On January 26, 2001 Seiko Sakamoto, a plasterer working in a Tokyo subway station, fell into the path of an oncoming train. Lee Su Hyun, a Korean student in Japan for language studies, leaped down on the tracks to save Sakamoto. Both Hyun and Sakamoto were unable to exit the path of the oncoming train and were killed.

This selfless act by the Korean student on behalf of the Japanese laborer has caused many people in Japan to reconsider their long-held prejudices directed toward Koreans. Strong feelings of distrust between the two countries go back to World War II atrocities inflicted upon Koreans by the Japanese. Many Japanese people, including the Prime Minister of Japan, have openly expressed sorrow over their previously held stereotypes of Koreans and have begun to talk about reconciliation. Nobuaki Fujioka, a 62- year-old Japanese said, "I felt a kind of shame. A young foreigner sacrificed his life for a Japanese. This is not an easy thing to do."

Reconciliation rarely occurs without sacrifice. By giving his one and only Son, God took the initiative in healing our broken relationship with him. He made the supreme sacrifice for us that we might be reconciled to him.