2023 Activity Report

March Activity Report

26March 2024
Global Japan Office Coordinator
HARA Masaki

【Ukraine’s Academy Award】

At this years Academy Awards held in the US, ‘Godzilla Minus One’ won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, while ‘The Boy and the Heron’ won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. I was personally very happy to see that two excellent Japanese films won awards, but there was also a Ukrainian film that won an award. ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. It is reported to be the first Ukrainian film to win an Oscar (US media outlets also cooperated in the production of this film, but it was submitted as a Ukrainian film). The director, Mstyslav Chernov, the cinematographer, Evgeniy Maloletka, and the producer, Vasilisa Stepanenko, were the last journalists remaining in the city of Mariupol, which was under seige by the Russian army. The reporting team won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for documenting the destruction of the city by the Russian military.

【Radiation-resistant Organisms】

Since the 1954 release of ‘Godzilla’, Japan has repeatedly told stories about the threat of monsters created by radioactive exposure, however, this month it was reported that radiation-resistant organisms have been discovered in Ukraine. Chornobyl (Chernobyl) has attracted worldwide attention both in 1986 when nuclear power plant disaster occurred, and in 2022 when the Russian military dug holes in an area where radioactive waste and contaminated soil were buried. It is said that living organisms that are not affected by radiation exposure have been discovered in Chornobyl.
Thankfully this organism hasn’t turned into a monster yet, but it seems that there is not a Japanese name for this organism yet either. This organism is called Oscheius tipulae, which sounds a bit like a monster. It is classified as a species of nematodes (worms) in the Rhabditida order. This organism continues to survive without being affected by radiation exposure.
According to a study led by Sophia Tintori, a postdoctoral associate at New York University, these nematodes, which live 46 kilometers from the nuclear power plant, have very different characteristics compared to other nematodes that live in other parts of Ukraine, including the fact that they are completely unaffected by radiation, both physcially and genetically.
However, these nematodes were collected and studied in 2019, before the Russian military started digging the holes where the contaminated radioactive waste is buried. Tintori has also previously reported that there are wolves living near Chornobyl, which have different genes compared to wolves from other areas, that have undergone genetic mutations that increase their ability to resist cancer.

【Thank You】

Well, this will be the final edition of this activity report, which has been uploaded to the TUFS website every month since 2017.
Since February 2022, I have tried to not cover as many political topics in the activity reports. This is because I felt that there was already a sufficient amount of political information spread throughout the Japanese-speaking world. I also assume that the readers of these activity reports are already interested in Ukraine, so they may already be aware of the war and the polictial situation.
Therefore, I thought it would be better to write about various aspects of Ukraine, not just about topics dominated by the war. However, since the war is such a big topic even in Ukraine, it was not always possible to find suitable topics for the activity report, so some months did include information about the war.
I am sure that some people may object to me avoiding writing about the war in these activity reports, however, I find it strange that there is always an expectation to write about Ukraine in relation to the war, or in comparison to Russia or other places. There is no doubt that information regarding the war is necessary, however, my reasons for including other topics is based on the assumption that this necessary information is already provided by media outlets or experts in the field. Therefore, my reasons for avoiding topics about the war are completely different from countries who are avoiding topics related to the war in order to suggest that there is no war in Ukraine.
Please note that I do not use the strict definitions of terms in these activity reports, such as the definition of ‘war’ under international law. I use the word ‘war’ purely based on my personal discretion. In this war, I have personally come to understand the anger that people feel when under missile attack. Of course, ‘angry’ is an understatement when it comes to being directly hit by missile attacks.
News about the coronavirus pandemic was huge before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but coronavirus hit the news again this month. The war continues in Ukraine, but the coronavirus pandemic also continues.
That’s all for now, but I would like to express my appreciation for everyone who has read the activity reports over the years. Thank you.

February Activity Report

29 February 2024
Global Japan Office Coordinator
HARA Masaki

【The Current Situation in Ukraine】

The 24th of February marked 2 years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This month, attacks on cities and towns across Ukraine, including Kyiv and Lviv, continue, and although the Ukrainian military has also counterattacked, fierce fighting continues, with heavy losses on both sides.
Although the war continues, a United Nations survey reports that approximately 90% of Ukrainian companies have resumed operations. According to the study, 64% of small and medium-sized enterprises ceased operations at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, but by October 2023, only 9.6% of those temporarily suspended companies remain at risk of going out of business. Whereas, in June 2022, 46.8% were at risk of going out of business. Despite the continuation of the war, it seems that companies are adapting to the situation.

Article

  • Павлиш О. 90% укра?нських компан?й в?дновили роботу з початку велико? в?йни – досл?дженн. В?второк, 20 лютого 2024, 18:33
    [https://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2024/02/20/710173/] .

Now, it seems that only 10% of people in the EU believe that Ukraine could win the war, but a survey published by the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies named after Olexander Razumkov shows that 84.8% of Ukrainians believe in Ukraine's victory, while 8.5% do not believe that Ukraine will win the war. The survey was conducted face-to-face from January the 19th to 25th, 2024, and targeted 2,000 adults (18 years and older) from all parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russian forces.
Of the respondents who answered that they believe that Ukraine can win the war, 39.8% of people said that they think the war will be won within the next 1 to 2 years, followed by 21.8% of people who think that it is difficult to answer, then 19.7% who think the war will be won this year, and finally, 14% of people saying that they think the war will be won within 3 to 5 years.

The following shows how the respondents answered the options below when asked to describe what kind of situtation they would consider to be a victory.

- The war ends but occupied territories (parts of the Kherson Oblast, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and the Donbas region) remain under Russian control (3.6%)

- The Russian army is driven back to the state of the front lines as at February 24, 2024 (areas that were already occupied before then will remain occupied) (13%)

- The Russian army will be removed from all Ukrainian territory except Crimea (7.4%)

- The Russian army is driven back to the state of the front lines as at January 2014 (38.1%)

- The Russian army is destroyed and there will be an uprising or collapse within Russia (27.3%)

- Other (1.5%)

- Difficult to answer (9.1%)

It seems that the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 is when the war first started gaining recognition worldwide, and while it was certainly an escalation, I think it can be seen that Ukrainians feel that 2014, when the Russia began illegally seizing Ukrainian territory, is the actual start of the war. I also think that the opinions of the 27.3% of respondents reflect pure anger toward Russia. Also, it seems that the view of Crimea as being separate from the rest of Ukraine is not very common.
One thing that Japanese people should take note of is that the survey's topic is "victory" (where "defeat" is the opposing alternative), rather than "the end of the war." The "end of the war" for Japan in 1945 is used as a euphemism for "defeat". I think Ukrainians today can probably sense this kind of nuance in the wording of the "end of the war," which is not necessarily a "victory". Therefore, phrases such as "I hope the war ends soon'', which are ambiguous about how the war ends, are not used in Ukrainian. This expression is grammatically the same as "I hope the rain stops soon", but Ukrainians no longer refer to war as a natural phenomenon (which can start or end with nothing to do with their thoughts or actions). I think they realize the possibility that they must participate in it somehow.

I'm not aware of whether any research has been conducted in Ukraine that compares the use of "the end of the war" and "victory/defeat," but I think we can make some inferences from the above results, although I may be wrong. First of all, I think that most people do not oppose the end of the war itself (there must be very few people who wish for the war to continue indefinitely), I would even say that the 8.5% of people who do not believe that Ukraine will win the war could potentially resonate with an option such as "I don't think we will win, but even if we lose, it would be better if the war ends quickly''. Additionally, it could be said that the 3.6% of people who define a Ukrainian victory to be an immediate ceasefire, probably also want the war to end as soon as possible. I think that it can be estimated that both of these groups of respondents, around 10% of those surveyed, or around 200 out of 2,000 people, are hoping for a "quick end to the war" in the Japanese style, without thinking about "victory or defeat". The other answers cite conditions that would require the recapture of a considerable amount of territory compared to the current situation, so they are adding conditions that will take time, so I think that it could be said that they do not fall under the category of "ending the war quickly''.

Article

January Activity Report

31 January 2024
Global Japan Office Coordinator
HARA Masaki

【What should we call ‘war’?】

It will soon be three years since Russia launched a full-scale armed invasion in February 2022. So, what should we call this incident? I don’t think it is as simple as defining the terms used, but for example, ‘war’ under international law is defined as a state of combat after there has been a declaration of war. However, if an invasion or a state of combat begins without either side declaring war on each other, then it may not be considered as a ‘war’ under international law. In Japan, there used to be a term called ‘jihen’ or ‘incident’ to refer to this kind of situation, but it seems that recently this term is no longer used. Is this because this term somehow manipulates the information to intentionally hide the fact that it is a ‘war’. On the other hand, from a military perspective, a state in which large-scale battles are taking place would be considered to be a ‘war’. In this sense, Russia’s invasion from 2022 could be considered to be a ‘war’ just based on its scale. It would also not be misleading to say that this state of ‘war’ has continued since 2014.

Well, this month there was a scandal regarding this issue with Reuters. The criticisim from Ukraine was that Reuters described the situation as the ‘Ukraine Crisis’ instead of as a ‘war’. Next to the ‘Ukraine Crisis’ was the term ‘Israel and Hamas at War’ which, in my personal opinion, makes me think that the problem may be treated differently in the West if the situation involves Jewish people. Reuters has since changed the decription to ‘Ukraine and Russia at War’ after this was pointed out by the Ukrainian news outlet ‘Ukrainska Pravda’ (Ukraine Truth). Reuters continues to refer to the situation like this at the time of writing this article.
I think the expression ‘Ukraine Crisis’ is sometimes used in Japanese media, but what exactly is the problem with this term? ‘Ukraine Truth’ explains as follows:

The term ‘Ukraine Crisis’ is used by Russian propaganda to avoid the word ‘war’. In this way, propagandists have sought to downplay the tragic nature of the situation, among other things. Additionally, ‘Ukraine Crisis’ creates the impression that it is just