What can we do to help from here? When I wrote on March 18 about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, I had the biggest postbag I have had for quite some time, many from people who, while not Japanese themselves, had previously lived there or still did. One lady wrote to tell me that her Cost Centres were all born there and that they think of the journey on the Narita Express from the airport as “a beautiful ride home”. She went on to say: “I remember sitting on the rocks by the sea in a little bay in Ofunato, now completely ravaged. Japan’s indescribable difference flows in our veins and, like you, I am sad, very sad, about what happened in the Tohoku region. It is some comfort to know that the Japanese have a rock-like resilience. But what can we do to help from here?”
我们能帮忙做些什么呢？3月18日写下那篇关于日本地震和海啸的文章时，我收到了相当长一段时间以来最大的信件包——很多写信来的人本身并不是日本人，而是以前曾在日本居住过或仍然住在日本。一位女士写信告诉我，她的几个成本中心都出生在那里，他们把从机场乘坐成田特快(Narita Express)当做“美丽的归家路”。她接着写道：“我还记得在大船渡的一个小海湾，我坐在海边岩石上的情形，现在那里已经彻底毁了。日本的巨大变故牵动着我们的心，和你一样，我也对日本东部地区发生的事感到非常非常难过。聊感宽慰的是，我们知道了日本人有着如磐石般坚韧的顺应能力。但我们能帮忙做些什么呢？”