DALIAN, China--To honor the memory of the man who is credited with saving their lives during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, four Chinese trainees who worked at a seafood processing plant in Miyagi Prefecture have decided to return to the factory, they said Dec. 16.
DALIAN, China--To honor the memory of the man who is credited with saving their lives during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, four Chinese trainees who worked at a seafood processing plant in Miyagi Prefecture have decided to return to the factory, they said Dec. 16.
The four female Chinese workers, who attended a ceremony to celebrate Emperor Akihito's birthday held in Dalian by the Japanese government, said they decided to return as a favor to the late Mitsuru Sato, who was an executive of the Sato Suisan seafood company in Onagawa when the tsunami hit.
Sato was credited with saving the lives of 20 Chinese trainees before he was swept away by the tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The Chinese had been working at the Sato Suisan factory and at other companies in the group from August 2009 up until the magnitude-9 earthquake struck the area.
Immediately after the big quake, Sato, then 55, evacuated 20 trainees who had been taking a rest at a dormitory. He directed them to a shrine saying, "Move up to a higher place."
When Sato headed back down to the dormitory again, he was swallowed up by the tsunami. The news was widely reported in China.
"Mr. Sato will live in my heart forever," said another trainee, 33-year-old Geng Shujing.
The trainees have been working at factories in Dalian since they returned home from Japan. They decided to go back to Japan to "repay the Japanese who saved us at a most difficult time," one member of the group said.
They plan to leave for Onagawa in early February and work as trainees for about six months, the remaining training period.
"I want to do what I can to help Japan rebuild," said Hao Chunfei, 23.