In New York, in Tokyo

Here are two news articles I picked up this morning -- the first one courtesy of Generations for Life, the next one from today's paper over breakfast.

Leap in time sublime; NYC subway hero deflects praise

By Cara Buckley
New York Times News Service
Published January 3, 2007

NEW YORK -- It was every subway rider's nightmare, times two.

Who has ridden along New York's 656 miles of subway lines and not wondered: "What if I fell to the tracks as a train came in? What would I do?"

And who has not thought: "What if someone else fell? Would I jump to the rescue?"

Wesley Autrey, 50-year-old construction worker, faced both those questions in an instant Tuesday, and got his answers almost as quickly.

Autrey was waiting for the local at 137th Street and Broadway in upper Manhattan around midday. He was taking his two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, home before heading to work.

Nearby, Cameron Hollopeter collapsed, his body convulsing. Autrey and two women rushed to help. Hollopeter, 20, managed to get up but then stumbled a few steps to the platform edge and fell to the tracks, between the two rails.

The headlights of the No. 1 train appeared.

"I had to make a split[-second] decision," Autrey said.

So he made one, and leaped.

Autrey lay on Hollopeter, pressing him down, his heart pounding. The train's brakes screeched, but it couldn't stop.

Full story at Chicago Tribune

* * * * *

Graying Japan opens doors to RP nurses, caregivers

The Philippine Star 01/04/2007

TOKYO (AFP) – Ask wheelchair-bound 81-year-old Hisae Kajiwara about the new workers at her nursing home and a smile comes to her face.

"They are really cheerful and make the atmosphere here very bright," she says.

Another woman, 79-year-old Mitsu Sekiguchi, also confined to a wheelchair, chimes in: "And they always make the beds just perfectly."

Normally, the arrival of new nurses at the care facility in Tokyo’s western fringes would be a mere question of personnel. But this time, it represents a fresh step for Japan.

Maria Falqueza, 25, and Olivia Pineda, 30, are among the first Filipinas at nursing facilities in Japan, which has signed a free-trade agreement with the Philippines that broke precedent by allowing workers to come in.

A handful of care support facilities have accepted 15 Filipinos including Falqueza and Pineda as trainees to brace for the full-fledged entry of Filipino nurses to Japan.

After intense negotiations, then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and President Arroyo signed a deal in September for Japan to accept up to 1,000 care workers and nurses from the Philippines in two years.

Full story at The Philippine Star