Sachiko Tanaka

Offering lifelines in Japan

In a cramped 18th floor flat overlooking the part of Sendai that wasn't damaged by the March 11 quake and tsunami, a frail-looking, light-energied 62-year old grandmother waits for the phone to ring.

She's surrounded by knickknacks, and papers, and photos, and owls. Small, stuffed toy owls. Cartoon owl stickers on the walls. Sketches of owls on parchment. Owl figurines. Owls. Everywhere.

Owls.

In Japanese, she tells us, a play on words can lead from "owl" to "no hardship".

And that's what Sachiko Tanaka’s mission now is: to help others survive through difficulty.

Her own son committed suicide six years earlier, she shares.

He was only 34. You could see her pain at the loss, but what seemed to hurt her more was that he must've been in such despair and a state of powerlessness to feel that his only option was to choose to die.