After the 3/11 earthquake, #prayforjapan was a hashtag used for people around the world to send messages of encouragement to Japan. prayforjapan.jp is a site that is collecting heartwarming tweets from Japanese users, as well as messages from outside the country.

I got emotional after reading just a few of these messages. The earthquake was a terrible tragedy, but amidst all of that I feel admiration for the spirit of the Japanese people. Messages like this show that people have really come together to help one another, and it give me great hope for the country’s recovery.

I was sitting at the train station exhausted, when some of the homeless people came to me gave me some of their cardboard to keep warm. Even though we always ignore them as we walk by. It’s so warm.

During my 4 hour walk back home, there was a woman with a sketchbook that said “Please use our bathroom!” who had made it available for public use. Japan is truly the warmest country in the world. I started crying after seeing that.

I saw a group of children saying to a train station worker, “Thank you for working hard to keep the trains running yesterday.” The worker was crying. I was sobbing.

prayforjapan.jp