People from different walks of life came together to express their solidarity with a nation that is trying its best to cope with one of the biggest natural disasters in recent times. The endurance, conviction, hardwork, discipline and spirit of the Japanese will help them recover quickly and emerge stronger, they said.
Senior actors, lawyers, artists, diplomats and writers spoke at the meeting convened by industrialist R. Veeramani here on Monday.
Speaking of a “legendary quality” of the Japanese, actor Rajinikanth said they had the remarkable ability to “bounce back” from the most adverse situations. The actor, who is known to have a huge following in Japan, said he would pray for the nation.
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“Lot to be learnt”
Actor Sivakumar said the untiring efforts, the warmth and the optimism of the country would see it through such difficult times. Poet-lyricist Vairamuthu said disaster was not something new to Japan. “They see every fall as a stepping stone for growth and more prosperity. There is a lot to be learnt from the people of Japan,” he said.
Dancer Padma Subrahmanyam said Japan, with its “tremendous spiritual strength”, would certainly come out of the tragedy soon.
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Takayuki Kitagawa, acting Consul General for Japan in Chennai, thanked the speakers for their support.
A.R. Lakshmanan, former Judge, Supreme Court, Era Sezhiyan, veteran parliamentarian, N. Murali, senior managing director, Kasturi & Sons Limited, Nikolay A. Listopadov, Consul General, Consulate General of the Russian Federation in South India, Axel Saurer, Acting Consul General of Germany were among others who spoke.