I was moved to tears by the U.S. armed forces’ support during Operation Tomodachi (after the March 11, 2011 disaster). They did so much to help Japan in its time of need.

I wonder if she was also moved when a large number of the "tomodachi" tried to sue because of the life threatening radiation.

Yeah Bertie because that handful really represented the thousands that did help and did not sue. This lady is thankful for the help rendered why not just read that and move on rather than make some cynical anti-US remark?

Well, at least Mrs. Kaufman is being more diplomatic than her president, assuming she is American. Maybe her debt repayment actions will cancel out Donald demanding Japan shovel more money to defense industries.

@zichi, program coordinator for Air Force personnel sure sounds like a salaried position to me. Clearly she is smart enough not to badmouth her employer, but how did this make its way onto JT as most newsworthy quote of the day?

Bertie: "I wonder if she was also moved when a large number of the "tomodachi" tried to sue because of the life threatening radiation."

You mean after the government and TEPCO refused them help because they denied any link to the disaster?

Anyone who does emergency aid accepts some level of risk. People help because there is a need to help. In this case, those sailors gave nearly all their personal clothes. They exhausted the stores of socks, shirts, underwear, and canned food. They rationed water so the victims could have water. They even gave their blankets. Doing their job to aid or support those aiding, they did so each day, past 100%.

To help is not easy. To anyone who comes to aid in the time of desperate need, don't stop, even if your exhausted. The reward is little, but your effort is respected and remembered, even if it is by only one person.

There is an article in the Asahi about her, I guess that is why the quote is there. That is great that she feels indebted to the US military, but how about all the other groups that helped out and got little or no recognition. I would hope that with the military presence the US has, that in times of crisis and adversity that they would help out and send volunteers to do whatever they could.

Thanks Mark, after reading the Asahi profile I can see where she is coming from. She identifies herself as Japanese and has worked in two positions at Misawa, first in catering and now in cultural transition services for airmen and their families. This includes teaching Japanese language every day and organizing special sports, shopping, fashion and safety/ survival programs. The water rescue day last month was advertised as being to thank the troops for Operation Tomodachi, so the quote seems related. Good luck to Shumi-sensei in her cultural education endeavors.

Operation Tomodachi was a big deal. Put in its proper perspective, the US forces did not do nearly as much as the SDF. Not even close. But there were some particularly symbolic parts to it that were unforgettable to Tohoku people.

On 3.11, people will not forget that the horizon was on fire. If you were along the coast in Miyagi, the fires were pretty close, but the chemical and petroleum fires were visible up the coast to Iwate and down the coast to Fukushima as an orange glow. Kessenuma and Ishinomaki were on fire. I know personally of people near the Onagawa nuclear reactor who looked southward to Sendai and thought that Sendai must have been destroyed. They did not even bother trying to contact relatives there.

And in the next few days. Here and there, very large ships of US military forces started to appear on the horizon pretty close in. They were symbolic of presence and order and civilization. You just cannot describe how much that lifts confidence beyond what a helicopter or jeep convoy would. By and large, Tomodachi went after some symbolic tasks that the SDF did not have the ready resources for. For instance, I think it was the Marines who cleared out Sendai airport. They got it up and functioning in a month, where the SDF had been estimating four months. I think it was also Marines who took landing craft to some isolated villages out on the peninsula which had been wrecked AND isolated by the tsunami.

By far their most important role was backing up the SDF and letting the SDF have personal contact with the people while the US forces took care of some heavy lifting and patrol tasks and some tasks like those mentioned above.

The US forces were trusted as friends who respected the Japanese counterparts and supported and deferred to them at the same time. Hard to describe, but just a very welcome presence. There is no question that any funds spent for that effort, no matter who spent them, were worth it.

All credit to Shumi Kaufman, who clearly feels a genuine need to fulfill valuable a role on the base as a act of gratitude.

Paying a debt to U.S. forces who helped Japan in time of disaster....

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201704210010.html