Japan and Ukraine marked the other day the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. It is symbolic that President Yanukovych paid an official visit to Japan precisely a year ago, which resulted in a joint declaration on Ukrainian-Japanese global partnership. To mark this date, the two countries are holding a series of events. In particular, the Ukrainian Ambassador, Mykola Kulinich, has had a meeting with Japan’s Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kazuyuki Hamada, when the two sides exchanged greeting letters from the top leadership and foreign ministers of both states. In addition, he gave a public lecture to representatives of Japan’s business and political circles as well as of the Japanese Parliamentary Association of Japan-Ukraine Friendship. High on the meeting’s agenda were changes and achievements in the economy of Ukraine, reforms, gains and prospects in Ukrainian-Japanese cooperation. In Ukraine, the Japanese Embassy is going to hold a number of cultural events aimed at marking this anniversary.
What is perhaps the most important point is that there will be a symposium in Tokyo and a workshop in Fukushima Prefecture with participation of Ukrainian experts and academics who will be speaking on CIS countries’ experience in and technologies for rehabilitating and recovering the environment after the nuclear disaster in Japan.
During a sojourn in Japan, the author met Mykola Kulinich, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Japan, who told in an exclusive interview about the gains of cooperation and the common cultural codes of the Japanese and the Ukrainians.
Mr. Ambassador, what has been done in the two decades of bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Japan and what are the further cooperation plans?
“It is a short time for Japan, but, for us, 20 years is the lifetime of a country. I was in fact the first diplomat who opened the embassy in Japan, and my family and I had come here in 1994. The embassy was opened on March 23, 1995. I can remember noting in my first report that the trade turnover between the two countries was at the level of 124 million dollars. Compare it with 3 billion dollars in the eve of the 2008 crisis. It is an altogether different dimension. Ukraine has a far smaller commodity turnover with Canada than it has with Japan.
“Japan is a major country that has fantastic possibilities, technological and financial potential. At the time, our task was to do our best to establish mutually advantageous and interesting relations and to realize their, as well as our, potential. As recently as the 1990s, Ukraine seemed unconventional to the Japanese, and they viewed us as part of the Soviet Union. I can remember having to explain in the first four years (1994–98) that Ukraine was not Russia. Today we have ‘stepped out of the shadow.’ Ukraine is for Japan, above all, an important Eastern European country.
“Earlier, the Japanese looked at us through the prism of trade and investment, for Ukraine was for them, above all, a market. After the last March disaster, they took a different view of cooperation. The experience of Chornobyl opened up a new aspect of our relations. It turned out that we also have technologies and expertise that they do not. At first, the Japanese refused to receive help from many countries but then it became clear that they would not be able to overcome a disaster of this scale on their own.
“We are now going to implement the concept of global partnership laid down in the two leaders’ joint declaration last year. This is the first document of this kind in the history of Ukrainian diplomacy. Earlier, we have had declarations on strategic, but not global, partnership. The reason is we cooperate in broader spheres, such as nuclear energy, food problems, etc.
“Japan imports today 60 percent of the food it requires. It is China that dominates now on classical markets. The Japanese are receiving food supplies from Australia and the US, but still they need to diversify this market. The best option is Ukraine rich in black earth. If we could apply their technologies, Ukraine would be one of the largest exporters. Although the Japanese can cultivate a mere 20 percent of their land, they, nevertheless, reap a harvest twice a year. We are cooperating in this field, and they consider us a serious partner. A memorandum will be signed in the nearest future on cooperation in the agrarian sector, and Ukraine will be the first country in the world with which Japan has signed an agreement on nuclear safety and overcoming the consequences of the disaster. Another important sphere is ‘green investments.’ We are going to sign a contract worth almost half a billion dollars before the end of this year.
“They see that we have a potential, but the latter should be tapped in a skilled and systemic way. We often even underestimate the seriousness of Japanese attitude to us because they are people with a different mentality. They are not confined to this day alone, and, for the Japanese, Japan does not end beyond the threshold of their house.”
Have any practical steps been taken to improve cooperation in the past year since the president signed the abovementioned document with Naoto Kan?
“The tragedy in Tohoku [the most hit north-eastern part of the island Honshu. – Ed.] somewhat upset our plans because the Japanese remained focused, for half a year, on tacking their domestic problems, such as liquidating the disaster’s consequences. They spent 230 billion dollars on post-disaster recovery alone. But, to be fair, the Japanese have not cancelled any of their projects. For example, the construction of a new Boryspil Airport terminal is finishing, and a bridge is to be built on the river South Buh near Mykolaiv. They will perhaps fund the construction of new metro lines in Kyiv. Incidentally, [Kyiv’s acting mayor] Oleksandr Popov visited this country last November and negotiated replacing the Kyiv metro’s entire train fleet. We are in fact cooperating in all the fields we agreed upon. And the president’s visit conceptualized the way we will be cooperating.
“You will be among the first to learn that the Japanese are investing in new steel-making technologies. One of Japan’s leading steel-making companies, Kobe Steel, is not only holding negotiations but has made a commitment to introduce a cutting-edge system of steel making that needs no blast furnaces. There is only one mill in Minnesota, USA, which applies their technologies. A similar mill, to be built in Ukraine, will be the first of this kind on the territory of the former USSR. Incidentally, we have appointed this company’s vice president as Ukraine’s Honorary Consul in the district of Kansai, Kobe. It is a serious investment in terms of technology rather than finances. Modernization in fact consists in steps like this.
“Japan has state-of-the-art technologies which it applies instantly. Today, there are some concrete businesses that intensely collaborate with Japanese companies. Earlier, it was Japan that initiated this kind of collaboration because it studied the market. Now, Ukraine initiates such decisions by itself. The Ukrainians are aware of the necessity to reform and modernize, if not restructure altogether, our economy. Our engineers are not inferior to their Japanese counterparts, but Japan is capable of accumulating money as fast as it can.”
What is Japan’s current vision of Ukraine?
“The Ukrainians often absolutize things: Europe is the ultimate goal for us. It is an important but not an ultimate thing. We are running the risk of losing such serious partners as Japan, China, Korea, and other Asian markets. Incidentally, the economy of China is a ‘digested’ economy of Japan, for all the technologies being applied there are either American or Japanese. And the Japanese view Ukraine as a serious partner.”
And what about the visa question?
“Japan pursues one of the world’s toughest visa and migration policies. The reason is quite clear: they have ‘built happiness’ for themselves, and identity is not mere words. The Japanese take a very cautious attitude to all kinds of migration flows. The history of visa policies taught them to be very cautious. Japan has no complaints about Ukraine, but they still make no exceptions. Their visa policy is even tougher than that of the Americans. The only thing is that they will perhaps exempt bearers of biometric diplomatic passports from visas. In the Tokugawa era [feudal Japan in the Edo period, 1603-1868. – Ed.] it was forbidden for anybody to visit Japan and for the Japanese to leave their country. This longtime closeness left an imprint on Japanese mentality. They began to travel abroad rather a short time ago, and now they are the world’s most traveling nation.”
Is Ukraine interesting to the Japanese?
“Extremely interesting because it is a new destination. It is no longer interesting to travel to Paris or Rome. It was announced in Japan in 2010 at a forum of the World Tourism Organization that Ukraine is the number-one country among the new tourist destinations. It is of little wonder because, for example, of our country’s ethnic multiplicity. And Yalta is a key word for them because it is the place where the destiny of Japan was decided during World War II.
“The Japanese show tremendous interest in Ukrainian culture. They adore classical singing, and there are two things that cannot leave them cold: it is ballet and opera. The Odesa Opera House recently brought Puccini’s opera Turandot to Tokyo. Even representatives of the imperial court came to see it. The Imperial Household Master of Ceremonies was sitting next to me. He was in rapture. No wonder because only the elite countries can afford this. When our Viktoria Lukianets, a Vienna Opera soloist, came, she created a furore, for the Ukrainian operatic singing is a brand.
“There still is the Terada Ballet Art School in Kyoto, which has been cooperating with the Shevchenko National Opera, while Nabuhiro, the son of school director Michiko Terada, is Meritorious Artist of Ukraine and a soloist in Ukrainian ballet.
“The Japanese know Ukrainian sport very well, they have heard about Bubka and Shevchenko… Soccer agents keep asking me when Shevchenko is going to play in Japan. But just a few dozens of years ago there was no soccer at all here. Now there is a soccer boom, and Japanese fans are going to visit Euro-2012.”
There is a portrait of Taiho, the Yokozuna (the highest sumoist title) and a 32-times winner at the Great Sumo Tournamnet on the wall here. He is obviously one the best-known sumo wrestlers in the world. More and more people are learning today that he is of Ukrainian origin. And how does Taiho identify himself? Is he aware of his Ukrainian roots?
[Father, Markian Boryshko, was born in Kharkiv Oblast. In the early 1900s, his parents and he moved to Sakhalin, where he married a Japanese woman, Kiyo Naya, in 1928. Later, in 1940, the son Koki Taiho was born. In the last year of the war Markian was resettled to a closed quarter for foreigners in Oodomari, while his wife moved to Hokkaido. Later Markian was given a 10-year prison term for anti-Soviet propaganda. He died in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in November 1960 during a sumo tournament in which his son won for the first time. – Ed.]
“We are good friends, incidentally. The president recently awarded him an Order of Merit, 3rd Degree, which I handed him. Speaking with me, Taiho said something like this: ‘I’ve had everything in my life – money and fantastic popularity. I only wish I knew my native Ukrainian language which my father used to speak. It would be a great pleasure for me to speak Ukrainian to you.’ He is a phenomenal person and our treasure – a ‘code word.’ Taiho was one convinced he came from the ‘soren,’ for he was of Soviet origin, but then he changed his opinion. Taiho had always wanted to come to Ukraine and train a Ukrainian sumoist, but he is very sick now. He was not only a 32-times champion but also remained undefeated.”
What do you think is common in the world perception of the Japanese and the Ukrainians? What lessons of Japanese experience could be of use for Ukraine?
“We are equally sincere, but their sincerity is slightly different. The Japanese are introverts – they close in on themselves. They never display their feelings but are very sincere in the attitude to one another. They reject American individualism owing to their collectivism. I recently saw the film Natalka Poltavka which stars Natalia Sumska. In a scene, she walks through the village and bows the way the Japanese do. We used to do so.
“The Japanese have a well-developed sense of responsibility. When an earthquake occurred last year, I was on board of an airplane, while my wife stayed back in Tokyo. In those minutes she was walking to the post office to send a letter to our son. When she was approaching the office, everything began to shake and people sat down on the driveway. She came in and saw a postman who smiled, took her envelope, weighed it, stuck on a postage stamp, and gave the receipt. He did this during an earthquake! We still keep that receipt which shows the date and time – March 11, 14:46. Here is a model of how one must carry out their duties. It is Japan itself.
“The Japanese are perfectionists by nature. Whatever they do is the best. If it is a Disneyland, it is better than in the US, if it is whiskey, it is better than Scotch. It is a good motivation and a drive to take something and make it better. ‘Its own territory and borrowed experience’ makes Japan the way it is. Naturally, we are not Japan, but there are things that we could learn.
“The question of honor and dignity is not mere words for the Japanese. After all, they are setting the tone to the whole world. The Japanese press mostly writes about people who glorify the nation rather than about fake heroes, which is a sign of self-respect. The Japanese can recharge you with the energy of self-identity, pride for your nation, and the awareness of having nothing to be ashamed of. They have built their country by themselves and are proud of this.”
How many Ukrainians live in Japan? Do they mingle among themselves, is there a Ukrainian community?
“There are not many Ukrainians in Japan – about 500 on the consular register, 87 of whom were in Tohoku. Luckily, they were all evacuated in good time. Most of the Ukrainians in Japan are women who married Japanese men. There is also a small number of researchers because the Japanese conclude contracts with our academics. We usually communicate with them during an election or when it is necessary to register children, a marriage, etc. There is no community or diaspora here, as in Canada or the US, for everybody is doing his or her business and follows the life rhythm of the Japanese.”
