All articles
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Born in Kyiv, Headquartered in Malta: 4A Games, Maker of Metro
4A Games, the studio behind the game Metro 2033, was founded in Kyiv in 2005 and moved its headquarters to Malta in 2014. The company says that about 150 of its 200-plus people are still in Ukraine. Drawing on company announcements and news reports, the article looks at the founders who came from GSC, why the company moved to Malta, the Kyiv studio that became a separate company, the sentence passed on the author of the original novel, and the next game.
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Eleven Sherlock Holmes Games and Counting: Frogwares of Kyiv
The Kyiv game company Frogwares was founded in 2000, and its own list of games includes 11 with “Sherlock Holmes” in the title. Drawing on company announcements and news reports, the article looks at its Irish subsidiary, how the number of games changes depending on how you count, the dispute with its publisher over the rights to The Sinking City, and development since the full-scale invasion.
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From Barefoot Gen to Chi’s Sweet Home: Japanese Manga in Ukrainian
According to the publishing trade outlet Chytomo, the first Japanese manga in Ukrainian was volume 1 of Barefoot Gen in 2009. Translations licensed by Japanese publishers began to appear steadily with Chi’s Sweet Home, published in 2019 by Nasha Idea of Dnipro. The article looks at the licensing hurdles that publishers described, the number of titles in a publisher’s list, and the debate over how to write Japanese sounds in Cyrillic.
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Ukrainian-Language Distribution Certificates for Nine Miyazaki Films and Weathering With You
From 2019 to 2021, nine films by Hayao Miyazaki received cinema distribution certificates with Ukrainian-language audio. Weathering With You is recorded as “dubbed,” and ONE PIECE FILM RED as “subtitled.” Drawing on the records of the State Film Agency’s certificates, the article traces how Japanese anime has reached Ukraine through cinemas, television, and video, along with how the Ukrainian titles of works have changed.
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No. 18 on the Top 100 of Ukrainian Cinema: Kyiv’s Animated Series The Adventures of Captain Vrungel
The Adventures of Captain Vrungel is a 13-episode series made in the animation department of the Kyiv studio Kyivnaukfilm. The article looks at the career of its director, Davyd Cherkaskyi, the gangster plotline the director added, the way the year of the work differs from source to source, the original book as it was translated in Japan under the title Horafuki Senchō Kōkaiki, and the Russian wordplay.
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Over the New Year, National Government Offices Close From December 29 and Banks From December 31
This article lists the days when government offices, banks, hospitals, garbage collection, and mail close over the 2026–27 New Year, based on laws and announcements from each body. National offices are closed from December 29 to January 3, and bank branches from December 31 to January 3. Yokohama City suspends garbage collection from December 31 to January 3, and January 2 is a no-delivery day for mail (as of October 2026).
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How Ukrainian Varenyky Differ From Gyoza and Pierogi
Varenyky (вареники) are a Ukrainian dish in which a filling is wrapped in unleavened dough and boiled in water. The name comes from the verb for “to boil.” Many fillings contain no meat, such as potato, сир (curd), and cabbage, or fruit, and varenyky are served with sour cream. The article looks at how they differ from Japanese gyoza, why some regions also call them “pyrohy,” and what the name of Polish pierogi ruskie means.
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Is the Sunflower Ukraine’s National Flower? A Flower From the 18th Century and the Kalyna of Song
The state symbols set by Ukraine’s Constitution are three, the flag, the coat of arms, and the anthem, and there is no “national flower” set by law. Even so, the sunflower and the kalyna are plants that stand for Ukraine. The article follows how the two became symbols through a field crop that arrived in the 18th century, the tree that stands for a girl in folk songs, the Sich Riflemen’s song “The Red Kalyna,” a missile site in 1996, and a video from 2022.
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Residential Fire Alarms Are Required in Bedrooms and on Stairs; Replace Them About 10 Years After Installation
In Japan, the Fire Service Act requires residential fire alarms in bedrooms and on the stairs of the floor where a bedroom is located. Kitchens and other places depend on municipal ordinances, and within the Tokyo Fire Department's jurisdiction, alarms are also required in rooms in regular use and kitchens. This article covers when installation became mandatory, who the persons concerned are in a rented home, replacement after 10 years, the sound of a dead battery, and the installation rate of 84.9% (June 2025).
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The Day of Dignity and Freedom, November 21: Two Beginnings on Independence Square, in 2004 and 2013
Ukraine's Day of Dignity and Freedom (November 21) is a commemoration established by a presidential decree of November 13, 2014. Both the Orange Revolution of 2004 and the Revolution of Dignity of 2013 to 2014 began with people gathering on Independence Square on November 21. This article sets out the wording of the decree, how the day's name has changed, and what happened on the two November 21s, drawing on the original texts and a court judgment.