Traveling between Japan and Afghanistan where fighting between NATO-led forces and Taliban rebels continues, three Japanese women in their 60s and 70s have been supporting Afghan women and children in need for a decade or more.

Making the best out of the local custom that pays special respect to elders, their activities are steadily bearing fruit despite the severe conditions in the war-torn country.

Keiko Nishigaki, a 76-year-old housewife from Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, recalled arriving in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan alone in 1994.