OFUNATO, Iwate Prefecture--No baby wants to leave the security of its mother breast, but the 21 infants at a weaning class in quake-hit Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on July 6 could be excused for holding on a little longer than most.
OFUNATO, Iwate Prefecture--No baby wants to leave the security of its mother breast, but the 21 infants at a weaning class in quake-hit Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on July 6 could be excused for holding on a little longer than most.
Born in the days before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake, they have survived their first months in a world turned upside down by natural disaster.
One parent at the class, Harumi Noda, 33, gave birth to her son, Haruto, two days before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami devastated Ofunato. Amid the aftershocks, she said she watched her baby in a newborn babies' room at her hospital throughout the night.
"If he grows up, I want to tell him the kindness of people who helped her family (in the days after the disaster)," said Harumi.