Birthday boy 'saved family'
Source: Agencies |
March 7, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SEARCHING through piles of bodies after Japan's March 11 tsunami, Kenji Sato was struck by a thought - he could easily have been one of them, had it not been for his son born earlier that day.
For Sato, a descendant of fishermen in Minamisanriku, in Miyagi Prefecture, took time off work to see the birth of his third child, Haruse, in a nearby city.
Hours later, nearly all 70 residents at the care home where he worked had been swept away by the tsunami set off by the 9.0 magnitude offshore earthquake.
A year on, the Satos, who all survived, are planning a quiet birthday for the child who, his grandmother Kazuko insists, "was born to save us."
Haruse - whch means "Bright Spring" - was diagnosed with Down Syndrome but his mother, Hiromi, was determined to bring him up like his two brothers.
"Sometimes I even think there are too many people trying to look after him," laughed Hiromi as Haruse's grandmother showered him with kisses and tickled him, making him squeal and laugh.
For Sato, a descendant of fishermen in Minamisanriku, in Miyagi Prefecture, took time off work to see the birth of his third child, Haruse, in a nearby city.
Hours later, nearly all 70 residents at the care home where he worked had been swept away by the tsunami set off by the 9.0 magnitude offshore earthquake.
A year on, the Satos, who all survived, are planning a quiet birthday for the child who, his grandmother Kazuko insists, "was born to save us."
Haruse - whch means "Bright Spring" - was diagnosed with Down Syndrome but his mother, Hiromi, was determined to bring him up like his two brothers.
"Sometimes I even think there are too many people trying to look after him," laughed Hiromi as Haruse's grandmother showered him with kisses and tickled him, making him squeal and laugh.
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