It’s been almost a month since the devastating earthquake/tsunami hit Japan, and as we all know, the country continues to struggle with its ongoing nuclear crisis.

I have a number of friends and family residing in Japan, but thankfully, all of them returned my emails and phone calls letting me know they were safe. One of my uncles who is in his ‘60s told me about his harrowing 10-hour walk home from Shibuya to Saitama. Another uncle told me he thought he was surely going to die when his roof fell in.  But most importantly, they were all right.

Recently, through a forwarded chain of emails, I read these messages posted from people in Japan along with their translations. I wanted to share them (although I can only post the translations because I don’t know how to do Japanese characters in WordPress). I was moved by how they were filled with a spirit of resilience and positivity. The news we read and watch is so often filled with negative human acts, but these messages are a reminder that humanity still exists and sometimes, out of adversity, there is hope and inspiration.

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@smzasm
It’s so dark that I can see stars that I’ve never seen and it’s so beautiful. People of Sendai, look up!

@unosuke
At Disneyland, the sweets in the gift shop had just been replenished, when I saw a group of gaudily dressed high school girls start hoarding all the boxes. For a second, I thought, “What’s up with that?” Then I saw the girls go over and make arrangements for all the boxes to be delivered to the children in the evacuation centers. And that moved me. It was a beautiful example of kindness towards others, especially for those with children who literally can go no where.

@kiritansu
People are picking up scattered things at stores and putting them back on shelves, then standing in line silently to wait to pay. When the trains started running, despite the crowded conditions, elderly people were giving up their seats to pregnant women. Foreigners seeing this behavior are getting all choked up. It’s all true, all of those stories! Japan truly is an amazing place.

@akitosk
A Message from the United Nations, “Japan has always been there to assist other nations in their time of need. This time, the United Nations will do everything it can to help Japan.”

@micakom
Though it is common to see green traffic lights where only one car could get through, it is heartening to see this warm give-and-take among the drivers. There are scenes in congested intersections where nothing moves for five full minutes, but in ten hours, I never heard any honking and nothing beyond words of appreciation. I am loving Japan more and more as I spend time that is simultaneously frightening yet deeply warming.

@ayakishimoto
Last night, as I made my way home from the university on foot, I saw an elderly woman out in front of a closed bread shop, giving away free bread to people. It is moving to see people who have found what little they can do to help in the middle of this clamorous situation. It warms my heart. Tokyo is not lost!

@copedy
This came in from a Korean friend. “The sole victim of the atomic bomb. The loser to the Great War. Typhoons come every year. So do earthquakes. So do tsunami. It’s a small country, but Japan stands tall. Keep going! Please keep going!” For what it’s worth, I’m in tears now….

@aquarius_rabbit
I was worn out, waiting on the platform for the train, when some homeless people came by distributing boxes because it was cold. And this is despite the fact that we always glance at them out of the corner of our eyes. I’m all warm now.

@dita_69
Suntory made all its vending machines work for free and Softbank unlocked all of its Wi-Fi spots. Lots of people are putting their all into their efforts and the world is moved by those efforts and looking to help as well. Compared to a country that Japan was during the great Hanshin earthquake, which hesitated to accept foreign assistance and was late in dispatching its Self Defense Forces, Japan truly has become a strong nation.

@tadakatz
I quipped to the train conductor “Things sure are tough” regarding the decision to run the trains all night. He smiled and said, “The times call for it.” Nothing lost here! How moving is that…

@rasuku
I had a four hour walk home from the city today where I lots of time to think. The streets are overflowing with walkers, but everyone is orderly and remains silent during their walk. The convenience stores and various other shops are doing their business without fanfare. The net infrastructure withstood the trembles, various facilities to take in those who cannot return home have opened up in several regions, the trains are back and running, and they say they will be running all night now. This is an incredible country, and it has nothing to do with what rank we are in GDP.

@hirata_hironobu
My two year old son put on his shoes by himself and started to head out the door. “I’m going to go arrest the earthquake!” he told me. Let’s all take strength from the courage and sense of justice coming out of such a small body. Everyone, let’s all pluck up and get through this!

@fujifumi
During my four hour walk home today, I saw a young lady holding a sketch pad with the words “Restroom Available!” scrawled on it; here she was opening the restroom to her own home! Japan truly is the warmest country in the world. I was moved to tears seeing that.

@yoh22222
When the power goes out, there is someone to fix that. When the water goes out, there is someone to fix that. And when there is a nuclear accident, there is someone who goes to fix that as well. Things don’t just restore themselves by themselves. When we are sitting in our homes, complaining about when things will be fixed, there are people working as if their lives depended on it in the frigid cold trying to do just that.

@bitboi
One of the male announcers on NHK started to describe the situation with the calamity and how things were going presently, “New mothers who have stopped lactating due to the stress were finally able to get a hold of some milk after lining up all night at a roadside supermarket,” he said. Then silence…. As if there were some technical difficulties. He straightened himself out and continued the broadcast, but it was clear that he had been crying. Tears welled up in my eyes as well.

@nekoshima83
This anecdote comes from a friend in Chiba (outside Tokyo). At one of the evacuation centers, an old man sat crying, “What’s going to happen in the future?” Beside him, a high school boy rubbed the man’s shoulder, saying, “Everything will be fine. After we become adults, we’ll put back everything the way it was.” It looks like the future will be all right.

@mameo65
After 42 hours of being trapped, an elderly man is captured on video. Smiling for the camera, he says, “I experienced the tsunami in Chile as well. Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll just rebuild.” It is really important what we do moving forward.

@oka_0829
I saw some small children speaking to the train conductor. They said, “Thank you for working so hard yesterday to keep the trains running.” The conductor started to cry. I did, too.

(Thanks to M. Tonai for letting me post these.)