Hi, I’m Bogdan Parhomenko! - “Interview with my grandfather”

Hi, I’m Bogdan Parhomenko. I was born in Ukraine and raised in Japan, currently living in Kiev. I would like to tell the people in Japan about the current situation and history of Ukraine, our concerns and the latest updates from Ukraine.


This is my 1st post on Note and it features the interview with my grandfather. The original video was released on Mar. 11th 2022 on my YouTube channel “BOGDAN in Ukraine”.

Bogdan:
Today my grandfather is joining us to share his stories with us. This is my grandpa, Vladimir.It’s March 11th, so we want to focus more on the “family bond”, instead of Ukraine.

He is a scientist and he was a representative of Ukraine for the United Nations around 1990, right before the collapse of Soviet Union. He also served as the minister of education for Ukraine. His speciality is the plasma and he’s made many important inventions and holds patents. I think the technologies he’s invented are now used a lot by Japanese electronic appliances makers.

Now I would like to have a few words from my grandpa.

Vladimir:
First of all, I would like to thank you. I thank you, the people of Japan, the land of rising sun, for paying close attention to Ukraine. I thank you, the people remaining in Ukraine, the people fighting for Ukraine, and the younger people. Japan is a very technically advanced country and is a special country to me. I thank you, Japan.

I’ve made speeches on many occasions, talked with many people, but I feel especially anxious today.

I’m 88 years old and I’m still working.I write thesis, I work as an editor for scientific magazines - I work very actively. I like that my grandsons (Bogdan and Stephan) are very active just like me.

I worked as a professor at Universities so I am used to talking to people. I focus on research about knowledge and information and I think that people are at the center of this and is what connects this all together. I think this is the most important thing.

And I feel now we are in the process where the “new type of human race” are being brought into the world. People with new awareness, people with new culture.

I consider our communication with you here as a part of the process, and I feel honored to be a part of this.

Japan is a country with culture and trust. I feel more proud of our country, Ukraine, in a way, partly for what’s happening now. It’s ironic though, but I hope this will lead to the better in the end.

We feel some sort of tension right now, because it feels like the world is sending us a signal to tell us to “change” not only to Ukraine but the whole world.

So I think my actions need to harmonize and resonate with the law of nature. How should we take actions to grow into a person in line with the new law of nature?

I’m writing a new thesis on this as I want to share this sort of ideas with others.

Grandfather, when younger

I may be speaking too much but please allow me to continue a little bit more.

Up to now we have been evolving around the monetary values and materialism, but we are hitting the limit with this type of evolution. So now we need to grow in spiritual aspect. That’s the process I feel we are in. We have to change our perspectives, instead of focusing on materialism.

We need to be aware that the human race is part of the environment called the earth, not that we are a special spiecie, and transform our systems to allow ourselves to receive good flows as a part of the environment.

For the ages to come, people receive respects from others for “achieving something”, not for “having stuff”. This is a very important thing and I feel big changes in people’s values.

Someone with creative talents, someone with foresights, someone with self-trust…

We have to build new ways of thinking completely different from the materialism we have evolved up to now.  For that, changes are required for the systems as well as the actions of each one of us. We need to change our lives and judgements. Everything needs to change drastically. I think about this sort of thing everyday.

So… well, I could go on and on, but maybe it’s better to have Bogdan ask me questions.

Bogdan: 
We will be happy to receive questions from you folks, but before that I have 2 questions myself. Here’s the 1st one. It’s March 11th, a special day for Japan, the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake.The earthquake and tsunami killed 15,900 persons. How do the Ukrainian people take this day?

Grandpa, you have been to Japan but what does “3.11” mean to you?

Vladimir:
I’ve been through the nuclear accident in Chernobyl and my daughter and grandson experienced the Great Hanshin earthquake, so I take 3.11 very seriously. I was very concerned when I heard about the earthquake in Kobe. It was not just about my daughter and grandson, but I was concerned about everyone there. At that time the communication was disrupted and I could not contact my daughter and grandson. Many sorts of information including false rumors were flying around too.

So when we heard about the Great East Japan earthquake, although it was not like me or any member of my family was there, but I felt the same as I had felt at the time of the Great Hanshin earthquake, or possibly even more tense. Of course it was not comparable to the uneasiness or tension the people in Japan felt.

But after a few days, my daughter and grandson contacted us and told us how nice the people in Japan were to them. Me and my wife felt very warm inside our hearts and felt very grateful to them.

Because my family was strangers to them but they accepted my family like their own family. They provided them with a house to live in, food to eat and lots of others they needed. We saw what they did for them, and I think we are making the most of the experiences here and now.

What’s happening here is very similar to the situations of the great earthquakes in Japan in the sense that we are willingly doing what we can do. We do what each one of us can do.

It’s the same in Ukraine now. I’d like to share with you a few examples.

Right now restrictions are in place as to where and when we can go, and what we can get. This means there’s less we can do for other people, but there is no restriction to our mind and thoughts.

2 days ago, I got a call from a friend living in a city called Liviv near the border with Poland. That person gave me 4 telephone numbers, telling me to call anytime.

It’s not like I would ask for help right now, but this sort of thoughtfulness is very precious.

For examples I feel nervous when the siren goes off. It gives me negative thoughts and shakes me. Caring offer like this is a very good support to me in a situation like this.

Speaking of what we can do now, it was the International Women’s Day 3 days ago. Normally I give flowers to ladies like my wife and daughter on this day, but being at war I thought it would not be possible to give them flowers, but my grandsons (Bogdan and Stephan) found flowers and gave them to my wife and daughter.

Mother and my dog, Yorka. Tulips to Vlada, my brother Stephan’s girlfriend

I feel grateful to them, for carrying on the culture despite the situation we are in.

Another good story.

A few days ago a neighbor brought us a paining. It had a signature and says “to my favorite neighbor”. I felt so warm seeing this.

When the war started, I was at a country house in the suburb, and on my way back to Kiev, I encountered another heart warming experience. We had to go through barricades and checkpoints when coming back by car, but soldiers there were very nice to us. I felt love though we are at war.

“Could you wait for 5 minutes?”

“Could you wait a little more? We’ll let you out as soon as ready.”

They spoke very politely to us.

This is similar to the mutual help you do when you had big earthquakes in Japan.

I feel lucky that I’ve been to Japan many times in the past. These experiences allow me to notice common points between Japan and Ukraine.

Japanese people are proud of Japan. Ukrainian people are also proud of Ukraine.

That’s one thing we have in common.

This will bring us many good things going forward, making progress.

Grandfather, grandmother, my mother in her childhood

Reliability and trust Japan has from the rest of the world. It’s a great thing that Japan has earned this. I feel delighted that you have this quality.

If we see a bigger picture, the Great East Japan earthquake, the Great Hanshin earthquake and what’s happening here in Ukraine now, I think perhaps all of these may be happening to reset the old.

Old customs, old systems. Things we believed were still functioning. To break all these old.

It looks as if world peace or the orders are being protected by the old systems like the United Nations or NATO, but all of these will be reset through this crisis.

My grandchildren and great grandchildren are all in Ukraine, and Ukraine is facing a big adversity.

A life changing, big adversity.

Now many things are changing. For example, I believe it is virtually the first time for Japan to accept refugees on this large scale.

Our conventional wisdom is being defied.

Here, many Ukraine who were working in other European countries before the war, are now back in Ukraine and joining the military, and for that we don’t have enough supplies like bullet proof jackets or helmets. We are very grateful to the supports from other countries including Japan. Switzerland broke their neutrality for the first time and said “Russia is bad for doing this”.

Just like this, new rules are being created everywhere in the world.

The important thing is support and understanding with love. This will enhance our heart, intelligence, creativity and strength.

(Continued)