Looking Back at the Rescue Efforts for Yoko Kaneko

By a Dafa practitioner in Japan

(Clearwisdom.net) Just now, a fellow practitioner called up and told me that Yoko Kaneko had arrived at Narita Airport. I could not hold back my tears. I find myself wondering what she has suffered during the past 18 months' inhuman persecution and dark imprisonment, and what changes she might have undergone. However, the fellow practitioner told me that the interview with Yoko would be broadcast at 11:20 p.m. tonight during the peak time.

A few days ago, Yoko's husband Atsushi (a non-practitioner) announced that Yoko was due to be released from the illegal sentence in a week. At 11 p.m., the Japanese TV station broadcast the news of Yoko's imminent release, and expressed their concern for her situation. I was gratified by the TV station's righteous actions, which allowed more Japanese people to know the truth about the real situation of the persecution of Falun Gong.

Yoko was due to be released on November 23. Around 6:30 p.m., the Japanese TV station broadcast the program about Yoko again. The program started with the marriage of Yoko and Atsushi. Pictures of the happy couple were shown one after another. Suddenly, the topic changed. The program started to show the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese police at Tiananmen Square, followed by a horrifying group of photos showing tortured bodies. The commentator said, "Yoko was detained only because she handed out a Falun Gong flyer, and she was sentenced to one and half a years without any legal process. Today, her term is due. Her mother-in-law and grandmother in Japan have been praying every day for her safe return. These one and half a years have brought huge mental trauma to these two elderly people. They can't understand: what crime has this kind daughter-in-law committed? Was she imprisoned only because of the simple reason that she practices Qigong?"

Then the broadcaster moved the scene to Yoko's husband Atsushi, at home in Niigata, and asked him if he had received any information about his wife. He said, "Yoko's family members in China said that she had been released. She is now in Beijing handling the relevant procedures for returning to Japan."

I remember when Yoko was first arrested. We all quickly started to work on rescuing her. Some went to the streets and collected petition signatures for Yoko. Some asked the reporters to publicize the event. Some went to Yoko's home to express sympathy. In regards to Yoko, everyone was thinking: "What can I do for our fellow practitioner Yoko?" We quickly melded into one body and functioned collectively. However, at one point, we became a bit idle for a few days. During that period, in order to rescue Yoko, Canadian practitioner Lin Shenli, who has suffered the persecution in China first-hand, made a special trip to Japan. He held press conferences in several cities to tell people about his personal experience and to awaken the Japanese society by drawing attention to the illegal kidnapping of this Japanese wife. He talked about the persecution that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have suffered in detention, and told us to move fast because every day there were possibilities that the detained practitioners could lose their lives. Since Li Shenli's visit, two young mothers in our area who speak fluent Japanese started to collect signatures from the members of the parliament. Other practitioners closely cooperated by making materials and sending forth righeous thoughts. In a few months, most of the parliament members had signed the petition and said that they would try their best to rescue Yoko. Through these efforts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also changed their attitude. In the beginning, they did not want to get involved, using the excuse that Yoko was not a Japanese citizen. Now they realized that they must be concerned about her suffering because she is the wife of a Japanese citizen.

From this experience, we came to understand that we have to move beyond our previous emphasis on self-improvement, and melt into the whole body. This is cultivation. Yoko is back. We Japanese Falun Gong practitioners should continue to use the facts of her persecution to clarify the truth in more depth. We thank all kind people who participated positively and helped in the efforts to rescue Yoko.

Please kindly correct me if there are any mistakes in this account.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/11/29/61407.html

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version