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My Ukrainian laboratory has been cooperating with Japanese counterparts for several years. This cooperation leads to not only scientific achievements but also to opportunities for participants to get to know the culture of the partner country personally and gain unforgettable memories. Unfortunately, Ukraine was attacked by Russia last year. It is difficult to continue research activities in the conditions of the ongoing war. Therefore, many scientists from Ukraine decided to move or work abroad for a while. The opportunity to visit Japan is quite rare for Ukrainian researchers due to low scientific funding in Ukraine, so I decided to take advantage of this unique opportunity. At first, it was scary because Japan is far from Ukraine and our cultures are very different. However, now I would like to visit Japan again because it is a wonderful country with amazing people.

During my stay in Japan, I really enjoyed feeling like a part of the university community. Thanks to Professor Yoshikazu Tanaka and Professor Yuji Nagata, my visit was full of various scientific and social events. It was a pleasure to work with the friendly laboratory teams and learn something new every day. The level of research at the university is superb. I was especially impressed that even students use cryo-electron and electron microscopy in their research, and it was very interesting to see how it works from the inside. I also attended an online conference in addition to a symposium in Hakodate. together with my colleagues. It was a great opportunity to present my research, see Hokkaido, and, of course, try local dishes and fresh seafood.

I want to thank the city of Sendai and the Nippon Foundation because without them my stay in Sendai would not have been possible. I would also like to thank all the organizations that are helping evacuees from Ukraine. In particular, I am grateful to SenTIA for organizing social events for Ukrainians as well as Japanese language classes which helped me learn the basics of Japanese thanks to the materials provided in Ukrainian. This kind of support is very important because the language and culture of Japan are often unfamiliar to Ukrainians. Finally, I am grateful to Tohoku University for its warm welcome and the opportunity to feel like a part of its community. Your kindness and extremely important support help all Ukrainians. Thank you!