Commemorative lanterns

Nearly six months ago, on March 11, the world witnessed with horror the tragic events unfolding in Japan: the earthquake, tsunami, and several accidents at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. People sympathized with the residents of Japan, prayed for them, and lit candles. The tenacity of the Japanese, their ability to take control over fear and panic and consolidate for life’s sake was simply amazing. Namely the ability of the Japanese to unite in hard times and understand one’s role in the country’s future life has many times helped Japan to move on.

Recently the Ukraine-Japan Center, with the assistance of the Kyiv City State Administration and the Embassy of Japan to Ukraine, organized the charity event “Sky Light” on Kyiv’s Spivoche field. The event was a brainchild of the famous designer of clothes Yamamoto Kansai. Releasing traditional paper lanterns into the sky, Ukrainians and Japanese were commemorating the victims of not only the great earthquake in the east of Japan, tsunami, and Fukushima accidents, but people in other countries who suffered the same disasters, like the victims of the Chornobyl catastrophe, tsunami in Bali, and many others. Hundreds of weightless lanterns made of rice paper went up into the night sky and became a symbolical connection between the living and those who passed away.

The event was supported by Oleh Skrypka and the VV band, Olena Hrebeniuk, Zlata Ohnievich, and other performers.

However, not all people present understood their role at the event and its real meaning, perceiving the process of releasing paper lanterns into the sky and requiem concert merely as fun. Unfortunately, the infantile worldview of some Ukrainians, living in the country of never-ending show, prevents them from seeing the real meaning of events and things, as they perceive everything through the prism of entertainment imposed by present-day mass media. And the “Sky Light” event was an example of this. Some people in the audience paid no heed to the appeals of Japanese officials, expressing their gratitude, and lit off the lanterns into the sky before even learning what the purpose of the event was.