Eight-year-old Juri Sato had one request for Santa Claus on Christmas Day last year: Help her and her sister, who died in 2011, “travel around the world.” That wish is becoming a reality thanks to a number of Santa’s little helpers, including strangers and professional athletes. Juri, who lives in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, has wondered what it would be like to travel with her elder sister, Airi, who was killed after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami hit the northeastern Tohoku region on March 11, 2011. Airi, then 6, was attending the private Hiyori kindergarten in Ishinomaki. She boarded a school bus with other children to flee to safety. However, the bus drove toward the sea, and the vehicle was engulfed by the tsunami and caught on fire, killing five children, including Airi. In summer 2014, Juri watched a TV program showing people traveling overseas with a doll and taking pictures of the doll at famous tourist sites. The doll represented a child who was too sick to travel. Juri asked her mother, Mika Sato, 41: “Will someone help Airi travel around the world like in the program?” Mika commissioned a reconstruction assistance group to create two dolls. The dolls, made of wool and resembling Juri and Airi, were delivered to the family on Christmas Day in 2014. The following year, Garnet Miyagi, a nonprofit organization in Murata in the prefecture that had been informed of Juri’s dream, took the next step. The group has arranged schedules and destinations for people entrusted to take the dolls representing the sisters to overseas destinations. The dolls first visited Vietnam late last year, and also traveled to Singapore, Finland and other countries before reaching their 10th destination, Australia. The dolls’ future itinerary includes the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands. Shie Iwasa, a 44-year-old travel writer from Tokyo, carried the dolls on a recent trip for the cause. “I could not provide direct support for disaster victims so far, but this project enables me to help them while working,” Iwasa said. When the news reached the Urawa Reds soccer team in the J.League, the players offered to cooperate, taking advantage of the team’s visit to Australia for a match in the AFC Champions League. In Australia, players and staff members took photos of the sister dolls not only at the practice field and the match site, but also near an opera house and other sightseeing spots. “Many people had hardships in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami,” said Reds forward Yuki Muto, 27. When the earthquake struck, Muto was a member of Vegalta Sendai, which is based in a disaster-hit area. “It has now been five years since the disaster, and we must prevent memories of the disaster from fading,” he said. “I want to offer as much support as possible to realize Juri’s wish.” Mika said she always tells her daughter that “the dolls are traveling with Santa Claus.” “When Juri learns the truth, she will feel a sense of gratitude toward many people,” the mother said. “I hope the project will help her grow emotionally.”