“Japan’s government, like those elsewhere, has warned its citizens against travel to Ukraine”
“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.Motomura took a first trip to Ukraine just two months after Russia’s invasion, initially carrying supplies for refugees and the displaced. Georgian Legion commander Mamuka Mamulashvili told AFP the unit currently counts eight Japanese among troops from 33 nationalities in its ranks.
Last year, Japan confirmed a citizen who was reportedly a former member of the country’s military had been killed in combat in Ukraine. Motomura has helped recruit others to the cause, with Kenjiro Miyamori, a former cook, telling AFP he was inspired by him to join the legion. She developed a mental illness after escaping his abusive father, and he left school to take care of her, he said.