After two flights, a pair of long bus rides and a train journey that lasted a combined seven days, Maria Dovbash, 71, arrived safely in Japan on Friday, greeted by the embrace of her daughter in a reunion 8,000 km from home that was filled with joy but also relief.
At Narita Airport’s arrival gate, Nataliia Lysenko, a Tokyo resident, held her mother tightly as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Dovbash was now safe from the fighting in Ukraine.