Toshihito Aisawa, 9, reads a letter from a schoolboy in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, as his grandfather Yoshikazu Shima looks on. (Kuniaki Nishio)

Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake, 9-year-old Toshihito Aisawa's father, Kazuyuki, jumped in the car and raced to pick him up at his school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Along with his wife, Noriko, Toshito's grandmother Kyoko and two cousins all packed into the car, Kazuyuki tried to outrace the approaching tsunami.

He lost the race.

Toshihito got out of the car by breaking a window before losing consciousness. When he came to on a pile of scrap lumber, all his loved ones were gone.

A local barber took the third-grader into his home.

No one knew where his parents and grandmother were, so Toshito fashioned a sign of cardboard and paper with their names on it and began a solitary journey--wandering from one sad evacuation center to the next, searching for his loved ones.

Finally, six days later, he was reunited with one of the cousins, Yuto Shima, 13.

It was a tearful reunion, made even more poignant because Shima had no information on Toshihito's missing parents or grandmother.

On March 16, the vernacular Asahi Shimbun carried a story about his search. Concerned readers began to write to the boy.

Toshihito's lonely journey with his homemade sign touched the heart of the nation. It seemed as if a nation shared his anguish.

One Asahi reader wrote, "Don't worry. You will find your mother, father and cousins all right." "Our hearts are all with you," wrote another.

A group of 17 fifth-graders at Kamiya Elementary School in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, also sent him an encouraging letter.

On March 17, Toshihito moved in with his grandfather, Yoshikazu Shima, 66. They sat and read the letters together.

But sadly, news came the following day. It wasn't good. All his family--Toshihito's parents and his grandmother--had been found dead.

At last, the indomitable little boy's strength failed. He broke down, and his grandfather found him crying inconsolably.

The heartbroken orphan has continued to receive messages of sympathy and support from people all over the nation and abroad.

Elementary school pupils in Chiba Prefecture and Yokohama sent him letters and manga. Nobuko Fujikawa, 62, from Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, sent him a portable video game player.

His school and the local community have also received letters and e-mails offering financial support for Toshihito.

Now, Toshihito spends hours each day doing his best to answer letters from well-wishers.

"These letters really cheer me up," he said. His school is scheduled to reopen April 21.

By KUNIAKI NISHIO/Staff Writer

Source: ajw.asahi.com