Japanese Student Goes to Graduation Dressed Like Zelenskyy

In this image made from video provided by Japan's NTV, a Japanese student speaks in an interview and says why he chose to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's look-alike for his graduation ceremony in Kyoto, western Japan, Friday, March 24, 2023. (NTV via AP)
In this image made from video provided by Japan's NTV, a Japanese student speaks in an interview and says why he chose to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's look-alike for his graduation ceremony in Kyoto, western Japan, Friday, March 24, 2023. (NTV via AP)
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Japanese Student Goes to Graduation Dressed Like Zelenskyy

In this image made from video provided by Japan's NTV, a Japanese student speaks in an interview and says why he chose to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's look-alike for his graduation ceremony in Kyoto, western Japan, Friday, March 24, 2023. (NTV via AP)
In this image made from video provided by Japan's NTV, a Japanese student speaks in an interview and says why he chose to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's look-alike for his graduation ceremony in Kyoto, western Japan, Friday, March 24, 2023. (NTV via AP)

A Japanese student showed up to graduation as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s lookalike, wearing his signature olive-colored, snug-fit T-shirt and khaki trousers to show his support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

Most graduation ceremonies in Japan feature graduates in suits or formal dress. But Kyoto University has its own tradition of students who opt for different attire on their special day.

This year, Zelenskyy was the star at the event.

“I am President Zelenskyy,” the student told local TV network Yomiuri. He said it took him three months to grow his beard.

He decided to be his lookalike for the graduation ceremony Friday, because “since December, when I was growing out my beard, I was told I look like President Zelenskyy.”

His performance was not just a comical cosplay. The student, who goes by Amiki on Twitter, was holding a sign carrying messages expressing his support for Ukraine, along with a passage from Zelenskyy’s speech in December at the US Congress.

In the video from TV Osaka, he said he respects Zelenskyy as “the real man among men.”

“We stand for Ukraine! Justice will prevail in the end, I hope so. Glory to Ukraine,” he tweeted.

The student also held a wooden shamoji — a rice serving spoon — like the one that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida presented to Zelenskyy as a gift during his secret trip to Kyiv last week.

The rice paddle is a specialty of Hiroshima, where Kishida is from, and bears a prayer for victory, but was bitterly criticized by opposition lawmakers as “nonsense.”

Giving a rice serving spoon to the leader of a country at war didn't seem appropriate, the student said. “Nonetheless, I’m happy if the Ukrainian people were pleased and the traditional prayer behind it was conveyed.”

Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky retweeted a scene from the video of the Zelenskyy lookalike, as well as the student's tweets showing solidarity for Ukraine.



Penguin Memes Take Flight after Trump Tariffs Remote Island

A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP
A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP
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Penguin Memes Take Flight after Trump Tariffs Remote Island

A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP
A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP

Donald Trump's tariffs have become a black and white issue on social media, where penguin memes have gone viral after he targeted an island inhabited by the flightless birds, but no people.

One widely shared image on Thursday showed a penguin in place of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent row with the US president and Vice President JD Vance.

Another meme showed US First Lady Melania Trump gazing up at an emperor penguin -- in place of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- while Trump looks askance.

Trump's announcement of worldwide tariffs on Wednesday certainly received an icy reception in many countries.

But there has also been bafflement about why some of the most remote parts of the world have been targeted.

A case in point: why would Trump slap 10 percent tariffs on all exports from the Heard and McDonald Islands, a barren sub-Antarctic Australian territory without a human population, but four different species of penguin?

"The penguins have been ripping us off for years," Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's former communications chief for 11 days in his first term and is now a vocal critic, joked on X.

"Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin," posted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fact that Russia was not on the US tariff list.

The White House said sanctions on Russia over President Vladimir Putin's war on meant that there was no "meaningful" trade on which to impose tariffs.

Trump also caused puzzlement with his 29 percent tariff on Norfolk Island, a tiny Australian territory in the Pacific with a population of a little over 2,000 humans.

"I'm not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Britain's remote Falkland Islands -- home to one million penguins, and most famous for a 1982 war fought by Britain to repel Argentinian invaders -- was hit by 41 percent exports even though the UK only faces 10 percent.

Trump's tariffs have however been no laughing matter for global markets, with US stocks suffering their worst day since the Covid pandemic in 2020.