Yukari
A female firefighter
My father is a firefighter. He fights fires, helps injured people and carries them to hospitals in an ambulance, trains for several situations, and maintains fire engines and ambulance cars so as they are ready to depart any time. He looks very tired when he comes home, so I think a firefighter’s work is both physically and spiritually hard.
When I asked him whether women worked as a firefighters, his answer was “No”. Although some women work at the fire station, they do not work at the scene.
But a few days ago, I found an article in a newspaper about a newly appointed female firefighter. She is the first woman in Mie prefecture who works as a firefighter, not at the office but at the scene. She is 18 years old now and enters a fire brigade this spring.
The article tells the story of her decision to become a firefighter. She belonged to a softball club in her high school days, and she was such a good player that she was very important on her team. One day, she hurt her leg in the game and was carried away by an ambulance car, so her team lost the game. While she was being carried away, a firefighter told her that she could play softball again after her leg was healed. He encouraged her, and she decided she also wanted to encourage and help suffering people. After that, she studied very hard to pass the test, and at last her effort bore fruit! She said, “It is very hard to work as an equal with men, but I am determined to give my best.”
I was surprised and moved when I read the article, because the young woman fixed her eyes on her future, put in an effort, and made her dream come true.
Want to join?
Last December, I walked about 30 kilometers from Matsusaka station to Ise Shrine with other students of the English Department: Yukiko, Masami, Hiroko, Chie, Daijirou, Kuniyuki and Hidetaka. The purpose of this trip was to buy tsuitachi-mochi, a kind of manju which is sold on the first day of each month at a particular place, and to eat rice porridge which we can eat only on the first day of each month.
We left Matsusaka station at around 10 o’clock in the evening and arrived at our destination at around 7 o’clock in the morning. It was a long trip! Yukiko and I suggested this plan, because neither of us belonged to any club and we wanted to do something special. At first, we worried about how many people would join us, because it was dangerous for two girls to walk in the middle of the night, and we would have had to call off our plan unless other people joined up. But many (?) kind and strange people joined us, so we could carry out our plan!
It was a really long trip and I got tired because of the sudden rain and the cold. I was dead on my feet and felt the road would never end. But thanks to my friends I made it through, and after the long trip the rice porridge warmed my exhausted body. I cannot express the feeling of achievement! So Yukiko and I are going to do it again! Anybody want to join?