The Generous Junior High School Student
Japanese people love their face masks. Long before the coronavirus came along, people wore them if they were ill, if they didn't want to get ill, if they suffered from hay fever, if they didn't have their make-up on, if they hadn't shaved, if they had a sunburn or something else to hide, so many reasons! Two months or so ago when the coronavirus started, face masks became very scarce. Maybe someone in Japan has closets full of them, I don't know. What I have heard is that there is a big shortage and they are nearly impossible to buy in the stores.
That's where this story comes in. After hearing that people were selling masks online at incrediblely marked up prices, Hime Takimoto, a 13 year old junior high school student from Kofu City, Yamanashi, used her otoshidama (New Year's gift money given to children in Japan) to buy the materials to make the masks. She made 612 face masks and donated them to her prefecture. Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki accepted her generous gift, saying he was touched by her efforts and wants to distribute the masks to facilities that look after children and the elderly. Each mask has an attached message saying "I'd be happy if this could be of use to you".
I think this is incredibly generous. What an uplifting story in this unsettling time!
9 comments:
What a wonderful young lady, it does lift your spirits to know that out there, someone is very thoughtful and kind.
What a wonderful thoughtful young woman, lots of people could learn from her.
A very generous young lady and a credit to her parents.
Yes, a compassionate young lady!
Well done Hime-chan. An act like this is not only extremely generous, but also gives hope for the future.
After the devastating earthquake and tsunami 2011 lots of the students who had lost so much, their school, their home and family members did incredible jobs. In the shelters where they were staying, they organised playgroups for the children and exercise programs for the elderly. They formed bucket chains to carry water to the toilets and washrooms as no running water was available, they cheered everyone up with singing and did all sorts of tasks to lessen the burden on others. It was impressive to see so much initiative and volunteer spirit from such young students. That gave me a lot of hope for the future.
It is lovely to read some good news!
It's a good story. We are seeing more of this kind of story on the news. Hopefully the program directors know that those watching NEED this kind of story to keep the depressing thoughts at bay.
xx, Carol
We need more stories like this <3
That's so sweet of her :) It seems that for every idiot licking handrails there is one extremly compassionate person out there, and that gives me hope for humankind.
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