Photo/Illutration Iryna Yavorska, left, and her daughter, Kateryna, attend to a customer in their food truck in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, in May. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Blinchiki is a kind of Ukrainian crepe that can come with savory fillings such as chopped salmon or chicken, or be served as a sweet dessert.

I thoroughly enjoyed it the other day in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district, when I bought one from a food truck operated by Iryna Yavorska, 51, and her family.

Iryna and her 80-year-old mother, Galyna Ivanova, fled in March after Russian forces bombed her neighborhood in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. But Iryna's husband, 53, could not leave because of his military service obligation.

Iryna’s 31-year-old daughter, Kateryna, was living in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, with her Japanese husband of four years, Takashi Kikuchi, 28.

While staying with the young couple, Iryna decided to earn a living by making use of her cooking skills. She started a crowdfunding campaign, raised 5.34 million yen ($38,800), bought a mini-vehicle and began selling her crepes from her “mobile kitchen” in late May.

Ukrainian evacuees in Japan have topped 1,700.

“Many of the evacuees to Japan were highly educated and earned good money in Ukraine. But having no relatives here, they are struggling to find a job and rent a house because of language barriers," Kateryna said in fluent Japanese.

She also spoke of her dream of expanding the Hikone-based food truck business to Tokyo and Osaka to provide secure jobs to Ukrainian refugees.

My first blinchiki, priced at 400 yen, had a nice, chewy texture and simple taste. I understand Ukrainians eat it anytime--as breakfast, lunch or supper--which makes it something quite similar in nature to onigiri rice balls.

I tried a 250-yen-a-glass Ukrainian beverage called uzvar, which is made with dried fruits and berries. It went together quite well with blinchiki, just as bancha tea would with onigiri.

Some passers-by called out to Iryna and wished her well when they saw her food truck.

On Aug. 24, it will be exactly six months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. More than 10 million Ukrainians have fled their country.

I think of the strength of the people who are determined to keep going, even though they must be struggling with their intense homesickness and their impatience to become self-sustaining in their country of refuge.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 23

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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