Donations for Ukrainians increasing rapidly in Japan

Jiji Press

15:41 JST, March 2, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Donations for supporting people in Ukraine, under attack by Russia, are increasing at an unusually rapid pace in Japan.

The amount of money donated to the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo, nonprofit organizations and other entities is already large compared with donations made in response to natural disasters and other crises in the past.

A total of some ¥2 billion was donated from over 60,000 people by Tuesday to a bank account that the Ukrainian Embassy opened on Friday shortly after Russia fully began its invasion of Ukraine.

Donors have posted messages, such as “I hope I can be of help no matter how little,” through their Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The embassy expressed its “heartfelt gratitude to Japanese friends” for giving support to Ukrainians when they are in trouble.

In a meeting Tuesday with Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Kenta Izumi, Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky said he really feels the impact of support from Japanese people.

Explaining that the money will be used for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction projects, the ambassador expressed hope that the war will end as soon as possible.