A Japanese volunteer who feeds Kharkiv residents for free will be helped to communicate with the migration service

21 January 09:42

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, after talking to the head of the Kharkiv Migration Service, reported in Telegram that the residence permit for Japanese volunteer Fuminori Tsuchiko will be extended, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.

As for the residence permit for him, according to Igor Terekhov, this will be decided later.

“For my part, I can say that Fuminori has already become a very important figure for the entire town with his help to the residents of Saltovka. So I am very glad that he is staying in Kharkiv to continue his noble work,” the Kharkiv mayor emphasized.

It is worth recalling that the Japanese volunteer has repeatedly posted on his Facebook page that he cannot obtain a residence permit in Ukraine.

“I’ve been talking to the immigration office in Kharkiv again and again, and again they can’t accept me. The man laughed when I jokingly asked him why, because I don’t give him a bribe. Three years of support in Kharkiv, and as a result of this problem, I have a permanent residence permit. But if I don’t get a temporary residence permit by the end of next week, I will be without support. And then I will go back to Poland,” the volunteer told his story of difficult communication with Ukrainian state institutions.

Who is Fuminori Tsuchiko?

The man was born in Tokyo. At home, he ran his own company, and at the age of 60, he retired and decided to research the topic of Nazism, which he had been interested in since a young age. Ukrayinska Pravda tells his story.

The Japanese first went to Poland and later came to Ukraine as a tourist to see Babyn Yar, the site of the Nazi massacre of civilians and prisoners of war.

on February 24, 2022, Fuminori was at a train station in Warsaw. There he saw thousands of refugees and decided to return to Ukraine.

In 2023, the 75-year-old Japanese opened a free cafe called FuMi Caffe in Kharkiv, in the Saltovka district. He chose this location because of the large amount of destruction caused by Russian shelling and the large number of citizens in need of assistance.

“This year I have enough money to go out into the world, so I decided to open a cafe. i opened [this location] for all Ukrainians,” the Japanese volunteer said at the time.

Fuminori and Ukrainians prepare about 600 free meals for Kharkiv residents every day. The institution’s activities are supported by philanthropists and the Japanese compatriots.

In May 2023, Fuminori Tsuchiko received a certificate of honor from the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration. And in August of the same year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded him the National Legend of Ukraine award.

Fuminori Tsuchiko became the winner of the UP.100 award in the category “Volunteer of the Year 2023”.

In January 2025, the volunteer called on Ukrainians and the world to keep fighting “to achieve peace in the future.”

Василевич Сергій
Editor