I heard you visited a large hospital in Lviv.

This has nothing to do with the factory. However, I felt that if I skipped this part, half the point of the trip would be lost, so I’ll write about it as is.

You also went to a hospital in Lviv, didn’t you?

Yes, I did. It’s a hospital called “Unbroken.” It means “unbroken,” right?

What kind of hospital is it?

It specializes in surgery and rehabilitation for people who have lost limbs. I heard it’s the largest in Ukraine and probably one of the largest in Europe as well.

Are patients transported here directly from the front lines?

No, there’s a process. If someone steps on a landmine at the front lines and loses a leg, they first receive first aid on the spot. Then they’re transferred to a major city to undergo their first surgery. Finally, they’re brought to this hospital.

Here, they undergo their final surgery. Dozens of cases every day.

So there are actually patients here, right?

After their surgeries, patients go to rehabilitation rooms tailored to their specific disabilities. The hospital is truly massive—it has equipment for walking and manual dexterity training to help them get used to prosthetic arms and legs, facilities for practicing driving, and a mental health ward.

People with one leg missing, both legs missing, both hands missing. It wasn’t just a handful of people.

……

It was bombed in July, wasn’t it?

Yes, we were. Every night we’d go down to the basement, and that’s when I learned what it meant when the air raid siren sounded.

Even so, it wasn’t the bombings—it was here that I felt the reality of war the most.

It wasn’t the buildings.

It was the human body.

I heard that Japanese people were involved with this hospital.

That’s right. Shigeru Ban was involved in the facility. I saw a Japanese name in an unexpected place.

Our work is making building materials—turning rubble into floors and walls.

I can’t quite find a way to smoothly connect what I saw at this hospital with that work. Nor do I think I should force a connection.

I just saw it. That’s all I’ll write down.