Library with Ukrainian-Language Books for Evacuees Established by Ukrainian Woman

By Shinsuke Yasuda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

6:00 JST, July 10, 2025

A private library in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, started by a Ukrainian woman and featuring Ukrainian-language books, has become a place of respite for Ukrainians who have fled the war and are now taking shelter in Japan. The books have been collected through various channels.

The library was established by Dariia Murakami, 41, of Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture. In 2014, she fled the military conflict occurring in her home country of Ukraine and moved to Japan.

Murakami hopes that Ukrainian evacuees in Japan will feel a sense of belonging to their homeland by reading books in their native language, even while living abroad.

The library is located in a room of an office building that is about a 10-minute walk from Shibuya Station. It has about 600 books in various genres, including fiction, history, manga and picture books, all written in Ukrainian, which are lined up in the small space and can be borrowed free of charge.

One evening in mid-May, Daniel Zahorodnii, a 17-year-old high school student who evacuated from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to Ibaraki Prefecture, was reading a book at a desk in the library. Zahorodnii, a frequent visitor to the library, said: “I like paper books. It is an important place for me as I can read books written in my native language.”

Murakami is from Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, pro-Russian armed forces occupied the city. She moved to Japan that summer at the suggestion of a friend from Donetsk who was already living in Japan.

At first, Murakami did not understand Japanese, so she had a hard time with everyday life, such as finding a job and shopping. She gathered necessary information from communities of foreigners on social media and other sources to organize her life, and eventually found a job as a restaurant cook.

In Japan, she gave birth to her daughter, Eva, who is now 7. She currently works as a kindergarten teacher.

When Russia began its aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Murakami started helping evacuees from Ukraine, such as by distributing daily necessities.

“No one helped me [when arriving in Japan], so I wanted to help people from my country who were facing difficulties,” she said.

Upon hearing that many evacuees wanted to read books in Ukrainian, Murakami asked for advice from Mariko Ukiyo, who heads the Japanese Organization of Mental Health and Educational Agencies, based in Shibuya Ward.

The organization established a mental care and exchange center for Ukrainian evacuees in May 2022. The center is called “Himawari.” Since then, the center has organized exchange events for evacuees, given counseling and provided mental health care. Murakami met Ukiyo at an event supporting Ukrainian evacuees.

Thinking that reading books helps calm people’s mind, Ukiyo decided to cooperate in Murakami’s library project, allowing her to use a room in the organization’s office. The library opened in the autumn of that year.

Murakami asked a friend who works at a bookstore in Ukraine to put a donation box in the store for people to donate money for book purchases. To increase the number of books, she has also called for book donations on social media and purchased books at her own expense.

The library has gradually become known among evacuees. Now, even people living outside Tokyo contact the library to borrow books. The library also hosts book clubs as well as events featuring Ukrainian writers that it invites.

Three years have passed since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine started. U.S. President Donald Trump has stepped in to mediate. Regarding the situation, Murakami said she wants victory and children must never be killed or kidnapped again.

Murakami also maintains that Ukrainian literature should not be overshadowed by Russian literature. “I’ll make efforts to make it better known by Japanese people through events and other measures,” she said.

The library is located on the seventh floor of the Sanwa Aoyama Building at 2-9-9, Shibuya, Shibuya Ward. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. For inquiries, call Himawari at (050) 3612-7559.