Indonesian Women Receive Certificate of Appreciation from Japanese Police; Recipients Rescued Elderly Woman in Kumamoto

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:15 JST, February 2, 2026

KUMAMOTO – Five Indonesian women who rescued a woman in her 80s were each presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from the station chief at the Kumamoto Minami Police Station in Kumamoto Prefecture.

The five women work at a vegetable sorting facility in Minami Ward, Kumamoto, under a government-sponsored technical intern training program.

On Jan. 15, the women were returning home when they came across the elderly woman, who had fallen into a waterway about 1 meter deep in the same ward. They lifted her out of the waterway and lent her hats and gloves to keep her warm before making a call to emergency services.

One of the women, Nira Nur Malisa, 30, said, “We thought, ‘Someone is in trouble, so we have to help.’”