Photo/Illutration International students from Ukraine who translated the audio guide for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum into their mother tongue. This photo was taken in Chikushino, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Jan. 12. (Junko Watanabe)

Ukrainian students who fled the war in their homeland have translated the audio guide at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum into their native language.

Although the similarities between the devastation of Hiroshima from the 1945 atomic bombing and the plight of their own country were distressing to the students, they persevered for the sake of the museum’s mission of peace.

The audio guide at the museum includes a description of a black-and-white photo taken after the nuclear attack.

A narrator explains that the victims’ hair was burnt and frizzed, while skin hung down like rags.

“The depiction sounded so painful that my heart ached,” said Svitlana Redko, 20, who translated the sentence into Ukrainian. “I kept crying.”

Redko said she had learned about the atomic bombings in high school, but she never knew the details until she began the translation work.

Redko had been studying Japanese at Kyiv National Linguistic University in Ukraine when she awoke to the sounds of explosions and sirens on the morning of Feb. 24, 2022, as the Russian invasion began. 

Her housemate shouted, “War has broken out!”

Train tickets were sold out. Redko spent the night in a hallway and then fled over several days to her family's home in the suburbs.

The following month, she took refuge at the Japan University of Economics, based in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture. The school had a student exchange agreement with her college.

Redko initially planned to study in Japan for only a year, but the Russian invasion has dragged on--leaving her unable to return home.

There are 31 international students at Japan University of Economics in the same situation as Redko.

In summer 2023, the Ukrainian Embassy in Japan reached out to the university for assistance in translating the audio guide at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum into Ukrainian.

The project was suggested after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the museum in May that year.

Descriptions of 70 showpieces, including photographs and personal belongings of atomic bomb victims, were sent to Japan University of Economics.

A faculty member and 12 international students committed themselves to translating the different texts.

Mariia Kornieva, 20, felt extremely anxious during the work.

“What if this happens in my home country?” said Kornieva. “Destruction like this should never happen again.”

The linguists worked together at times to come up with translations for difficult-to-handle terms.

For example, the phrase “kinoko gumo” (mushroom cloud) was turned into “radioaktyvna khmara” (radioactive cloud) in Ukrainian. They prioritized clarity over adhering to literal meanings.

The students also found more than just harrowing tragedy in the similarities between Hiroshima and Ukraine.

Kateryna Mankivska, 21, was inspired by the reconstruction effort in the postwar period.

“Japanese people didn’t give up on living, despite the terrible damage,” she said. “Japanese people are strong.”

Mankivska felt encouraged.

“Even through difficult times, life can go on,” she told her family in Ukraine.

The students spent three weeks working on the translation project. Their finished texts were then examined and adjusted by the embassy and a Ukrainian singer performed the narration.

The new audio guide became available to rent on Feb. 16 at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, making Ukrainian the 15th language available there.

Some of the international students are planning to visit Hiroshima in March to tour the museum and listen to the audio guide.

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