Photo/Illutration Runa Kawabe, 6, holds a letter she received from a Self-Defense Forces member in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 30. (Takuya Tanabe)

SUZU, Ishikawa Prefecture--A young girl will always cherish a letter she received from a Self-Defense Forces “big sister” that uplifted her spirits during her evacuation following the Jan. 1 earthquake here.

On New Year’s Day, Runa Kawabe, 6, was relaxing at her grandparents’ house in the Ukai district of Suzu and watching TV when a huge tremor struck.

Runa and her grandmother, Mieko, 70, hid underneath a “kotatsu” electric heater table and waited for the shaking to subside.

They heard a high-pitched “clang” and the sound of glasses breaking all over the house.

The first floor where Runa was collapsed, crushed by the roof.

From inside the kotatsu, she called out to her grandfather, Shigeru, 67, who was outside, “Grandpa! Help us!”

She heard him shout back, “Wait for me! I’ll save you!”

Shigeru smashed the collapsed timbers with a hammer and pulled Runa and Mieko out from the rubble.

Runa now lives with her parents at her home where the water is still cut off.

Amid all the disruption in her daily life, Runa has found one thing to look forward to: a makeshift bath offered by the SDF.

One week after the earthquake, Runa’s family has been going to a bath set up at Horyu Elementary and Junior High School in the city, which serves as an evacuation center.

While there, Runa began talking with a “big sister of the SDF” who was in charge of operating the bath.

“What’s your name? How old are you?” the SDF member asked her. They began to talk.

Runa’s mother, Kana, 32, said the SDF member spoke to Runa at a decidedly opportune time when she had to take her eyes off her daughter to wash her own hair.

Immediately after the quake, Runa, who experienced life as an evacuee without warmth or a bath, was happy to have the hot bathtub.

She also enjoyed talking with her “big sister.”

Before long, Runa began saying, “I want to become a member of the SDF in the future.”

After going to the bath for about 10 days, Runa learned that the SDF member would return to the garrison where she is based.

Runa wrote and handed a letter to her, saying, “Thank you for every day” and “It was nice.”

Before the service member left, Runa received a letter written in hiragana characters.

“I was very happy to read in your letter that you want to be an SDF member,” the letter said. “I know you are scared because of the earthquake, but I want you to be a hero to your mama. Runa-chan, you can do it!

The letter has become Runa’s treasure, and she keeps it carefully in her pink backpack.

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