A small determined group has ignored that advice. Japan's government, like those elsewhere, has warned its citizens against travel to Ukraine. While many of the foreign fighters who have flocked to Ukraine from other countries come with military and combat experience, Japan's unique constitutional constraints mean its volunteers start as absolute novices.Īnd when Ukraine's embassy in Tokyo initially called for volunteers to join the fight - echoing an invitation by Zelenskyy for foreign support - it quickly retracted it. "They are very motivated, very disciplined and easily master the training they are undergoing now," he said. Georgian Legion commander Mamuka Mamulashvili told AFP the unit currently counts eight Japanese among troops from 33 nationalities in its ranks. He is not the legion's first recruit from Japan, and his acceptance was eased by a compatriot, who goes by Haru-san and has acknowledged previously belonging to the yakuza - the Japanese mafia. He was determined to find a place among the country's fighters, and after several trips was accepted into the Georgian Legion, which includes many foreign members. Motomura took a first trip to Ukraine just two months after Russia's invasion, initially carrying supplies for refugees and the displaced. "By fighting for Ukraine, I could prove it with more than just words."
"I've always felt that I'm someone who is more socially conscious than other people realize," he told AFP as he prepared to leave Japan for the conflict. Still, Motomura said he was immediately captivated by the idea of fighting in Ukraine when he saw President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talking about "defending our independence, our country". Japan's military is constitutionally limited to defense and has not fought since World War II. The 45-year-old is one of a handful of Japanese men who have joined Ukrainians battling the Russian invasion, defying their government's warnings and bucking a decades-long national principle of pacifism. Yuya Motomura, a mahjong parlor manager in Japan, had always wanted a way to prove himself to a society he felt looked down on him.
0 kommentar(er)
