Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) greets Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa prior to their talks in Kiev on January 7, 2023.Photo: AFP

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Sunday, and reportedly pledged a $37 million contribution to a NATO fund to provide additional support for Ukraine's defense. Experts said on Monday that with various European countries and the US feeling general fatigue over assistance to Ukraine, Japan's aid is unlikely to play a substantial role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Kamikawa, visiting Ukraine for the first time since taking the role in September, said Japan will deliver an unmanned aircraft detecting system and other aid through the latest funding during a joint press conference in Kiev with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba following their talks, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported.

Tokyo will also provide Kiev with five mobile gas turbine power generators to help Ukrainians endure the harsh winter, with Kamikawa adding that Japan will "keep supporting Ukraine so that peace can be restored," according to Japanese media.

With various European countries and the US feeling general fatigue in offering assistance to Ukraine, Japan's aid in this case will not play a substantial role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, experts pointed out. Japan has always followed the US in supporting Ukraine, and after seeing some European countries stop or suspend aid, Japan must make a gesture of continuing assistance and financial support, they noted.

In addition, Japan is scheduled to hold the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Reconstruction on February 19. Japan may also want to listen to Ukraine's demands before the conference to send a message of "confidence" to the international community, Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

Kamikawa's visit to Ukraine has sparked controversy on Japanese social media platforms. As of Sunday, the earthquake that struck central Japan on January 1 in the Noto region in Ishikawa prefecture has caused 126 deaths and another 323 people missing. Many Japanese netizens expressed dissatisfaction with Kamikawa's visit to Ukraine. 

Some Japanese netizens accused the Liberal Democratic Party of abandoning the people, and some said that Kamikawa went to Ukraine to deliver generators instead of visiting the disaster area in Japan. 

It can be expected that such assistance would be unacceptable to some people in the earthquake-stricken areas, Da said. However, the attitude of the Japanese public toward the Ukrainian crisis is relatively unified and unlikely to change because of this visit, given Tokyo's tendency of following Washington in foreign policy.