Ukrainians celebrate birthday of a 75-year-old Japanese who runs free cafe in Kharkiv

Fuminori Tsuchiko, who first came to Ukraine in January 2022 as a tourist, returned to support the country after the Russian invasion.

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As Russia carries on with its invasion of Ukraine for nearly 600 days, a wholesome video about a Japanese man in the war-hit country is going viral. The video shows locals celebrating the birthday of Fuminori Tsuchiko, a 75-year-old Japanese man who runs a free cafe in Kharkiv.

As per Ukrinform, Ukraine’s information and news agency, Tsuchiko first came to Ukraine in January 2022 as a tourist. During his stay, he saw thousands of Ukrainian refugees struggling as the country was thrown into a war after the Russian invasion in February that year.

Tsuchiko returned to Japan but soon came back to Ukraine to serve the Ukrainian cause. In May 2022, he sold his house in Japan and moved to Kharkiv, where he started a cafe that serves free meals to the locals.

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Funded through donations, most of which come from Japan, his cafe is located close to the Heroiv Prati metro station, where people had to seek shelter from shelling for several months.

On Sunday, former deputy minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko shared a clip that showed Kharkiv residents embracing Tsuchiko and giving him small gifts, as the crowd sang the Happy Birthday song.

Kharkiv residents wish Happy Birthday to Fuminori Tsuchiko. He sold his home in Japan and moved to Kharkiv to open a cafe in the city. The cafe offers free hot meals to about 1,000 people a day.

Thank you, Sir! Happy birthday! https://t.co/G0A1bt6uej pic.twitter.com/An1rgnLwTf

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 14, 2023

This clip has gathered over 18,000 likes. Commenting on it, an Instagram user wrote, “Happy birthday, Mr. Tsuchiko! You are an inspiration and a blessing to Kharkiv and the world. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. You have made a difference in so many lives. ”.

Another person wrote, “I cried watching this video. I am Kharkiv born and raised, graduated from Kharkiv University. Although I left 25 years ago, I still have many friends there… but I did less to help them than this Japanese old man. Happy birthday and huge respect to Fuminori Tsuchiko!”.

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