Japanese films portray heroes who sacrifice everything for the greater good. They stoically refuse to back down. Fame isn’t important.
The “Fukishima Fifty” may never be famous. Their individual identities might never surface outside Japan. There are likely more than fifty. Their sacrifice is exemplary and extraordinary. These are the amazing workers who stayed in that Japanese nuclear power plant long after it was safe. They will die from who knows what cancers and complications. They will likely die slowly.
They responded to a company email of all things, asking with Japanese conciseness and politeness: “We would like you to come and work at the plant. Can you?”
Many others turned down the $5000 per day offer to come to work, even though the government raised the legal radiation limit from 100 to 250 millisieverts per day, in a move sure to motivate many. Not!
But “the fifty” not only responded by saying they CAN go--they are going willingly.
One single man, Hiroyuki Kohno, one of the few willing to be interviewed, explained: “No one WANTS to go…I will return with a body no longer capable of work at a nuclear plant…[but] these are my brothers and sisters. I feel allegiance to them. They have families and children that depend on them…these are my friends. I share pain and laughter with them. That’s why I go.”
“We eat from the same bowl” is the local phrase that fits this fifty. This refers to the family atmosphere that exists in many places there even though the days where people lived in close-knit villages are long gone. The work place has become the new community. Co-workers are family.
Kohno’s actual family was interviewed: “My son and colleagues have discussed at length and committed to die if necessary to save the nation,” his mother lamented.
Jesus commended this kind of love: “Greater love hath no man than this; that he lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
But Jesus demonstrated an even greater love. This fifty died for their friends. The Bible tells us “While we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). What amazing love & forgiveness He offers us as a gift. Will you receive His gift? What will you do in response?
*Yahoo News, Brett Michael Dykes, 4/4/11
