TOKYO: Japanese mural artist Kensuke Miyazaki is wishing for an early end to the crisis in Ukraine, which is under attack by Russia, and praying for the safety of people in Ukraine who helped him complete his wall paintings in the country.

Miyazaki, 43, launched in 2015 the “Over the Wall” project, in which he paints murals around the world with support from local people. Under the project, he visited places such as a Kenyan slum and a prison for female inmates in Ecuador.

In 2017, which marked the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Ukraine diplomatic relations, Miyazaki painted murals in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and the eastern Ukraine city of Mariupol in cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

In Kyiv, Miyazaki worked with refugee children from Afghanistan to create a wall painting in which people are running with the Japanese and Ukrainian flags in their hands under cherry blossoms in full bloom.

In Mariupol, he painted a huge mural themed on The Mitten, a Ukrainian folk tale, on a local school wall which was scarred by bullets in a conflict in 2014. Many people in Mariupol have become fans of Japan through anime and other things in the country, Miyazaki said, adding that a number of locals, including children in the summer holidays, helped him create the work.

“I created the painting, hoping that it would become a symbol of peace, because a conflict was going on near the place,” he said. “I feel sad and painful that those who helped me with the work could die” in the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Miyazaki said.

Last year, Miyazaki painted a mural making the 50th anniversary of a sister-city relationship between Kyiv and Kyoto, western Japan.

“I want Japanese people to know what’s going on in Ukraine, without considering it to be a country far away, and I’m ready to think about what I can do for that purpose,” Miyazaki said.

JIJI Press