"Joseph, of the house of David" - Deaths of Sisters

Tokyo Government Administration District

Deaths of Sisters

In Hokkaido, the most northern island among four major islands of Japan, there lived sisters.

Their farther died of illness when they were middle and primary school girls.  Their mother died of illness, too, when the oldest daughter was a high-school student.  And, the younger sister had a mental handicap.

They lived together in their home town in the middle of Hokkaido.  The elder sister worked in an apparel shop; the younger one was engaged in activities in a care facility.  But, several years ago the apparel shop was closed.  The elder sister couldn't find another job in the town, so that she moved to Sapporo, the prefectural capital of Hokkaido, leaving her younger sister alone.  Then the younger sister got depressed and stopped to go to the care facility.  So, the elder sister decided to call her poor younger sister to Sapporo to live together, though she couldn't yet find a stable job for herself.

As time went by, recession fell heavily upon their shoulders.  The elder sister couldn't find any part-time job for weeks and months.  They had to finally live on special allowances for the disabled the younger sister received from the public office.  So, the elder sister went to the city office to look for any social aid applicable to her.  An official recommended her to apply for livelihood protection or welfare benefits, but she would not apply for public livelihood assistance.  She received only 14 cans of bread from the city office as aid.

Then, the elder sister in her early 40's suddenly died of illness last November.  At the time they were behind in their rent and they had the gas cut off.  The younger and mentally handicapped sister was left alone.  She tried to call the police or an ambulance by cellular phone.  She pushed number "111," though the telephone number for the police is "110" or for an ambulance "119." The line was never connected.  The younger sister also died from coldness and hunger while the winter in Hokkaido was getting so colder.  The dead bodies of the poor sisters were found recently in the snow-covered city Sapporo.  Hence, it was reported in a nationwide news program of the public TV station.

And, I thought that as the elder sister had hope for marriage, she refused to receive livelihood protection, since those who receive this type of public assistance are mostly very unlucky young men, middle-aged ex-salaried workers, or unlucky old women.

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
http://yaplog.jp/stillheartbeat/archive/1298



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Luk 1:27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
Luk 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.