Photo/Illutration Yuya Mori, right, is given a letter of gratitude by Heisei Chikuho Railway Co. President Kenichi Kawai in Fukuchi, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Dec. 23. (Koki Nakamura)

FUKUCHI, Fukuoka Prefecture--A high school boy who came to the assistance of a woman when she fell ill on a morning train has been praised for his selfless act.

Yuya Mori was headed to Yamato Seiran High School in Nogata city from his home in Itoda town on Dec. 6 when at around 8:20 a.m. he saw a middle-aged woman vomiting onto the floor.

As the third-year student did not have a towel with him, he instinctively took off his shirt and used it to clean up. 

He asked the woman, "Are you all right?" He was then given tissues by a high school girl and handed them to the woman, saying, "Please use these to wipe your mouth."

When the one-car, single-driver train stopped at Fureai Shoriki Station, the female student told the driver about the incident, and he took over assisting the woman.

Heisei Chikuho Railway Co., headquartered in Fukuchi, presented a letter of gratitude to the teen for his act during a presentation ceremony in a train car at Kanada Station on Dec. 23. 

"Situations inside trains are symbolic of society itself," said Kenichi Kawai, president of the railway company. "Falling ill alone is a very isolating feeling. I appreciate your wonderful act, which could only have been taken because you were ready to help others in your daily life."

In response to the recognition, Mori said shyly, "I just did what I was supposed to do."

The student had a final exam that day, but he said, "I wasn't worried about that."

When Mori was in elementary school, he fell off his bicycle and a man treated his injury with his handkerchief. He felt at the time that it was a "cool" thing to do. After that, he made up his mind to help others in need.

"I don't want society to become a cold place where people turn a blind eye to others," he said.