People who speak about it are silenced.
I think people on the inside have it hardest.
As men you will have to go to war. What will you do?
I would not even go out of pride.
They wer marching down the street and shouting "Trump 2024"
In the same direction as the Ukrainian protesting against the war it was weird.
Hey guys this is CathyCat greetings from Tokyo today we're gonna
go hit the streets of Harajuku
and ask the young Japanese people here on the streets
What is your opinion of the war that's currently happening in Europe?
We wanna find out what people think about it.
Do they have an opinion, if so what is their opinion
Let's go and Ask Japanese.
Are there any news from abroad recently that you are worried about?
The news about Ukraine and Russia. - How much do you see about it on the Japanese news?
I assume they are featuring it in the News.
But it's hard to understand the topic so I researched online
I watched YouTube explanations.
I will watch the general feature on the Japanese News
And then find out about the details myself by watching YouTube and such.
Was there anything surprising you found during your "research"?
I heard about what scary things are happening inside Russia.
They don't talk about that on the news.
When I looked it up, Russia was scarier than I thought.
Inside the country? - Yes.
What do you think about Russia? - Japan doesn't have a Dictatorship.
So it's hard for us to imagine what it's like.
But people who speak are silenced...
So I realized that people inside Russia have it hard too.
What did you think? - Inside Russia the opinions are quite split too.
When someone is speaking against Putin, they pretend that didn't happen.
They are pretending it is communism, but it's actually a dictatorship now. And I think that's bad.
We heard what you think about Russia, what about the Ukraine?
It must be so hard to loose the daily safety of living.
They don't have many ways to escape either.
It's hard to imagine...
loosing your house and leaving your man who works in the forces behind...
When I see things like that I cannot stop crying.
I hope we get peace and safety for everyone back soon.
On Twitter I see soldiers
who put up videos of the destroyed towns with their phones.
Even though they have modern houses there, there are tanks on top of cars...
So much is broken and so many people lying on the ground...
To see something like this in our time and day of people who lived the same lifetime of ours is painful to see.
What solution do you hope for?
We cannot guarantee the happiness and dignity of the people of Ukraine
Russia should not have attacked them in the first place. Is there a solution now?
Ukraine can't pull back but Russia can. I can't think of another solution, if that is one.
Putin is righteouslyJ making his beliefs orders for a country.
But if he would just stop that, peace would be possible.
It's not about what Ukraine can do.
Putin has got to stop or it will not stop.
What news from abroad got you worried?
The Russian war. That's number one i am worried about.
Sawaiyan channel's dad is Ukranian and had to go to war.
That's how I found out about it and looked it up in the news.
I saw it on Twitter too.
You found out about the War from the dad of a YouTuber you follow? - That's right.
He said his dad might not come back alive.
He made a video about how saddened he is by it all.
That made me look up the news.
That's how I found out that there was a war.
I used to think that a war is something we learn about in history books.
I couldn't imagine this would happen in the same time in which we are living.
I was surprised. I also heard Japan has been asked to help.
You realized this is happening right now. - That's it.
What are your thoughts on Russia and the Ukraine now?
I saw a movie where a Russian stopped the car to help an Ukrainian.
If you can help each other, then why are you fighting each other?
The war in Ukraine is a topic that is hard to touch.
Why is is hard to touch in Japan?
Since it's connected to people's lives I cannot take the responsibility to talk with confidence.
I find it a topic that is hard to touch.
On Twitter and the net there are people who want views and say things out boldly.
Those are the Japanese that speak out.
So online Japanese talk about it, but putting their face and opinion out there is something many don't dare to do?
Maybe Japanese are too shy to say their opinion. We are said to be shy.
Maybe not saying our opinion is a way to show we are shy.
I was surprised a war really happened.
Japan is a country that pledged to not raise wars anymore. It made me think what would happen if we did.
So I looked it up.
We are now in a time when it happens though. - Yeah that's scary.
If war was here, you as men would have to go. What would you do?
Well first of all there should be the right to refuse to go to war
It's a bit outdated to force people to go.
I would not go, not even out of pride. - I don't want to go. This is crazy.
Having to go is crazy. We don't have an education system like that either.
This is a tough topic.
Not your opinion but what do you think the Japanese people around you think about the war.
I have some friends who have gone to the protests that were organized. I went to actually...
a few days ago in Shinjuku and I got a lot of really good shots out there and it seemed like a really good
mixed crowd of Japanese, Ukrainians and actually a lot of Russians as well.
I am friends with both countries in our international community.
They have contacted us and said hey this is going on
Come out show solidarity, come out, show support.
I am with one of my Korean friends and
Russian friends and a few Japanese photographers actually planning on
selling some photography prints as a way to
raise some money for Ukraine and support the government over there
and help the people out because war is
ugly no matter how you look at it no matter where it is.
So we kinda just hope it stops.
So Japanese people are getting quite active about the war then
Yeah I would say so
It was actually really ironic cause the protest that I went to the other day in Shinjuku
There was another one that was happening in Shibuya simultaneously.
In the process of the protest there was another rally protest in support of Donald Trump.
Which was strange. They were marching down the street and shouting
"Trump 2024!"
in the same direction as the Ukrainian protesters protesting against the war it was really weird.
I don't know exactly what was going on with that.
In both instances you had
Japanese people from both sides that were kind of
arguing with each other, I don't know what that was about
I am sure there is two very deep layers that kind of go to it
as far as Japanese sentiment
Some people that I am close to they don't really have an opinion on it
Don't really want to talk about it
They feel it's too controversial and don't want to draw attention to themselves.
So I couldn't really say what the overall Japanese consensus is.
Not sure.
But a couple of people are going out on the streets trying to make a change?
Definitely yea.
Guys before you form yourself an opinion don't forget
that Japanese people are really careful to clearly state a strong opinion
It is not in Japanese culture
some of them might have had an opinion but they didn't feel comfortable to share it
Don't forget that. Also a couple of them felt it was a little bit further away from them
Europe far away it feels a little bit further away for some people
while others were actually actively looking into it. So you can see that...
Still a little bit of a cultural difference here
So please don't form yourself an opinion of the Japanese people just on the people that we met today.
If you are curious about more news and what Japanese people think about the war
be sure to check out this video
Might give you a little bit more of an insight into that.
Thank you so much for checking us out, thank you for subscribing and I catch you soon here in Tokyo bye.