NANAO, Ishikawa Prefecture--Prior to evacuating to Japan, professional basketball player Ihor Boiarkin heard daily air-raid sirens when he was playing in his homeland after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The 28-year-old Ukrainian is calling his evacuation from last month’s devastating earthquake on the Noto Peninsula his “second escape” after he and his family fled to safety again. 

Boiarkin, a member of the Kanazawa Samuraiz, which plays in the third division of Japan’s professional basketball B.League, said he has been thinking about what he can do for his team and his host community here.

When the temblor struck on Jan. 1, the point guard was with his wife and their 3-year-old son at their apartment in Nanao in central Japan facing the Sea of Japan.

“The first jolt was not so bad, but the second one was on a scope that I have not experienced before,” Boiarkin said through an interpreter about the tremors measuring up to an upper 6 on the Japanese intensity scale of 7. “We were at a loss over whether we should flee our apartment or remain.”

After tsunami warnings were issued and the shakings subsided, he and his family left to temporarily take refuge at an elevated site. They subsequently returned to their home, which was left “chaotic” by the shock of the temblor.

The following day, he and his family headed to Hakusan, a city to the south in the prefecture, to evacuate to the home of the team’s head coach, Hidesuke Kuroshima.

Hakusan, located near the prefectural capital of Kanazawa, where the club is based, was largely spared damage from the quake.

Boiarkin and nine others, including his teammates, have lived together at Kuroshima’s home. His wife occasionally prepares Ukrainian dishes and players take turns washing the dishes and doing other chores.

Boiarkin, a former member of the Ukrainian national squad, arrived in Japan in August 2022 as an evacuee and joined the Samuraiz.

According to the team, the Japan Basketball Association was approached by its Ukrainian counterpart for assistance in 2022 after many players lost their chances to play due to Russia’s invasion.

When Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine in February 2022, Boiarkin was playing for a club in Ternopil in western Ukraine.

He recalled there were days when air-raid sirens blared the entire day.

“In terms of triggering panic, emergency earthquake alerts are similar to air-raid sirens, but I found the latter a lot tougher mentally,” he said.

The quake struck when he and his family had become accustomed to life in Nanao, a city with a population of 48,000.

After frantic days of coping with the disaster, all players of his club returned to practices on Jan. 22 and to league play in February.

On Feb. 3, the first day of its return to league competition, the Samuraiz played against the Gifu Swoops in Gifu in central Japan.

Although it was a road game for the Samuraiz, the Swoops treated it as their opponents’ home game as well in a show of support for the team that had suffered through the New Year's Day disaster. 

The Samuraiz played in their home jerseys and with other arrangements usually made for their home games, including cheerleading and display of the club’s large flag.

The Samuraiz lost in a close battle 88-87, but players said they were touched by their fans’ impassioned cheering. 

“I was close to tears receiving numerous ovations and cheers during the game,” said Kakeru Kanakubo, co-captain of the Samuraiz.

Another captain, Shodai Tanaka, said it was a good game despite the loss.

“The outcome is important, but the players came together as one to fight to the very end, never giving up,” he said.

The game turned out to be a treat to their fans striving to lift themselves from the difficulties wrought by the disaster, reminding them of the excitement of a live game.

Fans traveled about five hours by bus from their evacuation centers to Gifu to root for the Samuraiz.

Tetsuo Ohashi, one of the fans from Nanao, said he was enlivened by what a basketball game offers--the sounds of the dribbling ball, the squeaks of shoes on the court and the noise of competing players clashing with each other.

“It was such fun,” he said. “It felt invigorating.”

The Samuraiz cannot currently practice at its usual training base, Tatsuruhama Gym, in Nanao, as the facility has been turned into a makeshift evacuation center.

But club staff members and players go there, lending a hand to a soup kitchen and leading exercises that evacuees are encouraged to do for their health.

Kanakubo said it is their turn to pay back to the residents for their steady support to the club.

Boiarkin continues to ask himself what he can do for people in his host community.

“We alone cannot turn around the lives of people who are displaced after their homes were destroyed,” he said. “But we can possibly play a role of cheering them up by winning our games. In Nanao, I am going to help them directly.”

Boiarkin expressed his hopes for progress in efforts for everyone to return to a normal life wherever that is. 

“We have gone through a difficult time in the war and the quake,” he said. “The war is still going on, and I pray that things will get better soon.”

(This article was written by Kogo Shioya and Shuhei Nomura.)