It was a chance encounter that led Naoto Karasawa's family from the shaky ground of Tokyo to the firm soil of Toronto. At a business conference in the days after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan on March 11, Karasawa met a Toronto businessman who insisted Karasawa's family come to stay with him until Japan recovered from the disaster.
"He decided to invite me to come here on the last day [of the conference]," said Karasawa. "I told him I had to talk to my wife, of course."
The Torontonian, who doesn't want to be identified, persisted with his offer, chatting with Karasawa via Skype and email in the following days, until finally Karasawa agreed.
"He strongly suggested to me to come to Toronto to escape from Japan for certain time," said Karasawa. "He wanted to help somebody from Japan from the bottom of his heart."
Last Friday, Karasawa, his wife, Nahomi, and their two sons — Leo, 12, and Dan, 8 — arrived in Toronto for what they hope will be a six-month stay. For now, they are staying at a downtown hotel while the Toronto man readies several free rooms in his home in the city's west end.
Though his Tokyo home is far from the hard-hit Tohoku region and considered safe, Karasawa found the leaking radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant and the hundreds of aftershocks nerve-wracking. Small amounts of radiation were detected in the air and water supply even as far as Tokyo.
"In my opinion, there is no area to be safe in Japan," he said. (read more)
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