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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. |