As the COVID-19 continues to spread in Japan, many overseas Chinese there have voluntarily come out on the streets to distribute masks to the local people, expressing gratitude to the Japanese people for their selfless help to China during the virus outbreak.
TOKYO, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- A video of a Chinese girl on the street of Tokyo distributing face masks to the Japanese has recently received a lot of attention on social media.
In the video, she is wearing a headpiece of a baby deer doll and holding a cardboard box with the Japanese words "Gratitude from Wuhan" on it.
With the increasingly severe outbreak of COVID-19 in Japan, local people began to pay attention to the prevention and control of the epidemic, while masks and other protective supplies are out of stock.
In this situation, many overseas Chinese in Japan voluntarily go to the streets to distribute masks they went to length to collect, expressing gratitude to the Japanese people for their selfless help to China during the virus outbreak.
On social media, people referred to the Chinese girl wearing the headgear of a baby deer doll and handing out masks as "the deer knight." The girl told Xinhua in an interview that her name is Tiantian and she started her own advertising agency after finishing college in Japan.
"There are a lot of elderly people in Japan. Whenever I see them on the street, I pray silently that the virus will not infect them. In addition, some young Japanese have not paid enough attention to the epidemic. These concerns prompted me to take to the streets," she said.
"I hope that by handing out the masks, I can call attention to the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and draw the attention of the international community to the situation in Japan," she said.
Tiantian told Xinhua that collecting 1,000 masks is the most difficult part. It took her a long time to collect 500 masks from different sources. Another 500 were given by her friends when they heard about her plan.
When she was handing out masks on the street, Tiantian was moved by some Japanese taking the mask with both hands and saying "Thank you" or "Be strong" in Chinese.
"I was wearing a headgear and couldn't see very well, but in my limited view, I saw smiling faces," she said.
Since late January, China's fight against the outbreak of the virus has received warm support from Japan. All sectors, including government agencies, enterprises and non-governmental organizations, offered assistance to China immediately.
Members of a Chinese volunteer group distribute masks to local people in Nagoya, Japan, Feb. 20, 2020. (Photo by Xuehong/Xinhua)
Tiantian had wanted to raise some disinfectant supplies from Japanese companies, but she was surprised to learn that they had already made donations to China without any publicity. "It is the support of Chinese tourists and the Chinese market that has made our companies profitable in recent years. We want to express gratitude," those companies said.
Now that Japan is suffering from the outbreak too, Tiantian said that she thought the growing number of confirmed cases in Japan every day "could be someone I passed by one day, or the neighbor who gave me furniture when I first came to study in Japan. Maybe it was the manager who took special care of me while I worked part-time in a pub. It could also be someone who patiently showed me the way when I got lost on the streets of Tokyo. I should do my part to help the local people and pay a debt of gratitude."
The deer doll headgear that she wore when distributing masks on the street is an image based on the famous deer in Japan's Nara. "The deer in Nara are very cute. They are adored by both the Chinese and Japanese people, and I want to do something for the China-Japan friendship with the figure," Tiantian said.
"I hope people would not pay too much attention to me. The 'deer knight' can be everyone. Be kind, and we can have the best armor," she said.■
