Japan Info Night 2

Sharing and Caring Heartwarming Stories in the Midst of the Disaster :

Sharing and Caring Heartwarming Stories in the Midst of the Disaster

Slide 6:

We were all waiting to be rescued. None of us want to die, you know? Instead, I saw people yelling, "Mothers and children, where are you! You will go first! " Eventually a helicopter came and I was expecting a swarm of people fighting to get onto this one vehicle. I know we are supposed to act this way, but I  never thought people would actually be courageous enough to do that. I was speechless.

Slide 7:

The grocery stores are totally demolished. Things are scattered all over the place. But people are quietly lining up and paying the full price. The trains are totally packed and everyone is exhausted. Then I saw an elderly lending seats to an expectant mother. How dare they call this city cold - Tokyo is filled with such heartwarming, caring people.

Slide 9:

Go ahead and look - when you walk around here, you can see houses with pieces of paper on their door saying, "water available" for families whose water system is broken. The bakeries are giving out free bread, and salons are giving out their shampoo for free. But seeing everyone here, I realize it actually is not hard at all. It isn't easy to share with strangers –

Slide 11:

I was sitting in the train station, exhausted. It has been hours just waiting here . Then, a number of homeless people came, handing out their cardboard pieces to us . Do we not ignore these men everyday? I found myself crying. "You can sit on these, it will make you warmer, just a little"

Slide 13:

When the first quake came, I was waitressing at a restaurant. Dishes were crashing, drinks were spilling all over the place, and all the customers rushed out in panic. What surprised me though, was that almost half of them came back immediately after it stopped shaking, to pay their checks. If it wasn't that day, they came back the next day.

Slide 14:

Let me tell you how chaotic the roads were! The signals were broken and there were traffic jams all over the place. But in the midst of all this mess and frustration, cars were giving their ways to each other . The only honks that were heard were for expressing thanks.

Slide 16:

There was this one pay phone in town that miraculously worked. Just one. The entire town was lining up to talk to families and friends - It was the only way to reach them. I ended up waiting a little more than 2 hours. But none of these people were greedy; they picked up the phone, said a few words and hung up for the next person. Maybe a minute, but no more than two.

Slide 17:

One thing I noticed while working at the cashier was that the customers were not buying the full amount of food and water they needed. Some of them even told me they traveled for hours to get here. "I'm in need, so I'm sure everyone else is too," A woman said.

Slide 19:

My dear child, you have no idea how much courage you show me from that tiny body of yours. My two year old son was putting his shoes on by himself at the door. "I'm going to arrest the earthquake!" he yelped.

Slide 21:

I know it was hard for him. H e has been saving up for months to buy this video game. He nodded silently, there were tiny tears in his eyes. I am so proud of you, son. So proud of you. I asked him for the last time if he was sure, as I exchanged his jar of coins to a fifty dollar bill for donation.

Slide 22:

I slumped to the ground in devastation. I couldn't breathe from crying so much.  Why is this happening to us? What are we going to do from here? Then, a little girl reached her hand over to me. There was a coin in her hand that she pulled out from her pink piggy bank. Isn't she like three? I could not help but break a smile on my face.

Slide 24:

There was a young boy lining up in the store to buy a chocolate bar. When he reached the cashier, he paused, and started thinking for a while. The girl at the cashier said "thank you" as the child hurried out of the store . Her voice was shaking. He went back and put his bar where it was, and his tiny feet tiptoed as he dropped his cash into the donation box.