Just after dawn on April 11, dozens of volunteers milled around the entrance of Narisawa, a long-running, two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Tokyo’s Aoyama district. None had come to eat — before long, they were busy steaming rice and handcrafting thousands of onigiri (rice balls) for the crowds that would soon arrive.
Led by Yoshihiro Narisawa, head chef of the eponymous restaurant, and Hisato Hamada of the cultishly popular Wagyumafia joints, the volunteers included representatives from 13 sake, wine and shōchū (distilled Japanese spirit) producers. Combined, the group had been working together since last year on monthly Onigiri for Love events.
Those gatherings were meant to benefit health care workers impacted by the pandemic in Japan. This day’s event— Onigiri for Ukraine — made clear the new beneficiaries.
“In general, the food and beverage industry in Japan has been slow to act (on the Ukraine crisis), but we must not remain silent,” says Narisawa.
Working in teams, the “onigiri squad” made one batch stuffed with sakuradai (sea bream) and another with wagyu beef simmered in sweetened soy sauce. Over the course of four hours, they produced more than 3,000 rice balls.
“As a winemaker, I rarely get involved in politics, but I’m taking part in this project to express my hope for a more peaceful world,” notes Yoshinori Tsuji of Says Farm winery in Toyama Prefecture.
From 10 a.m., the crowds arrived. For a donation of at least ¥1,000, they received a parcel of fresh onigiri made just hours before. Many young Japanese showed up wearing the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag.
“I’m glad they’re doing this,” says Yulia Zhyla, a Ukrainian national and Tokyo resident working in the hospitality industry. “It’s not just about the money. What’s important is empathy.”
A handful of fellow Ukrainians living in Japan joined Zhyla, including Maryna Borodina and her seven-year-old son, Ramir. The two had evacuated from Dnipro just two weeks prior. Despite the fact that Borodina’s husband remained behind in Ukraine and their ongoing wait for housing from the Japanese government, mother and son were in high spirits along with the rest of the attendees.
Part of the atmosphere was due to the Ukrainians in attendance themselves. Sava and Yan Tkachov, gaming-focused YouTubers who were born in the eastern European country but grew up in Japan, promoted the Onigiri for Ukraine event to their two million-plus subscribers before greeting the hundreds of fans and other supporters who came out to donate.
“I’m happy that so many people are here today, especially young people,” Sava says. “It’s great having the chance to meet people face - to - face. During the pandemic, we were mostly at home making videos, so this gives us more energy to continue.”
By 1 p.m., Onigiri for Ukraine had sold thousands of rice balls and raised more than ¥1.5 million, which was donated to an emergency fund managed by the Kanagawa Association for UNICEF.
Narisawa and Hamada intend to continue working with breweries to hold similar fundraisers across Japan, and on May 2, the second edition of the Onigiri for Ukraine series took place in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. In collaboration with Asahi Shuzo (makers of Dassai sake), the charity sale in the city’s spacious Kikko Park generated proceeds of nearly ¥200,000.
The pair also plan to expand the initiative beyond the country’s borders by encouraging chefs overseas to host their own versions of Onigiri for Ukraine. The idea, Hamada explains, is to spread the project’s “message of love and solidarity” to a global audience.
“In Japanese, another word for onigiri is musubi, which can also mean ‘connection,’” Hamada says. “The original Onigiri for Love project started with rice as a symbol of connection because we were working with sake brewers. Everything has grown from there, and it keeps getting bigger.”
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