On December 12-14, 2025, the first festival of Ukrainian literature in Japan “Voices from Ukraine” was held in Tokyo, initiated by the director of the Ovo literary agency Victoria Matyusha and literary agent Daria Murakami. This was reported by the Ukrainian Book Institute.
The festival was supported by the international Renaissance Foundation, which made it possible to bring a group of Ukrainian authors to Japan. The information partner of the event was the Ukrainian Book Institute .
Among the program participants were Olena Gerasymiuk, Tetyana Vlasova, Pavlo Matyusha, Tamara Horikha Zernya, Mariana Savka, Olena Grabb, Viktoriya Matyusha, and Dmytro Lazutkin, who joined online.
The presence of Ukrainian culture in Japan is strategically important , as Japan is a market with a population of over 120 million people. “Japanese society is well aware of the military situation in Ukraine and is closely following events. Due to their own geopolitical location and living surrounded by not always friendly neighbors, the Japanese feel a certain kinship with Ukraine. A particularly strong bridge for mutual understanding remains the experience of the Chernobyl tragedy – a topic that is deeply personal and traumatic for Japan ,” shares her observations about the points of contact between Ukrainian and Japanese cultures, Viktoriya Matyusha .
The festival opened with the performance “Echoes/Видлуння” by Olena Harasymʼyuk and Pavlo Matyush, dedicated to ten Ukrainian poets who died as a result of Russian aggression: Hlib Babich, Nika Kozhushko, Ilya Chernilevsky, Borys Humenyuk, Mykola Leonovych, Ihor Mysiak, Kateryna Rogovyk, Viktoria Amelina, Volodymyr Vakulenko-K and Maksym Kryvtsov. The authors created their own texts using quotes from the deceased poets, becoming an echo of their voices. This performance has already been shown at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the FILIT festival in Romania and had an emotional response everywhere.
Fragments of the performance were shown on Japanese national television, which significantly increased attention to the festival. The event was also supported by the Embassy of Ukraine in Japan , and the Ambassador personally opened the festival.
Among the festival formats were public meetings, poetic and musical performances and informal communication – “coffee with the author” with Maryana Savka and Tatyana Vlasova. This turned out to be an extremely successful format, which allowed the Japanese audience to see Ukrainian writers not only as public figures, but also as living interlocutors. The program participants also held a discussion with the Ukrainian-Japanese translator – Mr. Harada, with the participation of Maryana Savka, Olena Grubb and Victoria Matyushchya, about the development of Ukrainian literature in Japan.
“It is very important that interest in Ukrainian literature did not arise “on a wave of news”, but is transformed into a permanent cultural curiosity: in language, context, history, contemporary experience. Japanese readers are interested not in exoticism and not in explanations of who we are, but in the inner voice of Ukraine: how we think, feel, talk about love, freedom, memory,” poetess Tetyana Vlasova shares her impressions of communicating with the festival audience .
Source: Ukrainian Literary Newspaper
