Chiba- A restaurant in Chiba run by a Russian mother and daughter plans to hire evacuees from Ukraine to help people get back on their feet and voice their opposition to the war there.

Anastasia and Daiana Stetsyuk, 40 and 20 respectively, run the Russian restaurant Matreshka, which opened four years ago in the city of Chiba and serves home-cooked food, including borscht.

“Although (the evacuees) may still feel anxious after arriving in Japan, we would like to do whatever we can to help,” said Daiana, whose mother was born in the populous city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East. and came to Japan. for work 20 years ago.

Anastasia’s father is Ukrainian and she has relatives and friends in the country, which has been attacked by Russia since February.

After the Russian invasion began, she spent days in shock. When she learned that evacuees were arriving in Japan around the end of March, she began making calls to hire them on the restaurant’s social media accounts.

So far, they’ve spoken with more than 10 people and met four directly about potential work, most of them women in their 30s or 40s. Among them were individuals in Japan for the first time and those who lost people to the invasion.

“We avoided bringing up painful topics and gave them positive information about the kind of support they can get,” Daiana said.

People working in the kitchen do not need to know Japanese. If the issues, including those regarding work visas, can be resolved, they intend to hire as many people as possible.

The restaurant also sells bento boxes in supermarkets and runs a food truck.

On social media, Daiana was the subject of messages written in Japanese telling her to “go back to Russia”, but as she continued to spread messages of support, she also received words of encouragement.

Although Daiana has been advised by relatives in Russia to refrain from making statements for fear of drawing the attention of authorities, she remains passionate. “It’s a situation where we don’t know if the Ukrainians can survive. I have to do what I can now.