This presentation examines the published and unpublished works of the overlooked Ukrainian writer and Polish diplomat Stepan Levynskyi (1897–1946), who offered a distinctive portrayal of Manchuria under Japanese occupation (1931–1945). Moving beyond conventional diplomatic or geopolitical analyses, Levynskyi’s writings focus on the domestic and social dimensions of life in this multiethnic borderland. His essays and reports—preserved in scattered émigré periodicals, diplomatic correspondence, and unpublished manuscripts—reveal how everyday interactions among Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Ukrainian residents shaped the cultural fabric of Manchuria.

Levynskyi approached the region as a living social organism, attending to spaces such as homes, families, markets, huntings, schools, and streets where cultural boundaries were constantly negotiated. Through his nuanced depictions of domestic interiors, household practices, and family relations, he captured how global political tensions materialized in the intimate sphere. His reflections illuminate how occupation and empire were experienced not only through institutions and policies but also through family life, customs, food, language, and gender.

By situating Levynskyi’s writings within the broader history of Ukrainian émigré thought and transnational encounters in East Asia, this presentation reconsiders his contribution to the cultural history of colonial modernity. Recovering his attention to everyday life expands our understanding of Manchuria as a contact zone of domestic coexistence and adaptation, where private spaces became sites of both resistance and accommodation. Levynskyi’s rediscovered voice thus bridges diplomatic history with microhistorical and anthropological perspectives on empire.