently, you started an online shop, UA.Designer.
What do you sell in the online shop?

For example, we sell Vyshyvanka. It is a traditional dress of Ukraine. Vyshyvanka has fancy decorations, but we’d like Japanese people to use them in daily life, so we have designed Vyshyvanka for Japanese people. We create and sell high-quality products because I’d like to introduce Ukraine culture to Japan.

They are all carefully hand-made.

Retaining Vishvanka's beautiful embroidery design while making it easy to use in everyday life

Lastly, what is your vision for the future?

I’d like to build a bridge between Ukraine and Japan.
I am introducing Ukraine culture to Japanese, but eventually I’d like to introduce Japanese culture to Ukrainian people.

Conclusion
Nastya san prepared with a notebook full of Japanese and even tried her best to communicate with me in Japanese. It was such a fun experience and I learned so much about Ukrainian culture. Plus, thanks to her, I gained a fresh perspective on Japanese culture as well.

INTERVIEWER：NAKAGAWA
DATE：2023.12.13