A 50-year-old Japanese with the call sign "Harusan" has been fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for almost a year.

Prior to that, the man was a member of the

mafia group for almost 20 years , and later spent another 10 years behind bars.

The war unleashed by Russia prompted him to take up arms in order to defend Ukrainian independence and "atone for the sins of the past".  

about this 

in an interview with Radio Svoboda. 

According to the man, he became a member of the Yakuza at the age of 16, his father was in the gang, this is one of the reasons why he got there and stayed there until he was 35 years old.

"I left the yakuza, and I have both little fingers. It used to be a custom to cut off the phalanx of the little finger to get out of the gang. But times have changed, and this tradition has become obsolete. In today's conditions, people who want to join the yakuza do not they cut off fingers. When I was 35, a serious incident happened to me and I left the organization because I didn't want to cause problems," he said.

The Japanese man's body is almost completely covered with bright tattoos typical of members of the Yakuza, but last summer the Japanese man also tattooed one of the Ukrainian symbols - the Trident.

"And he symbolizes my determination. Determination, if I have to lay down my life for Ukraine," Harusan explained.

He explained the decision to come and fight together with Ukrainian soldiers by the fact that whether Ukraine wins this war may have an impact on the future of Japan.

"I came to Ukraine almost a year ago, on April 1, shortly after the start of the war. Of course, I did not know the language and thought to myself: here I am going, not knowing the language, how it will be, what will happen, but looking at those horrors, that happened here, and the victims that were already there at that time, I realized that it is not necessary to worry at all about such trifles as the language barrier, etc.," the soldier said.

In the Ukrainian army, the Japanese mastered the sniper specialty.

He was on the front lines.

From November 2022, he is undergoing training as part of the "Georgian National Legion" before his next trip to the front.

In addition, the defender was in the Zaporozhye direction.

The man mostly communicates with gestures.

However, when something is difficult, the guys show the text on the phone screen, through a translator.

"I'm going to be in Ukraine as long as my physical condition allows me. I want to be here until Ukraine wins. This is the first. But after that I don't even think, it's hard to imagine what will happen next. If Ukraine loses, it will be a problem for everyone countries, it will be a loss of peace throughout the world, that is, there will be no peace in the event of Ukraine's defeat, there will be even more war,"

the Japanese is convinced.

"Harusan" also appealed to Ukrainians: "Don't lose heart in any case. No matter what happens, until victory itself, don't lose heart."

It will be recalled that

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