FUKUCHI, Fukuoka -- A student who took the shirt off his back to quickly clean up after a woman threw up on a train in western Japan received a certificate of appreciation from the president of the train's operator on Dec. 23.

Yuya Mori, a 17-year-old student at Yamato Seiran High School, was honored by Heisei Chikuho Railway Co. President Kenichi Kawai for his quick actions to help the woman in the incident on the Ita Line in the western Japan prefecture of Fukuoka.

According to the railway company, the woman was sitting alone in a four-person box seat at about 8:20 a.m. on Dec. 6 when she threw up. Mori, who was on his way to school, quickly took off his shirt and wiped up the vomit that had started to trickle into the aisle to prevent it from spreading. He then received some tissues from a female high school student who happened to be on the train and handed them to the woman, telling her, "Here, wipe your mouth." The woman reportedly thanked him repeatedly on the train.

The train, which had been approaching Fureai Shoriki Station on the Ita Line, was delayed by three minutes after it stopped and the driver attended to the incident. Without Mori's quick actions, the train could have been delayed further, affecting connections.

"It's wonderful that you took action so quickly," Kawai told Mori as he handed him a certificate of appreciation at the Kanada Station rail yard on Dec. 23.

Mori's determination to help others stemmed from an incident when he was in elementary school. When he fell over on his bike, a man he didn't know pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his wounds. From that point he decided in his heart, "If there's a person in need, I'm going to help them."

"I don't want this to become a society where people turn a blind eye," Mori said.

(Japanese original by Yoshiyuki Mineshita, Tagawa Resident Bureau, Kyushu News Department)