00:28Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
00:50I left Odessa at night and reached Zaporizhia the next morning.
00:55From here, the front line is just 50 kilometers away.
01:01Zaporizhia, a city of about 800,000 people.
01:05It doesn't feel like a place only 50 kilometers from the front.
01:12I walked through a daytime-only market.
01:16Everyone is shopping as usual.
01:19The town feels so ordinary.
01:22Even with the air raid siren blaring, no one paid it any attention.
01:31Next to the bus terminal, there was a makeshift bomb shelter.
01:37I went inside.
01:39It felt, well, like it had been thrown together in a hurry.
01:46The supermarket shelves are properly stocked.
01:51I felt the country was doing all it could to protect the food supply.
01:58I was craving ramen, so I bought some instant noodles.
02:02They were surprisingly bland.
02:09I went to a place called the House of the Fallen.
02:14At first, the photos were only on the front wall.
02:17Now the side walls are covered with faces, too.
02:23It has been five years since the war began.
02:27Seeing the dead laid out like this, it feels very heavy.
02:34It made clear just how many people have died.
02:46On the main street stood anti-tank obstacles known as Czech hedgehogs.
02:54A movie theater that had shut down still had its glass shattered.
03:00The mother next to me was all smiles, so I took a photo of her baby and gave her some
03:05sweets.
03:08It came out nicely.
03:13That's four days in Zaporizia done.
03:16The sirens go off about three times a day.
03:19One just went off a moment ago.
03:23And the power went out.
03:27Even so, this time, nothing hit around here, at least.
03:34There were wounded people, people going back after being wounded.
03:40People about to head out, with heavy faces.
03:43People with exhausted eyes, smoking weed.
03:47I met all kinds of people and heard all kinds of stories.
03:54I'll sort it all out properly later.
04:09There was a man behind me.
04:11Ah, damn.
04:14The power's out.
04:21There was a man behind me.
04:23He had been wounded by a drone and seemed to be heading off on leave.
04:29His eyes weren't those of someone about to rest.
04:32They felt like the eyes of someone who had killed in war.
04:37He asked me to shoot it so his unit would show.
04:41He seemed proud of his unit.
04:44When I showed him the photo, he said,
04:47Good photo. Thank you.
04:53In front of the bus, families were hugging goodbye.
04:56The mood was a little sad, so I took just one photo.
05:06I left Zaporozhia on a night bus.
05:10Next stop, Kyiv.
05:15At a checkpoint in the night, everyone was ordered off the bus.
05:19We show our passports and IDs.
05:22I showed my Japanese passport.
05:25They said I was fine and I got back on the bus.
05:33McDonald's was packed and now everyone's disappearing.
05:40The airstrikes are coming.
05:42No time for McDonald's, huh?
05:45At least let me eat in peace.
05:47Come on, everyone's leaving.
05:50Everyone's leaving.
05:55Just let me eat my McDonald's in peace.
05:58Please.
05:59Seriously.
06:00Really.
06:13Let me eat my McDonald's in peace.
06:16Seriously.
06:22Whoa, there were so many people a minute ago.
06:26Cross?
06:27Cross?
06:28Cross?
06:29Cross.
06:29What's here?
06:31Here.
06:35Are you going to shelter?
06:39No.
06:39No.
06:40No.
06:40No.
06:40No.
06:41No.
06:42No.
06:42No.
06:42No.
06:43No.
06:47No.
06:47Whoa, so many people sheltering here.»
06:52Freedom.
06:52No.
06:53I don't know, but they're not.
06:55The kingdom of peace.
06:56Oh god!
06:57You're here!
06:58I know!
06:59You hear me?
06:59I'm here to meet you.
07:01I'm here to meet you.
07:03I'm here to meet you.
07:03Oh, I'm here to meet you.
07:07What is your division?
07:07I'm here to meet you.
07:11I'm here to meet you.
07:13I'm here to meet you.
07:14We have not to meet you.
07:16We have not to meet you.
07:17Yes, yes.
07:18We call them meeting you.
07:20They fight for us.
07:22Oh, they are on the border.
07:25Are we going to go to the border?
07:29This is crazy.
07:30I can't see it in Japan.
07:34I can't see it.
07:36I can't see it.
07:39This is a dream.
07:43Housewives.
07:45Oh.
07:48I can't see it.
07:49I can't see it.
07:50I can't see it.
07:50I can't see it.
07:51I can't see it.
08:11And here we go.
08:13Another air raid siren today.
08:15Damn.
08:18My hostel in Kyiv was right on Independence Square.
08:21And it cost 700 yen a night.
08:31I left the hostel and decided to walk around Independence Square.
08:36No one was running.
08:38Hardly anyone was heading underground.
08:42By then, it didn't bother me much anymore either.
08:55Destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles are on display in the square.
09:00They looked less like a victory monument than a record.
09:03Kept so no one forgets.
09:08At the hostel, there was a man from Scotland.
09:11He had come to Ukraine to fight as a volunteer.
09:16A beer is 250 yen.
09:18We talked about our favourite movies and about the war.
09:23He said he wanted to go back to the front.
09:25Here, he said he forgets why he came at all.
09:30Long ago.
09:31Long ago, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees.
09:36But that promise didn't stop the invasion.
09:40Treaties won't protect you, he said.
09:44Those words needed no further explanation.
09:53I decided to go see the Saint Javelin mural.
09:56As Ukraine's guardian angel, the image spread like wildfire on social media.
10:03The surreal image of the Virgin Mary holding a modern weapon became an icon of Ukraine's
10:08spirit of resistance and its humour.
10:13This is it.
10:14Whoa, amazing.
10:15It's painted so carefully.
10:17The javelin's really there.
10:19Painted properly.
10:29For my last few days, I walked the city with my camera.
10:35The morning river.
10:37The bridges.
10:38The light.
10:39I wanted to shoot all of it.
10:41Looking only through the viewfinder, I almost forget this country is at war.
10:53But what I saw in Zaporizia was here too.
11:02Before I knew it, I had gotten used to the sirens.
11:07But I could never get used to the number of these faces.
11:35The sky is hanging out, so I thought that it was interesting.
11:40Because I was również here and so on.
11:41The sirens and the sky shot.
11:42The sky is still there.
11:43The sky is dark, so I can't see my car.
11:45The sky is climbing up.
11:48Even the sky is more of the sky.
11:49Even the sky is darker than the sky.
11:50The sky is moving� now.
11:50The sky is so quiet.
11:50The sky is walking through the sky.
