SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--A local couple who lost their son in Japan's 2011 tsunami disaster will meet an American man who lost his in the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--A local couple who lost their son in Japan's 2011 tsunami disaster will meet an American man who lost his in the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.The meeting, scheduled for New York in April, will coincide with the performance there of a play touring from Japan that portrays the selfless acts of those caught up in the Great East Japan Earthquake.When the magnitude-9.0 quake struck, 39-year-old Kenichi Abe, the deputy chief of a community volunteer fire brigade in Soma, ran from the house, shouting to his family: "Evacuate, quickly!" his father, 72-year-old Shintaro, recalls.It was the last Shintaro saw of his son, running to a fire station dressed in the brigade's "happi" coat uniform. Kenichi was found dead two weeks later, apparently as a result of tsunami.In Soma, 458 people died in the disaster. Ten of them were firefighters.Shintaro and his wife, 66-year-old Yoko, operate a local fishery, and Kenichi was their beloved son and heir. Shintaro recalled the horrifying moment when he saw Kenichi lying dead."My mind went blank and I could barely think," he said.Local residents later thanked Shintaro and Yoko, saying, "I was able to escape thanks to Ken-chan (Kenichi), who urged me to run."Yoko said: "Kenichi performed his task. He did well."In 2001, retired U.S. firefighter Lee Ielpi suffered the same trauma.His son, 29-year-old Jonathan, had followed him into the fire service. On Sept. 11, Jonathan was at the World Trade Center in New York when the towers collapsed.Lee now serves as president of the September 11th families' association and separately heads the 9/11 WTC Tribute Center.The man who will bring the families together is Toshi Shioya, an actor and film director.When the 2011 disaster struck, 56-year-old Shioya went to Soma to film the plight of residents. There, he met the Abes.His observations gave him an idea for a play set in a hospital in this city. The play, named "HIKOBAE" (new shoots), portrays the plight of survivors, including doctors and nurses who try to help survivors despite a shortage of supplies and fears of radiation exposure. Soma is about 40 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.Among the play's characters are firefighters who urge local people to evacuate—but who themselves perish.The play was performed in Tokyo, Soma and New York in 2012."They maintain our daily lives and the peace we all enjoy, through their selfless acts and risking their lives to save others," Shioya said. "This is often found, in all countries.""HIKOBAE" will be performed at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Aratani Hall, in Los Angeles on March 30 and 31. It is slated to be shown at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York on April 5 and 6.Shioya has invited Ielpi and the Abes to the April 5 performance in New York. They are expected to address the audience prior to the performance.Shioya quotes Ielpi as saying he looks forward to seeing the play together with the Abes.And they say they look forward to exchanging memories with Ielpi."I want to tell Mr. Ielpi what I saw when the disaster struck, and about life at the evacuation center," Yoko said.