Social Platform Pulling for Ukraine: Japan

I'm trying to make a blob of sushi.

This Japanese social media site was set up to promote cultural exchange with overseas users.

The focus is livestreamed videos from around the world on a range of topics.

Since its debut in January 2022, the service has already acquired over 17 thousand paying subscribers.

But only a month after the platform's launch, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine...

Forcing over seven million Ukrainian citizens to flee the conflict into neighboring countries.

To help the site's Ukrainian user base, founder Okamoto Hiroki mobilized to support evacuees.

They are our valued comrades.

When the crisis began, we started to
think about how we could support them.

The first step they took was support for platform users seeking to reach Japan.

Ukrainian streamer, and student of Japanese, Tetiana Dozhuk arrived in Tokyo in April.

I’m just so grateful and touched.

I never expected to receive support
from such a faraway country.

The site has also taken evacuated Ukrainian streamers to tourist destinations across Japan to experience the local culture.

By the moat of Matsumoto Castle, they find a signboard in Ukrainian colors, presenting a message of peace.

It makes me so happy
to see the Ukrainian flag.

And passage to Japan isn't the only support provided by the platform.

They're also leveraging the power of social media to help provide a stable income for those affected inside and outside Ukraine.

This time on Sharing the Future, we follow a Japanese social media platform working to assist those affected by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

In early April, evacuee Tetiana Dozhuk arrived in Romania, Ukraine's southern neighbor.

To secure paperwork for a journey to Japan, she crossed the border and traveled to the capital, Bucharest.

Dozhuk's journey was supported by a Japanese video streaming social media platform named Omusubi Channel.

The name of the service plays on both traditional Japanese riceballs, and the concept of connecting people.

It carries video content from almost 600 streamers in some 84 countries and regions around the world...

Providing a chance for users to learn about different cultures in both English and Japanese.

Thank you very much.

There's also a real time chat function.

Amazing! Thanks for sharing your famiy recipe.

Thank you for joining my stream!

The majority of users, based in Japan, each pay 750 yen a month for the opportunity to interact with overseas streamers and learn about their culture.

Among the platform's earliest streamers, Tetiana Dozhuk even finds time for a broadcast while awaiting her travel papers in Romania.

I've never been to Japan.

I've never been to Japan.

And a Japanese-born fellow streamer based in France came to assist with her visa application.

I'm coming to Japan thanks to Omusubi Channel and their help.

This video streaming service now engaged in the relief effort for Ukrainian evacuees was founded by Okamoto Hiroki.

First of all, I just thought we had to
try and help our own users.

Then, I also realized the need to look
after them once they arrive here.

We want to help them however we can.

April 19, and Tetiana Dozhuk finally arrives in Japan.

Okamoto is there in person to welcome her at the airport.

Her flight and other expenses for her stay in Japan have been covered by donations from Omusbi Channel shareholders and management.

Dozhuk is the scheme's second arrival, following another compatriot who got here three weeks earlier.

- Hi, how are you?
- It's OK.

Welcome to Japan.

Having spent two years in Russia on a posting with a previous job, Okamoto makes conversation in Russian.

Drawn to Japan by her love of anime, Dozhuk has been studying Japanese for three years.

So she's thankful to be welcomed here as an evacuee.

Neighbors like Poland, Romania,
and Hungary are welcoming evacuees.

It’s amazing that Japan is too,
but I’m incredibly grateful.

From the airport, Okamoto takes Dozhuk to her own personal apartment.

To provide such accommodation, his firm partnered with an estate agent that had also announced plans to support evacuees from Ukraine.

Dozhuk will be able to use this fully furnished one-room apartment for six months free of charge.

This will be your apartment.

An initial supply of basic essentials has also been provided by Okamoto's firm.

- So this is the fridge?
- The fridge and microwave.

- And I wanted to ask about laundry.
- I’ll show you the washing machine.

He shows her how to use the communal washing machine, whose controls are all in Japanese.

This shows how much time is left:
30 minutes, 60 minutes, and so on.

Only eight days after leaving Ukraine, Dozhuk is ready to begin her new life in Japan.

A few days later, we join her on a trip to the local supermarket.

Okay, I also need milk.

Along with her own savings, she receives a stipend from the site, but she still needs to budget carefully.

And while Dozhuk has found safety in Japan, it pains her to think of the escalating violence back home.

Not even lonely but I felt guilty to leave the country by myself.

To leave the country, to leave friends and family, it was a little bit sad.

Tetiana Dohzuk was born and raised in Chernivtsi, in Western Ukraine, where she lived with her mother, father and older brother Oleksandr.

After graduating from college, she moved south to Odesa and joined a logistics firm alongside her brother.

But unfortunately, the company folded during the global pandemic.

Having always been good at English, she resolved to move into translation, and also applied herself to learning Japanese.

It was this interest that saw her sign up with Omusubi Channel from its launch in 2022.

But just as she was planning to visit the country for herself, her world was turned upside down.

"February 24, 2022
Russia commences invasion of Ukraine."

The day Russia's invasion began, Dozhuk and a friend fled Odesa by train and returned to her hometown, Chernivtsi.

But her brother Oleksandr stayed behind.

And this is us leaving for the train in Odesa.

Me, my brother.

My mom was like, "No! It's impossible! It cannot happen in 2022!

What do you mean, a war?

What do you mean, another country invading another country?"

We said goodbye to my brother which was also very sad.

And I did't want to...

take it as "goodbye."

I was like "Oh, it will be over in a few days."

No. I don't know.

I think in the train it kind of like hit you.

When you see like all the people are with their pets, with just like one backpack,

not even like all of their luggage, and...

you understand that this is serious now.

Chernivtsi, where her parents stayed behind, has yet to be attacked directly.

But since leaving, Tetiana has been sure to speak to her mother Oksana almost every day.

I worry about you being alone,
while all your family is here.

Don’t worry, everything here is fine.

I’m happy that your dream of
going to Japan has come true.

If you’re happy, then we’re happy, too.

Okay, Mama.

Thank you, Mama.

See you.

That was a bit embarrassing.

Soon after arriving in Tokyo, Dozhuk enrolls at a Japanese school.

This, too, was arranged by Okamoto, who found a school that was offering support to Ukrainian evacuees.

They agreed to provide the first three months of tuition free of charge.

Let me show you to the classroom.

To help students learn as quickly as possible, this school conducts all classes entirely in Japanese.

What food do you like?
Everyone, how about you?

I like ramen.

I like okonomiyaki and sukiyaki.

What food do you like?

What... do I... like...? Sushi.

Oh, sushi!

But with her teacher and classmates speaking faster than expected, Dozhuk is finding it hard to keep up.

Tetiana, how about you?
What astonished you about Japan?

What does "astonished" mean?

"Astonished" means "surprised."
Like, "Wow! What’s this?"

Are you OK?

And she also struggles when asked to write a sentence using Japanese kanji characters.

Hiroki, help me.

– How was it?
– It was difficult. Really difficult.

You’ll gradually get the hang of it.

Today was hard. I only got bits of it.
It’s tough to learn entirely in Japanese.

And such difficulties understanding the language are a concern for Dozhuk as she moves ahead with her life in Japan.

My only concern is not to unintentionally be rude to somebody.

Because I wouldn't like Japanese people to have a bad image on foreigners especially from Ukraine.

Late April.

To try and set Dozhuk's mind at ease, Okamoto takes her to meet some fellow Ukrainians at a gathering held with another organization supporting evacuees.

She's one of six Ukrainians at this event.

For Dozhuk, it's a relief to be able to speak to compatriots in her mother tongue.

But everybody here is shouldering a great deal of stress.

I soon got used to it here.

But I’m worried about finding a job.

A job?

Yes. I’m used to it here,
but I’m stressed about finding work.

That is a tricky issue.

For me too... I’ve studied Japanese
for three years, but I can’t speak well.

I don’t know what job I could do here.

And as the conflict in Ukraine rumbles on with no easy resolution in sight, the topic of finding work becomes a key issue for Okamoto, too.

Our support must also extend to jobs.

I’m currently speaking to firms, etc.,
who may be able to provide work.

It was seven years ago that Okamoto Hiroki first had the idea of promoting cultural exchange between Japan and overseas.

Having long been interested in other cultures, he studied Russian at university, inspired by the country's projected economic growth.

After graduation, he joined a major corporation, which sent him to Russia for two years.

I met lots of people, and they all loved
Japan. Some were studying Japanese.

None had been to Japan, so their
motivation for Japanese surprised me.

But despite their motivation to study, most had few opportunities to interact with Japanese people.

To try and help forge such links, he left his job to focus on launching a service dedicated to promoting cultural exchange.

Then, in 2020, the pandemic hit, and opportunities for direct interaction between Japan and overseas diminished even further.

Against that backdrop, in January 2022, he launched Omusubi Channel.

Japan’s borders were closed.

And that reduced opportunities to
interact with Japanese people.

Or study Japanese here in Japan.

Our service began as a way to offer
such opportunities on a digital platform.

And while these evacuees came to Japan under difficult circumstances, cultural exchange remains a key focus for Okamoto.

Today, Dozhuk is joined by Olha Voitsekhovska, another Ukrainian streamer the company supported in evacuating to Japan.

They pay a visit to a vocational school for people with disabilities.

As a gesture of solidarity with Ukraine, the center's 40 students and staff have folded over four thousand paper cranes in Ukrainian colors, to send to the country's embassy in Tokyo.

Folding "origami" cranes is a traditional Japanese way to pray for peace or recovery from illness.

They are threaded en masse onto strings to be hung up at the embassy.

- What do you think?
- They’re so beautiful.

And Dozhuk and Voitsekhovska join in the prayer for peace by folding some cranes of their own.

- That’s the most difficult part.
- Excellent. Perfect.

- Hang on...
- You’re doing fine.

That’s it!

They’re lovely, but very hard to make.
So, I’m so grateful for this gesture.

They even made them in Ukrainian colors!

And for these cross-continental evacuees, it's been heartening to see how many people in Japan are praying for peace in their home country.

Sunflowers!

Mid May, and Okamoto pays a visit to Poland, Ukraine's western neighbor.

There seem to be a lot of evacuees
from Ukraine here. Especially kids.

Poland is actually the primary destination for Ukrainian evacuees, and Okamoto is here to try and expand a new support initiative.

He's assisted by Ukrainian streamer Mariya-Anna Panchyshyn who evacuated here in February and is staying with a local friend.

We want to help streamers who are
learning Japanese evacuate to Japan.

But it’s also crucial to provide income
for those in Ukraine or neighbor states.

And I feel we can contribute in that area.

The platform has a feature that allows viewers to send donations to streamers.

Users purchase virtual items within the platform.

Which they can send to streamers whose content they enjoy, with the items appearing on screen in real time.

Streamers receive a set number of points per item, which can then be exchanged for cash.

And Okamoto has recently supplemented this with another feature intended to support evacuees from Ukraine.

It's a new system under which Ukrainian streamers receive eight dollars for every hour of live content they provide.

So even without individual user donations, they can use the platform to help secure a stable income.

He visits four refugee centers in Poland to encourage evacuees to sign up.

Our project is called Omusubi Channel.
I’d like to show you a video.

- The streams are for Japanese viewers?
- That’s right.

- About life in other countries, etc.?
- Yes, and also cultural topics.

Can you really get many donations
just by streaming live content?

But while some express interest, Okamoto realizes a new issue.

With most evacuees staying in communal centers, there's nowhere to stream without disturbing those around them.

To solve this, Okamoto teams up with a local company introduced by a friend...

To establish a streaming studio close to the evacuation center.

I’ve come to this office that has agreed
to loan us a space for streamers.

Here is the streaming room.

They’re letting us use it for free,
so I’m very grateful.

And his trip has seen the number of Ukrainian streamers increase from 10 to 70.

Early June, 2022.

It's now one month since Tetiana Dozhuk arrived in Japan.

She's making determined headway with her Japanese writing skills.

Studying Japanese in Japan is very helpful.

I already see results when people in the shops and the banks understand at least a little bit.

I'm very happy.

And she's also expanded her circle of friends.

After today's Japanese lesson, she and her classmates head off to get some ramen together.

What do you say before eating?

"Itadakimasu."

- "Itadakimasu."
- "Atadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu."

Little by little, she's finally getting used to life in Japan.

And upon his return from Poland, Okamoto contacts Dozhuk with news of a possible job opportunity.

He accompanies her to this English school in Tokyo.

Having studied English since the age of 10, Dozhuk is keen to leverage those skills somehow.

And while looking for businesses keen to assist Ukrainian evacuees, Okamoto was contacted by this English school run by an acquaintance.

Do you have a training period?

Actually, terms of the training will be split into 12 hours, 12 hours split in three days.

The first five hours; initial training, second five hours; onboarding.

We would like you to start teaching slowly.

Having heard the details of the position, she's keen to start as soon as possible.

I really want to work.

I hope we can get to a stage where
you can support yourself financially.

I’m glad to see you nearing that goal.

I’m so grateful you found
this school for me.

Thank you so much.

Lately, Dozhuk has been coming to this nearby temple in her spare time.

She comes to pray for the safety of her family in Ukraine.

At the end of the day, I still remember my family and call my family. And it's like...

It brings me back that the war is not over, that my parents and people in Ukraine are still in danger.

So... I don't know. The worry never goes away.

I'm just hoping that the war ends soon, and I will stop worrying about my family, and then I can totally fully enjoy Japan.

And Okamoto Hiroki is seeking to further expand the use of his platform to support those in need.

I hope Omusubi Channel can become
a platform to help people in need.

Not just for people from Ukraine, but
to support those facing various issues.

That’s what I want us to provide.

And this social media-based network of cultural exchange and mutual support looks set to keep on growing.